Goodman, Benny 1909-1986

GOODMAN, BENNY 1909-1986

Jazz musician

What Was Swing?

Dubbed "The King of Swing," Goodman introduced a jazz style that relied on written arrangements performed by big bands. Swing, a simpler and less improvisational form of jazz than that of the 1920s, one based on the structure of popular songs, was functional dance music. Swing enabled the individual voice to contribute to the collective whole: as historian David W. Stowe notes, swing was another expression of trends that prevailed in American culture throughout the Depression: "both the regionalist paintings of Thomas Hart Benton and swing embodied the ideals of progressive reform and a populist producerist ideology through symbols that embodied the uniquely American values of energy and democracy." The Duke Ellington hit "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" appeared in 1932: the nation was well on its way to being swing crazy. It was Benny Goodman's 1935 recording triumph, "The Music Goes 'Round and 'Round," that propelled the craze. Although Goodman had had a lukewarm response from audiences when he started his band in 1934, his 1935 radio broadcasts from the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles brought him his first real success—and sparked audience interest in his soon-to-be-hit song. Over one hundred thousand copies of sheet music for "The Music Goes 'Round and 'Round" were sold; the song was the most popular on the air; a necktie, a sofa, and a cigarette holder were named after it. Swing gained momentum through 1936 and 1937, and in January 1938 Benny Goodman and His Swing Orchestra played a memorable concert at Carnegie Hall, normally reserved for classical performances. The reception was wildly enthusiastic. As for Goodman himself, his sponsored radio shows included the "Let's Dance" program for National Biscuit Company, the "Camel Caravan," and the "Victor Borge Show." Fans rioted at his shows: during the latter half of the 1930s Goodman achieved first a national, and then an international, reputation. During the 1930s Goodman produced hundreds of records.

Who Was Goodman?

Goodman struggled out of a difficult childhood. His father died in a taxicab accident when he was young, leaving him to support his widowed mother and eleven siblings. He served his apprenticeship, at age eleven, in a local theater pit band, then in a five-piece orchestra on a Lake Michigan steamer, then, in the early 1920s, with Jules Herbuveaux, who had a well-known Chicago-area band. Goodman spent the 1920s moving from one coast to the other: first Los Angeles, where in 1925 he joined Ben Pollack and his orchestra at the Venice Ballroom, leaving for short stints with Benny Krueger and Isham Jones. He finally left Pollack for good in 1929 to play with Red Nichols until 1931, after which he spent the next three years doing freelance work. Goodman was twenty-five when, in 1934, he formed his own orchestra in New York, using a library of arrangements written by Fletcher Henderson.

Breaking the Barriers

Benny Goodman is significant, however, for reasons that have to do with more than his sheer popularity. As a clarinetist Goodman's style was unmistakably his own—his use of the high register, of grace notes, variations in dynamics, and, above all, the unprecedented smoothness and control of his tone, all combined to give him his trademark sound—one which he used to highlight the clarinet as an instrument for a front man. Benny Goodman was the first white band leader to break the color bar, first in 1935 by hiring pianist Teddy Wilson and subsequently by including vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, guitarist Charlie Christian, and trumpeter Cootie Williams in his orchestras; pianist Count Basie made frequent guest appearances as well. Nor was his significance confined to his big band sound. In 1935 Goodman formed the first of his smaller combos, featuring such musicians as Lionel Hampton, drummer Gene Krupa, and Wilson, which created a second innovative new sound of the period, one which can be heard on the 1939 RCA recording Trio-Quartet-Quintet. By the time of his Columbia recordings in 1939, Goodman's combos, which were called sextets regardless of whether they included six, seven, or even eight musicians, had moved away from the structured arrangements of his big band sound and into freewheeling combo jam sessions. Jazz historians point to electric guitarist Christian's influential style of playing on these disks, especially on the Columbia Jazz Masterpieces recording, The Benny Goodman Sextet 1939 —-41 Featuring Charlie Christian.

After the 1930s

The swing craze lasted until the end of the 1930s, and the hiatus Goodman took in 1940, during which he disbanded his orchestra, marked a turning point in his career. Goodman had never had a reputation as an easy man to work with, and by the early 1940s he had replaced many of the players in his orchestra. By the end of the decade he was incorporating bebop into his work, but his popularity was on the wane. Struggles with his record company, MCA, led Goodman to disband his orchestra once again in 1944. Though he returned in 1945, his appearances toward the end of the decade were sporadic. The 1955 release of The Benny Goodman Story, which made up in sentimentality what it lacked in accuracy, gave Goodman a new lease on life. He traveled widely throughout the end of the 1950s and the 1960s and made one of his last, triumphant appearances at Carnegie Hall in 1978.

Sources:

Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell's Film Guide (New York: HarperCollins, 1991);

Barry Dean Kernfield, The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Jazz (Oxford, U.K., & Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1991);

David W. Stowe, Swing Changes (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994);

Leo Walker, The Wonderful Era of the Great Dance Bands (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972).