Benny Goodman’s Contributions to Jazz History
Benny Goodman began his musical career early in life. At age ten, “The King of Swing” learned to play the clarinet. Before he was 14, Benny became a professional musician, performed in several Chicago bands and eventually left school to pursue his career working in popular bands. By 16, Goodman was recognized as an emerging talent. He played Southern jazz, ragtime and Dixieland music. His NBC radio show “Let’s Dance” gave him national prominence and was the start of a new American musical era: swing (“Benny Goodman”).
Although he was not the first band leader to include both black and white musicians, Goodman’s national popularity made racially mixed groups more acceptable in the 1930s. Two famous black musicians he hired were Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton who later formed his own band (“Benny Goodman”).
The Benny Goodman band’s 1938 Carnegie Hall concert and Goodman’s six decade career had an enormous impact on popular music. He later commissioned classical clarinet compositions. His big band work established the popularity of this music form (“Benny Goodman”). His 1938 release of one of his trademark tune, “Sing, Sing, Sing (with a Swing),” is considered one of the Swing era’s greatest tunes and marked the unofficial beginning of the Swing era (“550 Greatest Swing Era Songs”).
Goodman hired several musicians whose careers he eventually helped to launch. Besides those already mentioned, others included Gene Krupa, Harry James and Ziggy Elman who worked as sidemen in Benny Goodman’s Quartet and later in his orchestra (“Benny Goodman”).
The clarinet was a popular instrument from the time jazz performances began in 1910 until the end of the big band era in the 1940s. As big band popularity faded so did the clarinet’s use. Bebop, free jazz and Dixieland music still feature clarinets (“Clarinet: Jazz”).
As the Swing Era started to decline, Goodman expanded his musical experiences, often joined former band members for reunion performances and continued to perform until his death in 1986. He received several honors acknowledging his musical achievements as the “King of Swing” (“Benny Goodman”).
Works Cited
“Benny Goodman: The Official Website of the King of Swing.” bennygoodman.com. bennygoodman.com.
“Clarinet: Jazz.” cs.mcgill.ca/. wikispeedia. N.d. Web. 05 Mar
2016. <http://cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/c/Clarinet.htm>.
“550 Great Swing Era Songs.” digitaldreamdoor.com. DigitalDreamDoor.com. 2008. Web. 06 Mar
2016. <http://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-swing.html>.
