Benny Goodman

Benny Goodman, born Benjamin David Goodman, (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was a famous Jazz musician, known as "King of Swing", "Patriarch of the Clarinet", and "Swing's Senior Statesman".

Fame

Many suggest that Goodman achieved the same success with jazz and swing that Elvis Presley did for rock and roll. Both helped bring black music to a young, white audience. It is true that many of Goodman's arrangements had been played for years before by Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra. While Goodman publicly acknowledged his debt to Henderson, many young white swing fans had never heard Henderson's band. While some consider Goodman a jazz innovator, others maintain his main strength was his perfectionism and drive. Goodman was a virtuosic clarinetist and arguably the most technically proficient jazz clarinetist of his time. The Lycos Music website says of Goodman:

Related Topics:
Elvis Presley - Rock and roll - Lycos

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His encouragement of musicians like Christian, Wilson and Hampton not only helped Goodman to promote important careers in jazz but also did much to break down racial taboos in show business and American society. The fact that he was never an innovator means Goodman was not a great jazzman in the sense that Armstrong, Ellington, Charlie Parker and others were. Nevertheless, he was a major figure in jazz and played an important role in the history of twentieth century popular music.http://music.lycos.com/artist/bio.asp?QT=A&QW=benny+goodman&AN=Benny+Goodman&MID=10433&MH=

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