Benny Goodman

Benny Goodman is interred in the Long Ridge Cemetery, Stamford, Connecticut. A good source for information on Fletcher Henderson is The Fletcher Henderson Story a 3 CD Box Set sampling Henderson's music with extensive liner notes by jazz scholar Frank Diggs. He continued to play the clarinet until his death in New York City at the age of 77. He died in New York City. Periodically he would organize a new band and play a Jazz festival or go on an international tour. Henderson suffered a stroke in 1950 resulting in partial paralysis that ended his days as a pianist. Goodman continued to play on records and in small groups. He reformed bands of his own several times in the 1940s, toured with Ethel Waters again in 1948 - 1949.

Reasons include: talented musicians were entering the service, or getting better-paying factory jobs; gasoline and rubber rationing during WWII; two long musician recording strikes; the rise of popular singers like Frank Sinatra; the restriction of agents' commissions to 15%, which made promoting small groups more profitable for them. In 1939 he disbanded his own band and joined Goodman's, first as both pianist and arranger and then working full time as arranger. By the mid-1940s, big bands lost a lot of their popularity. Many of Goodman's hits from the swing music were arranged by Henderson for his own band in the late 20s and early 30s. On January 16, 1938, his band made a famous appearance at Carnegie Hall. Since he needed new charts every week for the show, his friend John Hammond suggested that he purchase some Jazz charts from Henderson. Goodman continued his meteoric rise throughout the late 1930s with his big band, his trio and quartette, and a sextet. In 1934, Goodman's Orchestra was selected as a house band for the "Let's Dance" radio program.

Musicians also told stories of Goodman's notorious cheapness, continuing to pinch pennies as he had in his poverty stricken youth long after he had attained fame and fortune. In addition to his own band he arranged for several other bands, including those of Teddy Hill, Isham Jones, and most famously, Benny Goodman. Many musicians spoke of "The Ray", Goodman's trademark glare that he bestowed on a musician that failed to perform to his demanding standards. He was well regarded as an arranger and his arrangements became influential. Depending on who you talk to, Goodman was a demanding taskmaster, or an arrogant martinet. Following a serious auto accident in 1928, he seemed to lose interest in business matters, and was never known as a disciplinarian. They had two daughters: Benjie and Rachel. Although the band was very popular, Henderson had little success managing the band.

After dating for about three months they got married on March 14, 1942. He later led a band of his own that also received critical acclaim. Benny met Alice Hammond Duckworth, the sister of his friend John Hammond. Beginning in the early 1930s, Fletcher's piano-playing younger brother, Horace Henderson (11/22/1904-1989) contributed to the arrangements of the band. The integration of popular music happened 10 years before Jackie Robinson entered Major League Baseball. Reed men Coleman Hawkins, Buster Bailey, Benny Carter and Chu Berry also were in and out of Fletcher's band. Goodman's fame was great enough that his band had no financial need to tour in the southern states, where his lineup would have been subject to arrest. At one time or another, in addition to Armstrong, the band featured Henry "Red" Allen, Joe Smith, Rex Stewart, Tommy Ladnier and Roy Eldridge on trumpet.

In 1936, he added Lionel Hampton on vibes to form the Benny Goodman Quartette; in 1940 he added pioneering jazz guitarist Charlie Christian to his band and small ensembles, who played with him until his untimely death from tuberculosis less than two years later. Henderson's band also boasted the formidable arranging talents of Don Redman. Benny Goodman broke with tradition by hiring Teddy Wilson to play with him and drummer Gene Krupa in the Benny Goodman Trio. For a time his ideas of arrangement were heavily influenced by those of Paul Whiteman, but when Louis Armstrong joined his orchestra in 1924 Henderson realized there could be a much richer potential for jazz band orchestration. In the early 1930s, black and white jazz musicians could not play together in most clubs or concerts. In the Southern states, racial segregation was enforced by the Jim Crow laws. In 1922 he formed his own band, which was resident first at the Club Alabam then at the Roseland, and quickly became known as the best "Colored" band in New York. Goodman is also responsible for a significant step in racial integration in America. His success in music made him forget about a career in chemistry.

It should be noted, however, that Goodman himself was no mere imitator; he was an astonishingly virtuosic and creative clarinetist, and one of the most of innovative jazz musicians of the pre-Bebop era. He also lead the band accompanying singer Ethel Waters. While Goodman publicly acknowledged his debt to Henderson, many young white swing fans had never heard Henderson's band. He also worked at Black Swan Records as music director and pianist. It is true that many of Goodman's arrangements had been played for years before by Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra. He worked for the Pace-Handy music company as a song demonstrator. Both popularized black music to a young white audience. After graduation, he moved to New York City to attend Columbia University for a master's degree in chemistry.

Many suggest that Goodman achieved the same success with Jazz and Swing that Elvis Presley did for Rock and Roll. He attend Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated in 1920. Some writers have declared this date to be the start of the Swing Era. His father was a principal and his mother taught piano. This received national publicity and turned the Goodman Band into an overnight sensation. Henderson was born in Cuthbert, Georgia. His radio broadcasts from New York had been too late to attract a large audience on the East Coast, but had an avid following in California, and a wildly enthusiastic crowd for the first time greeted Goodman. Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. (December 18, 1897 - December 28, 1952) was an African American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and Swing music.

However, it was not until after his fabled appearance at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles on August 21, 1935 that Goodman became a nationally known star. The combination of the Henderson charts, his solid clarinet playing, and his well rehearsed band made him a rising star in the mid-1930s. Since he needed new charts every week for the show, his friend John Hammond suggested that he purchase some Jazz charts from Fletcher Henderson, who had New York's most popular African-American band in the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1934 he auditioned for the "Let's Dance" radio program.

He played with the nationally known bands of Red Nichols, Isham Jones, and Ted Lewis before forming his own band in 1932. He made a reputation as a solid player who was prepared and reliable. Goodman left for New York City and became a good session musician during the late 1920s and early 1930s. He started making records under his own name 2 years later.

At the age of 16, Goodman joined one of Chicago's top bands, the Ben Pollack Orchestra, with whom he made his first recordings in 1926. His early influences were New Orleans jazz clarinetists in Chicago, notably Johnny Dodds, Leon Roppolo, and Jimmy Noone. He became a strong player at an early age and began playing professionally in bands while still 'in short pants'. He learned to play clarinet in a charity-run boy's band.

Goodman was born in Chicago, the son of poor Jewish immigrants who lived on Chicago's Maxwell Street neighborhood. 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". Download sample of "And the Angels Sing" by Benny Goodman and Martha Tilton, a legendary swing recording that helped keep Goodman's career afloat as band members departed.