BENNY GOODMAN
By Hal Smith
In 1919, when Benny Goodman began playing clarinet, he used a borrowed instrument and took lesions for 25 cents apiece.
At the time of his death in 1986, Goodman was a wealthy man and one of the most influential and revered clarinetists in jazz history.
He was the ninth of 12 children born to David and Dora Goodman in Chicago on May 30, 1909. The family was exceedingly poor, but David believed that music would enrich the children’s lives (and may eventually provide a living for them), so he sacrificed even more to pay for Benny’s, Harry’s and Freddy’s music lessons.
Benny was a prodigy who practiced the clarinet incessantly. Later, the played with the Hull House Boys’ Band and had the good fortune to study with Franz Schoepp, whose pupils included Jimmie Noon and Buster Bailey.
Benny’s dedication to his instrument paid off quickly -- by 1921 he was playing professionally at age 12.
Benny listened to the best clarinetists in Chicago – Noone, Bailey, Johnny Dodds, Leon Roppolo and Frank Teschemacher – and also to King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, Doc Cook and his Orchestra, the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and jammed with the burgeoning “Austin High Gang.” Like the Austinites, Benny was also smitten with the sound of Bix Beiderbecke’s cornet.
In 1925, at age 16, Benny joined Ben Pollock’s orchestra. That association lasted until 1929 and resulted in the earliest (and some say the best) hot records of Goodman’s career. He also recorded sides under his own name, which demonstrate his remarkab le ability to synthesize “Chicago style” phrasing and tone – the best elements of Teschmacher, Noone and Dodds – into a unique and recognizable style.
After leaving Pollack, Benny worked as a freelance musician in New York City. He played commercial recording dates, broadcasts, musical revues and movie soundtracks. Many of his recordings made between 1929 and 1934 are hot-jazz classics. In the company of Beiderbecke, Jack Teagarden, Coleman Hawkins, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Muggsy Spanier, Fats Waller, Joe Sullivan Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Ethel Waters and Red Nichols, Benny’s incandescent clarinet playing was never less than inspired and was often sublime. Some of the later recordings were produced by wealthy jazz fan John Hammond, with Goodman playing the role of band leader and hot soloist.
In 1934, Goodman assembled an orchestra and auditioned for a regular job at Billy Rose’s Music Hall. The band was hired, but the engagement was short-lived. Later that year, Goodman brought an orchestra to audition for a radio program called “Let’s Dance,” to be broadcast on NBC. The band landed the job and, based upon the warm reception of their broadcasts, built a reputation as one of the finest swing orchestras anywhere.
One of the key ingredients to the orchestra’s success was the arranging skill of Fletcher Henderson. Although Henderson’s own orchestra made great records of his arrangements, the charts were taken to a whole new level in Goodman’s hands. The Henderson arrangements would remain Goodman’s favorites, and integral parts of the orchestra’s repertoire, for the rest of BG’s life.
In 1935, Benny signed a contract with booking agent Willard Alexander of the Music Corporation of America (MCA). He also signed a contract to record for Victor. One of the recordings featured Goodman, drummer Gene Krupa and pianist Teddy Wilson. It was one of the earliest interracial recording sessions where no subterfuge was employed (as when Jelly Roll Morton allegedly masqueraded as a “Cuban” to record with the New Orleans Rhythm King in the 1920s).
The trio’s music was like hot chamber music and was an instant hit with jazz fans. Another 1935 session found Goodman appearing as a sideman on a memorable recording session that featured vocalist Billie Holiday, backed by Roy Eldridge, Chu Berry, Wilson and other outstanding black musicians. The racial barriers would continue to fall as Goodman featured Wilson and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton in the late 1930s and, still later, Cootie Williams, Charlie Christian, John Simmons and Sid Catlett.
Meanwhile, the 1935 Goodman orchestra included jazzmen such as Bunny Berigan, Jess Stacy and Krupa. Their playing inspired Goodman to new heights and the orchestra’s recordings are still hailed as some of the greatest examples of big-band jazz.
The success of Goodman’s records, plus the interest in the orchestra generated by the “Let’s Dance” broadcasts, inspired Alexander to suggest a cross-country tour for the BG orchestra. The tour started shakily and hit rock-bottom in Denver, where the dancers at Elitch’s Gardens wanted waltzes, tangos and novelty songs. The orchestra limped though the engagement at Elitch’s for three weeks, then headed west with an overwhelming sense of foreboding.
When the band arrived at MacFadden’s Ballroom in Oakland, there was a long line of fans waiting to go into the ballroom. The reception was tremendous, and the musicians breathed a collective sign of relief as they pulled out the best swinging Henderson arrangements for the jazz-mad crowd
Strangely, a subsequent engagement in Pismo Beach was another flop. The Goodman orchestra was ready to concede that America was not interested in hot music when it arrived in Los Angeles for an appearance at the Palomar Ballroom.
Eyewitnesses remember that Benny started the evening with unadventurous arrangements for dancing. Finally, one of the musicians (some accounts credit Krupa) encouraged Benny to call a hot number. After all, what did they have to lose?
Out came the Henderson charts, the musicians cut loose and history was made!
The reaction was so overwhelmingly positive that the orchestra’s contract was extended for three weeks. It was the beginning of the Swing Era and Benny Goodman soon would be crowned “The King of Swing.”
• Hal Smith is a premier drummer and president of America’s Finest City Dixieland Jazz Society in San Diego. Reprinted with permission from Jazz Rambler, that society’s newsletter.
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