Benny Goodman Research Paper

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Cody Seaver Nicole Kamoukos MHL 145 7 August 2014 Benny Goodman began his training as a musician at the young age of ten at the Kehelah Jabcob Synagogue in Chicago after his parents learned lessons were being offered for twenty five cents a week. In the years following this, young Benny received training from director James Sylvester, made a name for himself doing Ted Lewis impressions on his clarinet. By the age of sixteen he had been asked to move to California to join Ben Pollack’s band. He stayed with Ben Pollack’s band for four years until he decided to go out on his own. He had become popular due to the tracks he had recorded while with Pollack, this popularity keeping him busy as a solo artist and freelance musician. It was not until…show more content…
As a clarinetist and a band leader, he played a key role in moving jazz from the margins of American society to the mainstream. He led the most influential, for a time the most popular, and perhaps the most polished of the big bands of the swing era." (Edwards, “Benny Goodman’s Clarinet”.) Benny can be considered one of the most influential and important artists in jazz history, for a multitude of reasons. As a bandleader, Benny demanded much from his sidemen; Benny’s band was the one and only band that presented the ensemble discipline it did. He expected that each of his performers play with “accurate intonation, matched vibrato, phrasing, and a careful balancing of parts.” (PBS, “Benny Goodman”.). These were traits that were not common to many big bands of the era. Benny was such an exact musician in all that he did, he expected the same from those who played for…show more content…
As a teenager, Benny was a part of his high school’s small combo jazz band, up until he was asked to join Ben Pollack’s orchestra in Los Angeles. It wasn’t until 1934 Benny had put together his own twelve piece orchestra, with the majority of the orchestra’s repertoire being Benny Carter arrangements of songs. This group was featured on NBC’s radio series “Let’s Dance” which played for just under a year. After the end of “Let’s Dance” in 1935, him and his orchestra began a national tour, and on this tour is where the infamous August 21st concert occurred, and then in 1938, the famous Carnegie Hall concert (PBS, “Benny
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