Listen No. 17 - The Great Benny Goodman

Record Number 17: The Great Benny Goodman

Genre:  Jazz (big band, swing)

Context: This is the album to accompany the 1956 film The Benny Goodman Story. When Goodman died in 1986, George Wein (jazz pianist and music promoter) said “He was the most popular figure in the history of jazz to reach a non-jazz public. He was the Beatles of his day. And he did it with a pure, uncompromising music. He never compromised.”

Notable facts: Despite ill health, Goodman performed into his seventies, and his last concert was six days before his death.

 My favourite track:  Bugle Call Rag (also known as Bugle Call Blues). This song is a jazz standard (I had to look this up), and was first recorded in 1922. I also loved Moonglow, which I think almost everyone has heard, but I didn’t know it was called this.

What critics made of it:   The 1956 New York Times review urges readers to watch it only for the music. The film itself is judged ‘dismal’, ‘flat’ and the acting spreads ‘a layer of concrete on the screen.” The review is worth reading for amusement -.

Listening to this inspired me to: watch The Benny Goodman Story. I’d like to see just how bad it is.