Benny Goodman, born Benjamin David Goodman, (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) … Read Full Bio ↴Benny Goodman, born Benjamin David Goodman, (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American jazz musician, known as King of Swing, Patriarch of the Clarinet, The Professor, and Swing's Senior Statesman.
Goodman was regarded by some as a demanding taskmaster, by others an arrogant and eccentric martinet. Many musicians spoke of The Ray, Goodman's trademark glare that he bestowed on a musician who failed to perform to his demanding standards. Anita O'Day and Helen Forrest spoke bitterly of their experiences singing with Goodman. "The twenty or so months I spent with Benny felt like twenty years," said Forrest. "When I look back, they seem like a life sentence." He could also be incredibly self-absorbed; it is reported that when eating an egg onto which a ketchup bottle cap had fallen, Goodman simply ate around it. At the same time, there are reports that he privately funded several college educations and was sometimes very generous, though always secretly. When a friend asked him why one time, he reportedly said, "Well, if they knew about it, everyone would come to me with their hand out."
Some suggest that Elvis Presley had the same success with rock and roll that Goodman achieved with jazz and swing. Without Goodman there would not have been a swing era. It is true that many of Goodman's arrangements had been played for years before by Fletcher Henderson's orchestra. While Goodman publicly acknowledged his debt to Henderson, many young white swing fans had never heard Henderson's band. While most consider Goodman a jazz innovator, others maintain his main strength was his perfectionism and drive. Goodman was a non - pariel virtuoso clarinetist and -along with only Artie Shaw, amongst the most technically proficient jazz clarinetists of all time.
Goodman is also responsible for a significant step in racial integration in America. In the early 1930s, black and white jazz musicians could not play together in most clubs or concerts. In the Southern states, racial segregation was enforced by the Jim Crow laws. Benny Goodman broke with tradition by hiring Teddy Wilson to play with him ] in the Autumn of 1936. He then added Lionel Hampton on vibes in December, 1936, and in the early Summer of 1939 he augmented the famous "quartette" with pioneering jazz guitarist Charlie Christian to his band and small ensembles, who played with him until his untimely death from tuberculosis less than three years later. To give an understanding of American history at this time, Goodman's integration of popular music happened ten years before Jackie Robinson entered Major League Baseball. "[Goodman's] popularity was such that he could remain financially viable without touring the South, where he would have been subject to arrest for violating Jim Crow laws." By the mid- Summer of 1941, Benny had hired the incomparably rhythmic and show-man drummer, legendary "Big Sid" Catlett, the (later) famous John Simmons on bass, and still possessed the incomparable Charlie Christian on electric guitar -plus Cootie Williams was in the middle of his one-year contract... This amounted to virtually one-quarter of the orchestra of black heritage, but of course -following Jimmy Munday and Fletcher Henderson (who also joined the band as pianist for 6 months in July, 1939) it was really an orchestrated white extension of black big band jazz -only, curiously -better.
Goodman was regarded by some as a demanding taskmaster, by others an arrogant and eccentric martinet. Many musicians spoke of The Ray, Goodman's trademark glare that he bestowed on a musician who failed to perform to his demanding standards. Anita O'Day and Helen Forrest spoke bitterly of their experiences singing with Goodman. "The twenty or so months I spent with Benny felt like twenty years," said Forrest. "When I look back, they seem like a life sentence." He could also be incredibly self-absorbed; it is reported that when eating an egg onto which a ketchup bottle cap had fallen, Goodman simply ate around it. At the same time, there are reports that he privately funded several college educations and was sometimes very generous, though always secretly. When a friend asked him why one time, he reportedly said, "Well, if they knew about it, everyone would come to me with their hand out."
Some suggest that Elvis Presley had the same success with rock and roll that Goodman achieved with jazz and swing. Without Goodman there would not have been a swing era. It is true that many of Goodman's arrangements had been played for years before by Fletcher Henderson's orchestra. While Goodman publicly acknowledged his debt to Henderson, many young white swing fans had never heard Henderson's band. While most consider Goodman a jazz innovator, others maintain his main strength was his perfectionism and drive. Goodman was a non - pariel virtuoso clarinetist and -along with only Artie Shaw, amongst the most technically proficient jazz clarinetists of all time.
Goodman is also responsible for a significant step in racial integration in America. In the early 1930s, black and white jazz musicians could not play together in most clubs or concerts. In the Southern states, racial segregation was enforced by the Jim Crow laws. Benny Goodman broke with tradition by hiring Teddy Wilson to play with him ] in the Autumn of 1936. He then added Lionel Hampton on vibes in December, 1936, and in the early Summer of 1939 he augmented the famous "quartette" with pioneering jazz guitarist Charlie Christian to his band and small ensembles, who played with him until his untimely death from tuberculosis less than three years later. To give an understanding of American history at this time, Goodman's integration of popular music happened ten years before Jackie Robinson entered Major League Baseball. "[Goodman's] popularity was such that he could remain financially viable without touring the South, where he would have been subject to arrest for violating Jim Crow laws." By the mid- Summer of 1941, Benny had hired the incomparably rhythmic and show-man drummer, legendary "Big Sid" Catlett, the (later) famous John Simmons on bass, and still possessed the incomparable Charlie Christian on electric guitar -plus Cootie Williams was in the middle of his one-year contract... This amounted to virtually one-quarter of the orchestra of black heritage, but of course -following Jimmy Munday and Fletcher Henderson (who also joined the band as pianist for 6 months in July, 1939) it was really an orchestrated white extension of black big band jazz -only, curiously -better.
Avalon
Benny Goodman Lyrics
Instrumental
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
@chrissnider9452
Love, love LOVE these amazingly talented gods of music! I’m so grateful that my parents, members of The Greatest Generation, shared their love of this amazing music with me!!!
@Comdesron17
I grew up during the 60's, listening to Benny Goodman, cause my father liked jazz, I still have the album Benny Goodman (my father's album) that has some recordings from their famous concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938 - one of the numbers being Sing, Sing, Sing and Avalon performed at that concert ... before listening to jazz, I always loved the drums. When I saw the movie the Benny Goodman Story, is when I saw Gene Krupa, which I thought was actor Dane Clark. Then I found out that - it was Krupa ... I loved watching him how he played ...I found out during those years while he played with Goodman, he didn't know how to read music for the drums. He didn't learn to years later. Oh BTW, during the 60's I did listen to the Beatles, the Stones ... Santana, Jimi Hendrix ... Mamas & the Papas......but I love jazz - a true original form of music invented in the USA, by black musicians - .....ooooh just like rock music invented by young black musicians who felt that jazz was getting so serious and deep cause of "modern jazz" & when Miles Davis and couple of other musicians started the "progressive jazz" movement ... those young black musicians said they just wanted to keep it simple, 4 beats to the measure - simple, they would comment with "Let's just rock ..." simple 4 beats to the measure, some of those musicians, Chuck Berry, Little Richard ..Bo Diddley started the rock movement.....
@joanettemurcia2929
Feast my ears. Colosal !!!!!
@alejandromorenoc3194
Lionel Hampton is incredibly in this masterwork. Avalon is always a good piece for listening, good feelings.
@gregoryjclark81
I had the supreme honor of witnessing the god of the vibes, Lionel Hampton himself, at the 1998 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. That performance was sadly one of his last performances of his storied 94 years. Only seven years following a debilitating stroke and only 13 months following a fire that ravaged his NYC apartment, the performance itself wasn't anything spectacular but even at the tender and acid-drenched age of 16 the very presence of the man filled me and the entire arena with a living history--a direct link to all that is jazz and the individual gods who pulled the art from the ether--and aura I am sure never to experience again. I will never forget when Lionel was brought out onto the stage and handed his mallets, his hands had been permanently shaped to that his mallet grip. Man, in any other instance one would cringe at what was an obviously painful sight, but in Lionel's case his permanently altered hands told the story, releasing a resounding testimony of the power, love, and soulfulness that is music in general and jazz specifically in a physical manifestation that resounded louder than any human voice could ever dream...
If only this universe in which we have all found ourselves, wherever It and we all may be, whenever It and we all may be, could know just how righteous a universe it turned out to be: For when all this was played out, it featured Lionel Hampton on vibes....
@bluedoris88
So many tunes are forgotten now ,this one is fabulous,this version flys’,thanks again.
@miguelleiton3645
Cuantos recuerdos de mi inicio en la formacion de mi coleccion..para toda la vida; tenia el 78 original....!!!!!
@hermanoamor3606
This version is original and take me in a travel through heavens
@jassingh9539
Soothing, mesmerizing music
@theminecrafthaag1609
Introduction to Moonglow