Stompin' at the Savoy - Benny Goodman, the King of Swing 🎵

[appalachiablue]

- Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist & bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the US. His concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Jan. 16, 1938, is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music."

Goodman's bands started the careers of many jazz musicians. During an era of racial segregation, he led one of the first integrated jazz groups, his trio & quartet. He performed nearly to the end of his life while exploring an interest in classical music. Goodman was the 9th of 12 children born to poor Jewish emigrants from the Russian Empire. To give his children some skills & an appreciation for music, his father enrolled 10-year-old Goodman and 2 of his brothers in music lessons, from 1919, at the Kehelah Jacob Synagogue.

Benny also received 2 years of instruction from the classically trained clarinetist & Chicago Symphony member, Franz Schoepp. During the next year Goodman joined the boys club band at Hull House, where he received lessons from director James Sylvester. By joining the band, he was entitled to spend 2 weeks at a summer camp near Chicago...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Goodman

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. You say Benny Goodman..and all the memories of dancing at The Totem Pole ballroom

come into focus...I can see the stage..and all through the hall beyond the dance floor..where the two person sofas were circled in many levels..no seat was a bad seat..I was maybe 18 the first time I went dancing there..long after the big bands noted below..BUT, Mom sure did have a way of making sure we knew their music..

From the day it first opened, the Totem Pole was something special. More than a hundred ballrooms were advertising in the Boston newspapers, but the Totem Pole was generally acknowledged as the best and the most elegant. Virtually every famous swing band in the country appeared at the Auburndale venue, including Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Harry James, the Dorsey brothers, Lawrence Welk and Ozzie Nelson. Frank Sinatra sang at the Totem Pole, as did Dinah Shore, Frankie Laine, the Four Lads and the Von Trapp Family. Music from the ballroom was broadcast nationally over the NBC, ABC, and CBS radio networks.

http://norumbegapark.com/html/history.html#:~:text=Virtually%20every%20famous%20swing%20band%20in%20the%20country,the%20Four%20Lads%20and%20the%20Von%20Trapp%20Family.

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[appalachiablue]

2. What a great place and experience, lucky you and your caring mom. Ours told us

about bands that played at college dances in the 30s and 40s, some of the big ones like Goodman and Dorsey. I also listened to early Sinatra when in school and saw him sing years later. I remembered what she told us and am grateful. Big band, swing music was widely popular and influential for good reason. Thanks for sharing! 🎺