Benny Goodman - The King Of Swing (1928-1949) [2008, 20CD Box Set]

Benny Goodman:

Born: May 30, 1909, Chicago, IL
Died: June 13, 1986, New York, NY
Active: '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s
Genres: Jazz
Instrument: Clarinet
Representative Albums: "Live at Carnegie Hall (1938)", "Sing, Sing, Sing", "The Birth of Swing"
Representative Songs: "King Porter Stomp", "One O'Clock Jump", "Sing, Sing, Sing"

Benny Goodman was the first celebrated bandleader of the Swing Era, dubbed "The King of Swing," his popular emergence marking the beginning of the era. He was an accomplished clarinetist whose distinctive playing gave an identity both to his big band and to the smaller units he led simultaneously. The most popular figure of the first few years of the Swing Era, he continued to perform until his death 50 years later.

Goodman was the son of Russian immigrants David Goodman, a tailor, and Dora Rezinsky Goodman. He first began taking clarinet lessons at ten at a synagogue, after which he joined the band at Hull House, a settlement home. He made his professional debut at 12 and dropped out of high school at 14 to become a musician. At 16, in August 1925, he joined the Ben Pollack band, with which he made his first released band recordings in December 1926. His first recordings under his own name were made in January 1928. At 20, in September 1929, he left Pollack to settle in New York and work as a freelance musician, working at recording sessions, radio dates, and in the pit bands of Broadway musicals. He also made recordings under his own name with pickup bands, first reaching the charts with "He's Not Worth Your Tears" (vocal by Scrappy Lambert) on Melotone Records in January 1931. He signed to Columbia Records in the fall of 1934 and reached the Top Ten in early 1934 with "Ain't Cha Glad?" (vocal by Jack Teagarden), "Riffin' the Scotch" (vocal by Billie Holiday), and "Ol' Pappy" (vocal by Mildred Bailey), and in the spring with "I Ain't Lazy, I'm Just Dreamin'" (vocal by Jack Teagarden).

These record successes and an offer to perform at Billy Rose's Music Hall inspired Goodman to organize a permanent performing orchestra, which gave its first performance on June 1, 1934. His instrumental recording of "Moon Glow" hit number one in July, and he scored two more Top Ten hits in the fall with the instrumentals "Take My Word" and "Bugle Call Rag." After a four-and-a-half-month stay at the Music Hall, he was signed for the Saturday night Let's Dance program on NBC radio, playing the last hour of the three-hour show. During the six months he spent on the show, he scored another six Top Ten hits on Columbia, then switched to RCA Victor, for which he recorded five more Top Ten hits by the end of the year.

After leaving Let's Dance, Goodman undertook a national tour in the summer of 1935. It was not particularly successful until he reached the West Coast, where his segment of Let's Dance had been heard three hours earlier than on the East Coast. His performance at the Palomar Ballroom near Los Angeles on August 21, 1935, was a spectacular success, remembered as the date on which the Swing Era began. He moved on to a six-month residency at the Congress Hotel in Chicago, beginning in November. He scored 15 Top Ten hits in 1936, including the chart-toppers "It's Been So Long," "Goody-Goody," "The Glory of Love," "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You," and "You Turned the Tables on Me" (all vocals by Helen Ward). He became the host of the radio series The Camel Caravan, which ran until the end of 1939, and in October 1936, the orchestra made its film debut in The Big Broadcast of 1937. The same month, Goodman began a residency at the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York.

Goodman's next number one hit, in February 1937, featured Ella Fitzgerald on vocals and was the band's first hit with new trumpeter Harry James. It was also the first of six Top Ten hits during the year, including the chart-topping "This Year's Kisses" (vocal by Margaret McCrae). In December, the band appeared in another film, Hollywood Hotel. The peak of Goodman's renown in the 1930s came on January 16, 1938, when he performed a concert at Carnegie Hall, but he went on to score 14 Top Ten hits during the year, among them the number ones "Don't Be That Way" (an instrumental) and "I Let a Song Go out of My Heart" (vocal by Martha Tilton), as well as the thrilling instrumental "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)," which later was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

By 1939, Goodman had lost such major instrumentalists as Gene Krupa and Harry James, who left to found their own bands, and he faced significant competition from newly emerged bandleaders such as Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller. But he still managed to score eight Top Ten hits during the year, including the chart-topper "And the Angels Sing" (vocal by Martha Tilton), another inductee to the Grammy Hall of Fame. He returned to Columbia Records in the fall. In November, he appeared in the Broadway musical Swingin' the Dream, leading a sextet. The show was short-lived, but it provided him with the song "Darn That Dream" (vocal by Mildred Bailey), which hit number one for him in March 1940. It was the first of only three Top Ten hits he scored in 1940, his progress slowed by illness; in July he disbanded temporarily and underwent surgery for a slipped disk, not reorganizing until October. He scored two Top Ten hits in 1941, one of which was the chart-topper "There'll Be Some Changes Made" (vocal by Louise Tobin), and he returned to radio with his own show. Among his three Top Ten hits in 1942 were the number ones "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place" (vocal by Peggy Lee) and the instrumental "Jersey Bounce." He also appeared in the film Syncopation, released in May.

American entry into World War II and the onset of the recording ban called by the American Federation of Musicians in August 1942 made things difficult for all performers. Goodman managed to score a couple of Top Ten hits, including the number one "Taking a Chance on Love" (vocal by Helen Forrest), in 1943, drawn from material recorded before the start of the ban. And he used his free time to work in films, appearing in three during the year: The Powers Girl (January), Stage Door Canteen (July), and The Gang's All Here (December).

Goodman disbanded in March 1944. He appeared in the film Sweet and Low-Down in September and played with a quintet in the Broadway revue Seven Lively Arts, which opened December 7 and ran 182 performances. Meanwhile, the musicians union strike was settled, freeing him to go back into the recording studio. In April 1945, his compilation album Hot Jazz reached the Top Ten on the newly instituted album charts. He reorganized his big band and scored three Top Ten hits during the year, among them "Gotta Be This or That" (vocal by Benny Goodman), which just missed hitting number one. "Symphony" (vocal by Liza Morrow) also came close to hitting number one in early 1946, and Benny Goodman Sextet Session did hit number one on the album charts in May 1946. Goodman hosted a radio series with Victor Borge in 1946-1947, and he continued to record, switching to Capitol Records. He appeared in the film A Song Is Born in October 1948 and meanwhile experimented with bebop in his big band. But in December 1949, he disbanded, though he continued to organize groups on a temporary basis for tours and recording sessions.

If popular music had largely passed Goodman by as of 1950, his audience was not tired of listening to his vintage music. He discovered a recording that had been made of his 1938 Carnegie Hall concert and Columbia Records released it on LP in November 1950 as Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert, Vol. 1 & 2. It spent a year in the charts, becoming the best-selling jazz album ever up to that time, and was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. A follow-up album of airchecks, Benny Goodman 1937-1938: Jazz Concert No. 2, hit number one in December 1952. The rise of the high fidelity 12" LP led Goodman to re-record his hits for the Capitol album B.G. in Hi-Fi, which reached the Top Ten in March 1955. A year later, he had another Top Ten album of re-recordings with the soundtrack album for his film biography, The Benny Goodman Story, in which he was portrayed by Steve Allen but dubbed in his own playing.

After a tour of the Far East in 1956-1957, Goodman increasingly performed overseas. His 1962 tour of the U.S.S.R. resulted in the chart album Benny Goodman in Moscow. In 1963, RCA Victor staged a studio reunion of the Benny Goodman Quartet of the 1930s, featuring Goodman, Gene Krupa, Teddy Wilson, and Lionel Hampton. The result was the 1964 chart album Together Again! Goodman recorded less frequently in his later years, though he reached the charts in 1971 with Benny Goodman Today, recorded live in Stockholm. His last album to be released before his death from a heart attack at 77 was Let's Dance, a television soundtrack, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band.

Goodman's lengthy career and his popular success especially in the 1930s and '40s has resulted in an enormous catalog. His major recordings are on Columbia and RCA Victor, but Music Masters has put out a series of archival discs from his personal collection, and many small labels have issued airchecks. The recordings continue to demonstrate Goodman's remarkable talents as an instrumentalist and as a bandleader.

~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi

Tracklist:

01. A Jazz Holiday
02. Wolverine Blues
03. Jungle Blues
04. Room 1411 (Goin' To Town)
05. Blue
06. Shirt Tail Stomp
07. That's A Plenty
08. Clarinetitis
09. After A While
10. Muscrat Scramble
11. He's Not Worth Your Tears
12. Linda
13. And Then Your Lips Met Mine
14. Overnight
15. If You Heaven't Got A Girl
16. I'm Happy When You're Happy
17. You Didn't Have To Tell Me
18. Falling In Love Again
19. We Can Live On Love
20. When Your Lover Has Gone







Tracklist:

01. 99 Out of Hundred Wanna Be Loved
02. Mine Yesterday His Today
03. What Have We Got to Do Tonight
04. Little Joe
05. It Looks Like Love?
06. I Wanna Be Around My Baby All the Time
07. Slow But Sure
08. Pardon Me Pretty Baby (Don't I Look Familiar to You?)
09. What Am I Gonna Do For Lovin'?
10. You Can't Stop Me From Lovin' You
11. Not That I Care
12. Help Yourself to Happyness
13. Love Letters In The Sand
14. I Don't Know Why
15. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues
16. Ain't Cha Glad?
17. Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jibe
18. Texas Tea Party
19. Your Mother's Son-In-Law
20. Tappin' The Barrel







Tracklist:

01. Keep On Doin' What You're Doin'
02. Riffin' The Scotch
03. Love Me Or Leave Me
04. Why Couldn't It Be Poor Little Me?
05. Georgia Jubilee
06. Junk Man
07. Ol' Pappy
08. Emaline
09. I Ain't Lazy - I'm Just Dreamin'
10. As Long As I Live
11. Moon Glow
12. Breakfest Ball
13. Take My Word
14. It Happens To The Best Of Friends
15. Nitwit Serenade
16. Bugle Call Rag
17. Learning
18. Stars Fell On Alabama
19. Solitude
20. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You







Tracklist:

01. I'm A Hundred Percent For You
02. Cokey
03. Like A Bolt From The Blue
04. Music Hall Rag
05. The Dixieland Band
06. Blue Moon
07. Throwin' Stones At The Sun
08. Down Home Rag
09. Singin A Happy Song
10. Clouds
11. I Was Lucky
12. Night Wind
13. Hunkadola
14. I'm Living In A Great Big Way
15. Hooray For Love
16. The Dixieland Band
17. Japanese Sandman
18. You're A Heavenly Thing
19. Restless
20. Always







Tracklist:

01. Get Rhythm In Your Feet (And Music In Your Soul)
02. Ballad In The Blue
03. Blue Skies
04. Dear Old Southland
05. Sometimes I'm Happy
06. King Porter
07. (You And Me In Between) The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
08. Jingle Bells
09. Santa Claus Came In The Spring
10. Good-Bye
11. Madhouse
12. Sandman
13. Yankee Doodle Never Went To Town
14. No Other One
15. Eeny Meeny Miney Mo
16. Basin Street Blues
17. If I Could Be With You
18. When Buddha Smiles
19. It's Been So Long
20. Stompin' At The Savoy







Tracklist:

01. Goody - Goody
02. Breakin' In A Pair Of Shoes
03. Get Happpy
04. Christopher Columbus
05. I Know That You Know
06. Stardust
07. You Can't Pull The Wool Over My Eyes
08. The Glory Of Love
09. Remember
10. Walk, Jennie, Walk
11. House Hop
12. Sing Me A Swing Song
13. (I Would Do) Anything For You
14. These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You
15. In A Sentimental Mood
16. I've Found A New Baby
17. Swingtime In The Rockies
18. House Hop
19. There's A Small Hotel
20. You Turned The Tables On Me






Tracklist:

01. Here's Love In Your Eyes
02. Pick Yourself Up
03. Down South Camp Meeting
04. St. Louis Blues
05. Love Me Or Leave Me
06. Bugle Call Rag
07. When A Lady Meets A Gentleman Down South
08. You're Giving Me A Song And A Dance
09. Organ Grinder's Swing
10. Peter Piper
11. Riffin' At The Ritz
12. Alexander's Ragtime Band
13. Somebody Loves Me
14. T'ain't No Use
15. Bugle Call Rag
16. Jam Session
17. Goodnight My Love
18. Take Another Guess
19. Did You Mean It?
20. When You And I Were Young Maggie






Tracklist:

01. Gee! But You're Swell
02. Smoke Dreams
03. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
04. He Ain't Got Rhythm
05. Never Should Have Told You
06. This Years Kisses
07. You Can Tell She Comes From Dixie
08. Goodnight, My Love
09. I Want To Be Happy
10. Chloe
11. Rosetta
12. Peckin'
13. Can't We Be Friends?
14. Sing, Sing, Sing (Part I)
15. Sing, Sing, Sing (Part II)
16. Roll 'Em
17. When It's Sleepy-Time Down South
18. Afraid To Dream
19. Changes
20. Bob White






Tracklist:

01. Sugar Foot Stomp
02. I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
03. Minnie The Moocher's Wedding Day
04. Let That Be A Lesson To You
05. Can't Teach My Old Heart New Tricks
06. I've Hitched My Wagon To A Star
07. Pop-Corn Man
08. You Took The Words Right Out Of My Heart
09. Mama The Moon Is Here Again
10. Loch Lomond
11. Camel Hop
12. True Confession
13. Life Goes To A Party
14. If Dream Come True
15. I'm Like A Fish Out Of Water
16. Sweet Stranger
17. Don't Be That Way
18. One O'Clock Jump
19. Please Be Kind
20. Ti-Pi-Tin






Tracklist:

01. Ooooo-Oh Boom!
02. Always And Always
03. Make Believe
04. The Blue Room
05. It's The Dreamer In Me
06. Lullaby In Rhythm
07. I Never Knew
08. That Feeling Is Gone
09. Sweet Sue - Just You
10. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart
11. Feelin' High And Happy
12. Why'd Ya Make Me Fall In Love
13. Don't Wake Up My Heart
14. (I've Been) Saving Myself For You
15. Big John Special
16. My Melancholy Baby
17. Wrappin' It Up
18. What Goes On Here On My Heart?
19. A Little Kiss At Twilight
20. The Flat Foot Floogee






Tracklist:

01. I've Got A Date With A Dream
02. Could You Pass In Love?
03. Blue Interlude
04. When I Go A-Dreamin'
05. You're A Sweet Little Headache
06. I Have Eyes
07. Margie
08. What Have You Got That Gets Me?
09. Russian Lullaby
10. Is That The Way You Treat A Sweetheart
11. I Had To Do It
12. You're Lovely Madame
13. Bumble Be Stomp
14. Ciribiribim
15. This Can't Be Love
16. Sing For Your Supper
17. Topsy
18. Smoke House Rhythm
19. I Must See Annie Tonight
20. Kinda Lonesome






Tracklist:

01. Don't Be That Way
02. One O'Clock Jump
03. Dixieland One Step
04. I'm Coming Virginia
05. When My Baby Smiles At Me
06. Shine
07. Blue Reverie
08. Life Goes To A Party
09. Honeysuckle Rose
10. Body And Soul
11. Avalon
12. The Man I Love
13. I Got Rhythm
14. Blue Skies
15. Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing)






Tracklist:

01. Loch Lomond
02. Blue Room
03. Swingtime In The Rockies
04. Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen
05. China Boy
06. Stompin' At The Savoy
07. Dizzy Spells
08. Big John's Special
09. Don't Be That Way
10. Sunrise Serenade
11. 'Tain't What You Do
12. Bach Goes To Town
13. One O'Clock Jump
14. The Sheik Of Araby
15. Flying Home
16. Stardust
17. Sing, Sing, Sing






Tracklist:

01. My Honey's Lovin' Arms
02. Farwell Blues
03. It Had To Be You
04. Louise
05. Whispering
06. Bach Goes To Town
07. I'll Always Be In Love With You
08. Undecided
09. We'll Never Know
10. Good For Nothin' But Love
11. Blue Lou
12. The Blues
13. Shut-Eye
14. Cuckoo In The Clock
15. And The Angles Sing
16. Sent For You Yesterday
17. Estrellita
18. A Home In The Clouds
19. Show Your Line, Miss Richardson
20. The Lady's In Love With You






Tracklist:

01. The Kingdom Of Swing
02. Rose Of The Washington Square
03. The Siren's Song
04. Pick-A-Rip
05. You And Your Love
06. Who'll Buy My Bubltchki?
07. There'll Be Some Changes Made
08. Jumpin' At The Woodside
09. Rendezvous Time In Paree
10. Comes Love
11. Stealin' Apples
12. Boy Meets Horn
13. Bolero
14. Untitled Blues
15. Stealin' Apples
16. Spring Song
17. Blue Orchids
18. Night And Day
19. What's New?
20. One Sweet Letter From You






Tracklist:

01. Down By The Old Mill Stream
02. I Didn't Know What Times It Was
03. Love Never Went To College
04. Scatter - Brain
05. I've Been There
06. Make With The Kisses
07. Heaven In My Arms
08. I Thought About You
09. Mozart Matriculater
10. Faithful Forever
11. Let's Dance
12. That Lucky Fellow
13. Bluebirds In The Moonlight
14. Darn That Dream
15. Peace, Brother
16. Beyond The Moon
17. Honeysuckle Rose
18. Opus Local 802
19. Busy As A Bee
20. Board Meeting






Tracklist:

01. Zaggin' With Zig
02. What's The Matter With Me?
03. What'll They Think Of Next?
04. Can't You Tell?
05. Squeeze Me
06. How High The Moon
07. Let's All Sing Together
08. The Fable Of The Rose
09. Shake Down The Stars
10. Be Sure
11. Yours Is My Heart Alone
12. The Sky Fell Down
13. It Never Entered My Mind
14. Once More
15. Buds Won't Bud
16. Devil May Care
17. I'm Nobody's Baby
18. Coconut Grove
19. Mister Meadowlard
20. Dreaming Out Loud






Tracklist:

01. Nobody
02. The Man I Love
03. Henderson Stomp
04. Benny Rides Again
05. Cabin The Sky
06. Frenesi
07. Hard To Get
08. These Things You Left Me
09. Superman
10. More Than You Know
11. Moonlight On Ganges
12. Yes My Darling Daughter
13. I'm Alway Chasing Rainbows
14. Somebody Stole My Gal
15. I Left My Heart In Your Hand
16. Let The Door Knob Hitcha
17. I Hear A Rhapsody
18. It's Always You
19. Corn Silk






Tracklist:

01. You're Dangerous
02. This Is New
03. Perfidia
04. Lazy River
05. Yours
06. Solo Fighter
07. Oh! Look At Me Now
08. Amapola
09. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
10. Clarinet A La King
11. Not Nice
12. The Darktown Strutter's Ball
13. You're Easy To Dance With
14. Six Flats Unfurnished
15. Why Don't You Do Right?
16. After You've Gone
17. Mission To Moscow
18. Love Walked In
19. Clarinade






Tracklist:

01. Fascinating Rhythm
02. Lucky
03. Rattle And Roll
04. Swing Angel
05. All The Cats Join In
06. Oh Baby
07. Fly By Night
08. Put That Kiss Back Where You Found It
09. Lonely Moments
10. Whistle Blues
11. Undercurrent Blues
12. Shishkabop
13. The Huckle-Buck
14. Bop Hop
15. Trees
16. Dreazag
17. Fiesta Time
18. Egg Head