Along with his conterparts, Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw and Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman helped to define the Swing Era of the Mid 1930's. His contribution to American Popular Music is incontestable and that is a fact. With songs like "Sing, Sing, Sing" he took a simple Louis Prima ditty and with the backing of musicians like Gene Krupa on Drums, Harry James on Trumpet, and a Jimmy Mundy arrangement he created the anthem of that era.

His music could ranged from romps like "Sing Sing Sing", to Melencholy pieces like "Goodbye" to some of the best Small Group Recordings in Jazz history: "Moonglow" and "Body and Soul". HOwever much of a task master he may of been, it's incredible that this son of Russian Imigrants from Chicago gave to us such a gift.

Expect more Profiles on Big Band Artists and Jazz Greats: Next Up Either Glenn Miller or Miles Davis.

Mike, I love swing, and Benny Goodman was one of the best.

Good topic, Mike. Looking forward to more.
In the Swing era, Goodman and Shaw had a rivalry that affected fans: you were a devotee of one or the other, as if each were a baseball team to which you were expected to show loyalty. Goodman ultimately was the more famous and well-remembered of the two. But Shaw outlived him--and married Ava Gardner, to boot!

The Benny Goodman Story with Steve Allen and Donna Reed is one of my favorites.

What makes the film more exciting and enjoyable is that Gene Krupa, Harry James and Lionel Hampton all played themselves in the movie.

The Sing Sing Sing scene in that movie is just fantastic. Especially when Donna Reeds father, who was against this "type" of music, is seen sitting in the theater, first tapping his feet to the beat and before you know it he is completely into the song!


Don Cardi

Amen brother! I can watch that movie almost as much as those GF movies. . It really captures that thrill of breaking new ground.

to me Mr Goodman is prt of my top 3

1 Sinatra

2 Glenn Miller

3 Mr Goodman

I have yet to see the film yet if it's as good as perhaps "The Glenn Miller Story" I'll be sure to buy it whereever I find it. I've heard many good things about it.

As for the situation of Artie Shaw v.s Benny Goodman, I think we can agree that Goodman got most of the fame yet Shaw was severly underrated, with great arrangemnts made by himself. one must remeber that he disolved his band in 1939 because of crowd demande for more "Begin the Beginue" essentially. Artie Shaw was a jazz musician who experimented with the forms of jazz and swing. Just listen to "Nightmare", my personal favorite of his recordings. He brought the swing era a new light, one that could really truly explore not just melancholy but true nightmare. It's one of the darkest things ever performed.

Shaw also got the final laugh. Just read his transcript for the Ken Burns documentay "Jazz" sometime. He attacks Goodman as mearly being a great musician without much besides that. Ignorant, stupid are just some of the words they use with his. And it seems he never liked Glenn Miller much, feeling that Miller never experimented, never made mistakes or tryed to push swing to new heights. That's of course between those three men in heaven now.

A vintage item, DC. Hollywood went through a phase in the Fifties of making musician bio flicks--Goodman, Glenn Miller, Eddie Duchin...

Can't forget "The Gene Krupa Story". Krupa, to me, was probably the gretest drummer ever. There is no doubt in my mind there. Just listen to the percusion during the immortally historic Carnegie Hall Concert in 1938.

Yet another great column Sully!

Benny Goodman and Glen Miller in a fight...who would win?

Goodman v.s Miller in what time? If it's Goodman in 1938 circa the Carnegie Hall concert, Goodman wins in the 3rd round! Just "Sing, Sing, Sing" alone would blow Miller's band out of the water. That song is amoung the most influential recordings ever, one of the first songs I think that truly had many layers, emboding danger, glee, excitment, risk and many things which did indeed embody the swing era.

On this note, expect that next colum by the end of the weekend.

Cool man, just give yourself a break of several days inbetween articles. You'll stretch this column longer. Look at my CULT MOVIE and VIDEO BIN REVIEWS that started months ago, and I have several more to go through.