Talk Topics...
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BENNY GOODMAN'S MUSICAL ROOTS |
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Although the clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman grew up dirt poor on Chicago’s mean streets, he brought rich talent. One of the Austin High School gang--part of Benny’s jazz cohort--recalled when Benny was only 13, “he was much more of a pro than any of us…a polished musician…not to be believed.” This was in 1922—just when Chicago’s musical melting pot boiled with hot music from down the river. In fact, most Chicago club owners would hire only New Orleans musicians, so distinct were they. Benny got his street lessons from the source. |
He studied with a Chicago Symphony clarinetist who also taught the Negro jazz players Jimmy Noone and Buster Bailey. The three pupils sometimes found themselves together in the master's studio, playing duets or trios. It is thought this may be one reason Goodman pioneered jazz band integration. |
He became the “King of Swing,” but he didn’t invent it, not by a long shot. "Jazz comes from the soil, where all music has its beginning," the composer Serge Koussevitzky noted in 1925. Benny’s musical roots are well documented. To hear them is to hear our story. 
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♬ LISTEN: Benny Goodman and his Boys, 1928
"Wolverine Blues" Benny picked up his style from the New Orleans players who had migrated to Chicago. Here's one of his early bands with a Jelly Roll Morton tune. |
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