Benjamin David Goodman was born in Chicago on May 30, 1909, the ninth of twelve children born to David and Dora Goodman, who both emigrated from Russia but met in America.
David Goodman eked out a minimal living for his family by working for a tailor in a sweatshop. To help alleviate the family’s poverty, the children were urged to work as soon as they were old enough.
For entertainment, David would take his youngest children to Douglas Park on Sundays to hear free band concerts. It was here that he first heard of the Kehelah Jacob band. Lessons were given for one quarter at the Kehelah Jacob synagogue. David Goodman enrolled his three youngest sons with the hopes that one day, their music would lift them out of poverty. It was here that Benny Goodman began to play the clarinet, while his brothers learned tuba and trumpet.
The Kehelah Jacob band eventually shut down due to lack of funds,. Benny and his brother then began to play in the band at Jane Addams' famous social settlement, Hull-House.
Benny also began taking lessons from Franz Shoepp, a German who gave lessons to anyone who could pay his modest fee. It did not matter to him if his students were black or white. (Benny Goodman, 1979). Benny played alongside Jimmy Noone and Buster Bailey and none of them even thought about their different races.
After a concert at a local grammar school, Franz Schoepp pulled David Goodman aside and confided that he had great hopes for Benny’s future as a musician.
Eventually, Benny earned a name for himself at a young age and began to secure professional gigs with a variety of bands When his father brought home a second-hand Victrola that included several records, Benny listened to, and was fascinated by a clarinet solo by Ted...
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...om a variety of academies and other entities, including the state of California. He has influenced countless musicians. Along the way, he received his own crown as, “The King of Swing”. Finally, it is safe to say that he has fulfilled his father’s dream; the music lifted him out of poverty.
Works Cited
Benny Goodman, S. B. (1979). Benny, King of Swing. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc.
Estate of Benny Goodman. (n.d.). Quotes by Benny. Retrieved December 12, 2011, from Benny Goodman, The Official Website of the King of Swing: http://www.bennygoodman.com/about/quotes2.html
The History Channel. (2011). The Swing Era Begins with Benny Goodman's Triumphant Palomar Ballroom Performance. Retrieved December 12, 2011, from The History Channel: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-swing-era-begins-with-benny-goodmans-triumphant-palomar-ballroom-performance
What was the Jazz Age in America? Also known as the ‘Roaring Twenties’, it was when American ways began to modernize. Before the stock market crashed and the Great Depression started, culture was booming in America. Dance was changing rapidly and new styles of dance were being created. Women began to wear shorter clothes, cut their hair, and some even had jobs, while the Flapper girls gave other young women an outlook of freedom.
Even though the Great Depression was a time of suffering economically, it was also a time for creativity in country music. Wester swing appeared in Texas in the 1930s and quickly spread to other states. The exciting new sound appealed to many teens in the 1920s. By the 1930s they had taken the reels, waltzes, fiddle breakdowns, and other styles they had learned from their elders and combined them with blues, rags, jazz, swing, and pop to create a remarkably diverse and dynamic new sound that would come to be known as Western swing (Hartman, 144).
At age eighteen, Bob had started a dance act with his girl friend Millie Rosequest, but it did not last long. Bob soon teamed up with another dancer named George Burd. They took their act to New York and worked at a lot of vaudeville show houses. It was at one of these places where Bob was asked to do the announcing in between acts. Bob's comedic talent and acts took hold and lead to the beginning of his solo career. In less than five years Bob had become the most sought after talent and the # 1 hit in the vaudeville circuit.
Joplin's talent was revealed at an early age. Encouraged by his parent's, he became extremely proficient on the banjo and gained an interest for playing the piano. After Joplin's parents purchased a piano for the family, he taught himself how to play the instrument so well that his piano playing became remarkable. Joplin soon began playing for church and local social events. By age eleven, while under the teachings of a German music teacher named Juliuss Weiss, Joplin was learning the finer points of harmony and style. As a teenager, he played well enough to be employed as a dance musician.
The performance at the sands is vocal jazz but the music in itself is swing andpop combined. Even though it is not improvisation the artists do take liberties sneaking in embellishments here and there. When you think of Frank Sinatra you think of the songs that are on his performance at the Sands. The Basie Rhythm machine establishes a stable swing beat allows Sinatra to sing freely around the music making a one of a kind performance. A lot of the credit for the success of the performance goes to Count Basie’s arranger and conductor Quincy Jones. Jones created a groove that blended Sinatra’s strong voice, use of phrasing and his free embellishing with Basie’s Orchestra so well it that has the band, Sinatra, and the crowd all feeding off each other.
Before even attempting to understand any of this, however, some background information on Sinatra and his family would be helpful. Sinatra came from a family of orthodox Italian heritage. His mother and father were the first of his family to move from Sicily to America and settle down in the “land of the free';. After arriving in the United States, they ended up making their home in Hoboken, New Jersey, a very poor area where people resided with those of their own ethnic background. Their history was very important to the Sinatra family, and good moral values, as well as the importance of a good education, were instilled in all their children. Frank’s parents could barely read or write; that’s why good schooling was a priority to them. Sinatra’s parents looked down on the entertainment business, and with little success, did everything to lure Frank away from his attraction to the glitz and glamour of show business (Sinatra 15).
Edward Kennedy Ellington, American jazz composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist, is considered to be the greatest composer in the history of jazz music and one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. He composed over 2000 works and performed numerous concerts during his musical career. A compilation of some of his most popular music is collected on a CD called "The Popular Duke Ellington."
successful lyricist. Also, it was Ira’s interest in music that made their parents purchase the
Benny Goodman (May 30, 1909 - June 1986), also known as the “King of Swing”, was a jazz and swing musician who played the clarinet. Born into a family of Russian immigrants, his family would soon have him be one of 11 siblings. Money was always tight for his family, but he went to study music at age 10. He learned to play the clarinet at Kahaleh Jacob Synagogue, where he excelled, starting his professional career in 1921. At age 14, he ended his school career to join the American Federation of Musicians. His popularity began to rise in the 1930s, when his performance of the song “He’s Not Worth Your Tears” was performed on radio. He became a bandleader, being responsible for the creation of a number of hit singles. The Benny Goodman Orchestra
Carringer, Robert L.. The Jazz singer. Madison: Published for the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research by the University of Wisconsin Press, 1979. Print.
The only a child of a white TV news producer Sy Kravitz and the late African American actress Roxie Roker (known for her role as Hellen Willis on the TV sitcom The Jeffersons, Kravitz was born May 26, 1964, in Brooklyn New York. It was only upon reaching elementary school did he come to realize that his mother and father were of different races, but in any case the matter was never much of an issue for him. As an infant, Lenny displayed a strong predilection for music, and he often surrounded himself with pots and pans which served as his makeshift drums. His parents encouraged these proclivities. By age ten, Lenny had already been escorted to performances by Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, James Brown, and the Jackson 5.
Johnny cash, the man in black is a country legend, him and the Tennessee two, made a name for themselves in the mid 50's. There orignal songs where gospil, but when trying to get a record deal was turned down for the gospil ,but then played a song Johnny cash wrote. The first hit was "Cry,Cry,Cry", other hits were " i walk the line","folsom Prison blues" , and others such as " man in black"" Hey Porter", and " get rhythm". Johnny cash marride his early wife Vivian Liberto in 1954, and moved to Memphis, Tennessee.His band The Tennessee two consited of Luther Perkins and bass player Marshall Grant. They were known for there sound, people say they had a "boom-chik-a-Boom" sound like a train. Johnny wore dark clothing which got him the name "man in black", and hestarted his performanced with the simple entrance "Hello im Johnny Cash". {wikipedia}
Interview footage of her colleagues, fellow musicians, and friends such as Annie Ross, Buck Clayton, Mal Waldron, and Harry “Sweets” Edison look back on their years of friendship and experiences with the woman they affectionately call “Lady”. Their anecdotes, fond memories, and descriptive way of describing Holiday’s unique talent and style, show the Lady that they knew and loved. The film also makes interesting use of photographs and orignal recordings of Holiday, along with movie footage of different eras. With the use of these devices, we get a feel for what Holiday’s music meant for the audience it reached. The black and white footage from the thirties of groups of people merrily swing dancing, paired with a bumptious, and swingin’ number Billie Holiday performed with Count Basie called “Swing Me Count”, makes one wonder what it might have been like to actually be there. To wildly swing dance to the live vocals of Billie Holiday must have been an amazing experience, as this film demonstrates.
Jazz and “boogie-woogie” of the Thirties moved popular music away from the light entertainment of the publishing houses toward a more exciting and dance oriented style that made the swing era a golden age. As the bigger bands died out and the star singers again grabbed the spot light the songwriters again found their services in demand. Without jazz driving it and Americans rebuilding their lives and starting baby booms people were too busy to waste time dancing. Popular music turned back to light sentimental songs and cute novelty music song by polished voices and backed by sweetly generic instrumentals.
The swing style was greatly influenced by jazz and also a multitude of popular dances from before it’s time, for example the Black Bottom, Big Apple and the Turkey Trot. The style of Swing dancing is named after the type of jazz music that swing dancing is traditionally danced too. Swing dancing is said to have been created at a club called the Savoy Ballroom. The Savoy Ballroom was a block-long dancehall in New York City and was so popular that it was frequented by many of the greatest dancers of the 1920’s and 30’s such as “Shorty George” Snowden. The Savoy was so large that it had 2 bands playing Jazz at all times, one on either end of the dance floor. Another thing that made the Savoy Ballroom so unique is it was one of the few places at that time that were desegregated, so the black and whites were dancing in the same room. A typical night at the Savoy ballroom would entail the patrons starting the evening doing line dances then pairing up according to ability and continuing to dance the night away in pairs. Usually the better dancers would gather, dance together, and try new moves in one corner of the dance floor known as the “cat’s corner.”