Benny Goodman

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Benny Goodman born in 1909 in Chicago. His family was very poor when he was growing up. He had studied the Clarinet. At the end of 1926 he had joined Ben Pollack. When he had joined with Pollack he also recorded with his own group. In 1926, he had left Pollack and formed his first big band in 1934. He began touring the states the following year.

They weren't very successful until they had reached the West Coast. For example the audience at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, where they have heard his work, had a great reception. The Swing Era began on August 21, 1935. On that date he was crowned the "King of Sawing." After that we went onto make films, hundreds of recordings, radio & TV shows, had concerts at Carnegie Hall, and also world tours. And none of that brought together Black & White musicians.

In July 1935, after doing a jam session, he had Teddy Wilson & Gene Krupa to record with him. After that they were called the Benny Goodman Trio. From 1936-1939 he had hit it big. It had started with TV series "The Camel Caravan" and he made some films like "Hollywood Hotel" and "The Gang's All Here." For 3 weeks he had worked with Paramount Theatre. Because of these performances clearly demonstrated that he was the "King of Swing" and a popular role model.

At that same time Goodman had become the first famous jazz musician to achieve success performing The Classical Repertory. In July 1940, Goodman was forced to break up his group due to his illness. But later that year he had re-formed the band back together. In 1947 Goodman made his last and final traveling band.

In the mid 1950's Goodman continued to record and tour...