[ Benny Goodman Orch. - "THE KING OF SWING" ]
In-theme: "Let's Dance"
Out-theme: "Goodbye"
né: Benjamin David Goodman, Clarinet.
B: May 30, 1909 Chicago, IL, USA. D: June 13, 1986 New York, NY, USA.
Overview:
As a child, Benny studied music at the Hull House in Chicago, IL. Here's a photo of Benny Goodman, as a very young musician, and another photo of Goodman, as a young professional. While this is the way that Goodman's Orch., appeared in a 1940s Hollywood film. ( To watch this photograph "in action", please 'click' on the "Sing Sing Sing" links below. ) Benny requires a book all by himself. He was an integral part of the early Chicago-wide group of musicians, now-a-days collectively known as 'The Chicagoans' that included Pee Wee Russell, Frankie Teschmacher, Leon Rapolo, Max Kaminsky, Jimmy McPartland and his brother Charles, Muggsy Spanier, the Dorsey brothers, Glenn Miller, and many others others. As such, Benny can be considered one of the 'inventors' of the modern American Swing Band.
(Please see the "Jazz Overview Link", for further info on Chicago jazz.)

In 1922, he appeared onstage with the Benny Meroff orchestra, in Chicago, doing an imitation of Ted Lewis, who was America's favorite clarinetist. Not long afterwards, Ben Pollack sent for Benny, then age 16, to join Ben Pollack & His Californians, at the Venice ballroom in Los Angeles, CA (1925). Benny's recording career got off to a somewhat inauspicious start. The first 3 sides recorded by Victor on Sept. 14, 1926 were never issued. His first commercially released recording was made on Dec. 9, 1926, and his first recorded solo, "He's the Last Word", was recorded with the Pollack orchestra, in Chicago, Dec. 12, 1926. In addition, Benny - and Glenn Miller - can be heard on the "home recordings" made by cornetist Earl Baker in his mother's home, on his own personal 'Edison Standard' cylinder recorder. Miraculously, 6 or 7 of those noisy, fragile cylinder recordings survived the years and have been issued as the "Legendary Earl Baker Cylinders" (on several somewhat obscure labels including the 'Jazz Archive' label). ( Note: Very little information on cornetist Earl Baker is extant. In addition to playing with Ben Pollack, and some of the finest early Jazz musicians, he is also credited with writing the song "Darktown Shuffle" (composed by Joe Thomas and Earl Baker.) He may also have been a member of 'The Cavaliers Orchestra', formed in Georgia by Jimmy Fuller in 1946. He also led that orchestra for a time.) It is interesting to note that Benny's services were much in demand. One may get an idea of how prolific a recording artist Goodman was when we consider that, what is generally called his "early" output, exceeds the total lifetime recorded efforts of most artists. Benny left Pollack in 1929 and became a successful "studio" musician in New York City. Benny's first band, formed in the summer of 1932, starred singer Russ Columbo.

In the aftermath of the great 1929-1933 depression, a new generation of young people were looking for music that they could call their own. Goodman's orchestra was destined to fill this need. The sidemen were on average just 5 years older than the audience. (Benny himself, maybe only 10 years older.) The hot bands of the 1920's and early '30s like Fletcher Henderson, Coon-Sanders Nighthawks, and Don Redman had all been disbanded. Perhaps Benny's only real competition was the Casa-Loma Orchestra.

His second band, (his first 'regular' band) was formed in 1934, for a residency at Billy Rose's Music Hall. Along with making some interesting recordings, the band appeared on the 3-hour Coast to Coast NBC radio program called "Let's Dance." (He was also booked into both the Roosevelt Hotel and Billy Rose's Music Hall at this time.) Goodman's orchestra shared the 'Let's Dance' radio show with the Kel Murray Orchestra, a straight-ahead dance band, and Xavier Cugat's latin 'Waldorf-Astoria Hotel' orchestra, a society dance band.

NBC's 'Let's Dance' radio show was actuallly a 5 hour broadcast from New York designed so that all U.S.time zones would get three hours of music. The east coast and central time zones were cut off after the first three hours; Mountain Time zone listened to hours 2-4, while the West Coast listened to hours 3-5. In this manner, American listeners heard 3 solid hours of dance music over the airwaves.

Six months later, MCA booked Benny's orchestra for a coast- to-coast tour which turned out to be dismally unsuccessful until the band reached the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, CA. Several times during the tour, MCA considered cancelling the remainder. The tour was absolutely unsuccessful until the very last date at the Palomar Ballroom. There Goodman found "his" audience. The kids went completely wild over Goodman's 'swing' sound. That day, Goodman''s invention, the 'big band swing' sound, swept over the world. When Benny brought the orchestra back to New York's Paramount Theatre, the kids were actually dancing in the aisles. "Bobbysox-ers" were invented and "jitterbugs" became endemic. Benny Goodman was crowned as the King of Swing, a title he held for the rest of his life (very deservedly). After his extended Palomar engagement, the band headed back east, stopping over in Chicago for still another extended run, this time at the Joseph Urban Room at the Congress Hotel.

In 1935, Benny Goodman And His Orchestra played the Congress Hotel in Chicago. The band included such outstanding musicians as Krupa on drums; Jess Stacy, piano; Nate Kabier, trumpet; Hymie Shertzer, alto sax; Art Rollini, tenor sax; Allen Reuss, guitar; Harry Goodman (Bennys brother), bass; and Helen Ward, one of the best big band vocalists. Earlier, Goodman had made some trio recordings using Krupa and pianist Teddy Wilson earlier that had sold well. Helen Oakley, later Helen Oakley Dance, encouraged him to feature Wilson (a Black man) in the trio at the hotel. Eventually, Goodman was persuaded that featuring such a racially mixed group was not a recipe for disaster, and when the occasion passed without public comment, (except for musical plaudits), Wilson was soon became a regular member of the Goodman trio. In 1936, Benny added Lionel Hampton to form the Benny Goodman Quartet. Though this was not the first integrated Jazz group, it, by far, had the highest profile. Goodman's big band was continuing to attract huge and enthusiastic audiences, and was featuring such sidemen as Harry James, Ziggy Elman, Chris Griffin, Vernon Brown, Babe Russin and Arthur Rollini.

Starting March 3, 1937, Goodman began an especially successful date at New York's Paramount Theatre. His records were also selling well. Goodman's screaming Brass section became famous worldwide. The Press dubbed them "The Biting Brass". Harry Glantz (first trumpet with the New York Philharmonic) once asked Benny Goodman "What the hell do you feed those trumpet players? Raw meat?" Duke Ellington called them "the greatest trumpet section that ever was," and Glenn Miller referred to the section as "the marvel of the age." Here's a photo of that Brass section showing L-R Harry James, Ziggy Elman and Chris Griffin (Photo courtesy of Paul Griffin, Chris Griffin's son, - all rights reserved.) In the late 1930s. Benny Goodman's Orchestra was the number one band in the U.S.A. By 1938, James had left Goodman and formed his own band. Ziggy Elman stayed until 1940 when he left Goodman and joined the Tommy Dorsey orchestra. In 1939, Griffin, tired of the touring, left, and for the next 40 years was one of the most sought after sessions musicians in New York. Griffin went on to play lead trumpet in radio and television orchestras for Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle and Ed Sullivan. He appeared on recordings by Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, and Sarah Vaughn. There were also reunions with Goodman over the years, as depicted in this Goodman Re-union photograph showing (L-R) Lionel Hampton, Bobby Hackett, Chris Griffin, Helen Ward, Benny Goodman, Martha Tilton (Photo courtesy of Paul Griffin, Chris Griffin's son, - all rights reserved.)

At the start, when Benny's orchestra was little known, it was basically a dance band, ocassionally playing some 'hot' music. There was little income, and Benny was working hard to build his band's 'book'. Before the 1934-1935 period, throughout it and afterwards too, most of the Goodman Orchestra's book had been written by Spud Murphy. The 'Killer-Dillers' in the Goodman book, were almost all written by such arrangers as Jimmy Mundy, Spud Murphy, George Bassman, Joe Lippman, Dean Kincaide, Arthur Schutt, Benny Carter, Fud Livingston and Edgar Sampson. (The band's big hit "Sing, Sing, Sing (with a Swing)" was composed by Louis Prima.).

Let's watch some videos featuring the Benny Goodman band playing Part 1
  VIDEO: "Sing, Sing, Sing"  featuring Gene Krupa-Drums, and Harry James-Trumpet. A clip from the 1937 film "Hollywood Hotel" (clip by dennman1) (That's future bandleader Harry James on trumpet.) Followed by a combination film clip featuring the Goodman orchestra playing

  VIDEO: "Sing Sing Sing-Part II"   immediately followed by by the wonderful Benny Goodman Quartet, with Teddy Wilson on piano, Lionel Hampton on Vibes, Gene Krupa on Drums, and Benny on Clarinet playing "Christopher Columbus", One great Video! (clip by dickh2004)

  VIDEO: "Medley"  , Here's another great film clip of the songs "I've Got a Heartful of Music" and "House Hop". A youthful Harry James solos on both "Heartful" and "Hop". Famed crooner Rudy Vallee introduces the band. (film clip: WhenSwingWasKing) Film: "Hollywood Hotel" -1937.

  VIDEO: "The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise"   Red Norvo on vibes, and Benny Goodman on clarinet filmed in 1960. The song was an early Goodman showcase in 1934, and was memorably re-recorded by BG with Mel Powell in 1942 (for Commodore). This clip is from 1960, and Benny was still playing this number brilliantly in the 1980s! This is the 10-piece group Goodman led from 1959-1961 (built around the Red Norvo Quintet), but in this clip, the spotlight stays firmly on Benny and Red. (film clip: 'WhenSwingWasKing')

Benny was also just beginning to pick up some charts from Fletcher Henderson. (I think that he only had two charts from Fletcher at this time. Henderson's scores for "Sometimes I'm Happy" and "King Porter Stomp" proved popular.)

After Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra disbanded, Benny hired Fletch, in August 1939. By this time, Goodman's orchestra was enormously successful. Fletcher then presented Benny with many of his own band's scores. Benny continued to use the Fletcher and Horace Henderson; Edgar Sampson; Benny Carter and Deane Kincaide scores throughout his career. (Mary Lou Williams contributed the famous "Roll 'Em".) To Benny's credit, he never failed to give full credit to Fletcher for co-authorship of the "big band swing" sound (even tho Benny, himself, played a huge part in the invention of that 'sound'.)

This was a historic moment in American musical history. It was the first time that a "white" band hired a black musician to play with it on stage. To Benny's great pride and credit, he was the man to integrate our musicians. After Henderson, Benny went on to hire such fine musicians as Teddy Wilson (piano); Lionel Hampton (Vibes); Cootie Williams (trumpet); Charlie Christian (guitar) and 'Slam' Stewart (bass fiddle) as well as singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Jimmy Rushing.

Let's go back to the year 1942, and watch this film clip of Benny's orchestra playing
  (Video) "One O'Clock Jump"   from the film 'The Powers Girl".

This tune was the Count Basie Orchestra theme song, and if you wish, let's watch the ,
  (Video) Count Basie Sextet - "One O'Clock Jump"  His theme song.

  VIDEO: "Why Don;'t You Do Right"   Benny Goodman Orch, with Peggy Lee vocal (Film Clip: margotminnelli )

Benny should also be remembered for forming the "personality" concept in big band swing. It was with Benny's band that the sidemen were given public exposure as soloists. It was this fan worship for Goodman's sidemen such as Harry James; Gene Krupa; Lionel Hampton and Ziggy Elman, that later allowed them to form their own orchestras. This practice of featuring the sidemen was picked up by virtually every other swing orchestra of the day. Rarely does Benny receive sufficient credit for this.

Among his girl vocalists were Helen Ward, (original), 'Liltin' Martha Tilton ; Peggy Lee, Louise Tobin, Jane Harvey , Kay Penton, (who briefly replaced Harvey in April. 1945), Dottie Reid, Liza Morrow,,, Eve Young, Nancy Reed, (Her father was a jazz pianist and her mother an opera singer), and Ann Graham.

A visitor to this site has sent this photo of Louise Tobin and "Peanuts" Hucko (photo source unknown). At the time, "Peanuts" was her husband. She had been previously married to bandleader Harry James Just six days after Louise divorced James, he married actress (and pin-up girl) Betty Grable, shown here in her famous World War II "pin-up" photograph. ( Michael Andrew "Peanuts" Hucko, Clarinet, saxophone, bandleader. b: April 7, 1918, Syracuse, NY, USA,, d: June 19, 2003, Fort Worth, Texas, USA )

Listen now to Benny's orchestra backing his singer "Liltin'" Martha Tilton singing one of his big hit songs, "And The Angels Sing" (647 kb). When Martha's chorus is done, trumpeter "Ziggy" Elman has a wonderful "fraylicher" chorus with his trumpet.

In 1939, Benny switched recording companies from RCA to Columbia. He also signed Eddie Sauter as his new arranger. It was Sauter who rejected Goodman's original brasses against the saxes format to a newer and more harmonically advanced type of scoring, especially for the ballads. Sauter was responsible for such hits as "Clarinet ala King" and "Benny Rides Again".

In 1941, Benny married Alice Duckworth, famed jazz critic John Hammond's sister. It was a very happy, long lived marriage. It was this same John Hammond who had encouraged Benny to integrate negroes into the orchestra.

Another unique Goodman contribution was the concept of a 'band within a band', with his magnificent Trios (1935), Quartet, and Sextet. Once, I recall, I was listening to some of these with a group of younger people. After the session was over, there was a silence, and one of the group said, quietly, "Gee, it's sorta like the Chamber Music of Jazz". I've never forgotten the comment. The small group sessions with the "Hamp", Teddy and Krupa are as live and vibrant today as when they were recorded a half century ago. Surely that is the hallmark of genius.

After the end of the bigband era, Goodman went on to a career as a classical Clarinet solist with many of the world's great symphony orchestras. He never-the-less would, from time to time put, together a pickup group for jazz concerts.

Nobody, but absolutely nobody, played the clarinet as well as Benny. He drilled his band to perfection by demanding no less from the sidemen than he did of himself. He was not only well liked by the bandsmen, but also very much admired for his musicianship. He is a giant among American Jazz musicians, and no small discourse such as this one can do him full justice. --- Murray Pfeffer

          [ The Goofus Five ]
Please See California Ramblers.

          [ Goldie's Syncopators ]
Please See California Ramblers.

          [ The Golden Gate Orchestra ]
Please See California Ramblers. Here's the     Golden Gate Orchestra, playing "Charleston", in 1920. (The file is in ogg format - play-able on new versions of Winamp, also Freeamp - and some other players.)

          [ Claude Gordon Orch. ]
Records: Alma Records
Overview
Claude (trumpet) learned about the band business while working in the bands of RonnieKemper; Matty Malneck and Frankie Masters. He started his own first band, in Los Angeles during the late 1950's, but the Big Band era had already ended. The band's vocalist was Darts Alexander.

Trumpet playing Gordon had many years experience as a staff musician at CBS. He also taught trumpet and accordion at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, and since the late 1940's, had been very active in the Hollywood musical scene. During the early 1940's he had been on the road with traveling bands.

In 1959, the American Federation of Musicians tried to stage a bigbands revival movement. They sponsored a series of regional "Best New Band" contests climaxed by a national event in New York's famed Roseland Ballroom. Claude Gordon, with a thirteen-piece band organized in his home town Los Angeles, CA, was the winner of the national title.

The band was presented with a new set of instruments, a record contract, and an appearance on a network TV show. A coast to coast tour of one nighters was arranged by the . Frank Monte, who had managed both the Harry James and the Benny Goodman bands, was appointed to manage the Gordon orchestra. While all the ingredients for success were now in place, it was not the right time for new big bands to emerge. The band met with little success despite being a really first-rate dance band playing some great Billy May arrangements.

Gordon kept the band on the road during the early 1960's, but success eluded them. In time, Claude returned to teaching music with the band appearing only on specific request.

          [ Gray Gordon & His Tic Toc Music ]
B: May 4, 1904 Freeport, IL, USA. D: July 18, 1976 New York, NY, USA.
né: Jerome Rohkar
Instrument: saxophone
Theme Song: "One Minute To One" (not recorded)
Gordon's first attempt at forming a band was a five-man combo known as The Pretzel Five. Formed while he was in high school, this group played dixieland jazz at social events in his hometown.

In the mid-1920's Gordon moved to Chicago where he played with The Seattle Harmony Kings and Elmo Mack's Purple Derby Orchestra. In 1936 he moved to New York where he formed his first band. During an engagement at the Hotel Chase in St. Louis, he legally changed his name to Gray Gorden although as a bandleader he would be known as Gordon.

Here's a photo Gray Gordon, with Tic / Toc as part of his signature. He developed the "Tic Toc Rhythm" style in late 1937 while playing in Chicago. He had the drummer, Frank Adams, tapping out a 'tick-tock rhythm' on the Temple Blocks (a drummer's accessory) which established the tempo of the song and also identified the band to radio listeners. This was usually accompanied by an exaggerated trombone note prior to the entire band joining in for the opening bars of the song.

Gray Gordon and His Tic-Toc Rhythm became famous during their many months-long engagments at The Green Room of NY's Hotel Edison, a venue they shared with the bands of Blue Baron and Little Jack Little. In addition to being a very popular nightspot the hotel had a network radio wire which allowed the band to be heard throughout the country.

Cliff Grass, who was the primary vocalist, also played lead alto-sax. He was vocalist on the bands biggest sellling record 'Blue In The Black of Night' (Bluebird 7838). Grass left in late 1940 to work for Guy Lombardo where he played alto behind Carmen Lombardo, occcasionally sang solo numbers and, was a member of The Lombardo Trio until his retirment in 1975.

Instrumentalists during this period included Bobby Blair on trobmone (the band had only one trombonist!) and Ray Mace played piano. Interestingly, most of Gordon's records feature an accordion player who has never been identified.

Although Gordon did not disband until 1945 his last recordings were made in February 1941. After breaking up the band he worked as a public relations man and for a short time represented Les Paul and Mary Ford. This did not prove to be a successful move. By 1948 he was nearly broke and began having servious health problems due to chronic emphysema. In 1949 his wife, dancer Noel Carter, divorced him. They had been married in 1941 and had no children.

Gordon was next known to be working as public relations director for various hotels in Miami during the 1960's and early 1970's. He died of cancer in 1976 and was buried next to his parents in Oakland Cemetary in his hometown of Freeport, Illinois.

Recording affiliation: Bluebird, Victor
Vocalists included: Cliff Grass, Cliff Bruce, Shirley Lane, Betty Lane, Betty Bradley, Meredith Blake, Art Perry, Rita Ray

Thanks to Mr Robin Lenhart for this Gray Gordon Entry.

          [ Eddie Grady and the Commanders ]
Eddie Grady was a child star drummer who later played with many bands before becoming a studio musician. Felix Mayerhofer, one of the band's great trombonists, has some fond memories of the Commanders, which are given here.
"Eddie's first, and only, band was owned by Decca Records and/or Tutti Camarata, - don't really know who. The band did all their rehearsing at the Decca Studios. Tutti rehearsed the band. They ran the road band too. Eddie Grady was paid like a sideman and we had a manager, Lester Lee, who took care of everything."

"The Grady orchestra recorded their very first album in 1953. Studio musicians recorded that Commander's album. It was a different group of musicians who comprised the first 'road' band and who subsequently did all the other recordings. If I remember correctly, Will Bradly, Chauncey Welsh and possibly Bobby Burns played on that original recording. Eddie had very fast hands. and was a featured drum soloist at every performance."

"The band was unique in that the trombone section was featured. They sat in the front row rather than the saxes. The first trombone section with the band was: Al Lorraine, Porky Cohen, Morty Trautman and Felix Mayerhofer. There were articles about the band in both the "Metronome" and I think "Downbeat" magazines. It was a great band and the musicians received very good wages for that time."

"Grady contracted diabetes while we were on the road with our first road band and went into a coma. I can still remember the night when we stopped the bus about 3 in the morning and he went outside to throw up. He then passed out. That's the reason (I think) he eventually got off the road."

"The Commanders toured for the 3 years between 1954 to 1957, playing the major ballrooms from coast to coast. They did a "Battle of the Bands" on one of the Jackie Gleason summer TV shows, playing against the Tommy Dorsey Band. During the years 1954-1955, the Commanders recorded a great number of singles (some of which sold quite well and were given air-time around the country). In 1957, Warren Covington became the leader for a short time, and changed to a traditional band with 5 saxes and using his own arrangements. By the way, the chief arrangers for the Commanders were Charley Shirley and Tutti Camarata. I don't think Covington had the band for very long."

"I left the band in 1956 to go to college. When I graduated college in 1958, I went back to New York City to work and I never heard a word about the band, until 1959. In the summer of 1959, I was working with a lounge act at the Mapes Hotel in Reno, Nevada when Eddie Grady walked in with pianist Joe Bushkin. Bushkin's trio was also playing at the Mapes. Grady had married the sister of actress Bonita Granville, who herself was married to Edmond O'Brien, the actor. Grady was freelancing in the Hollywood studios and playing with Bushkin's trio. I never heard from him after that."

"The original band had the 4 trombones in the front row. The second row consisted of 3 trumpets and two saxes (alto and a tenor who doubled on bass sax). The rhythm section were the drums, bass, piano and guitar. We had a vocalist or I should say stylist, dramatist. She was quite affective." I remember most of the guys in the band, but I'm not sure about some of the spellings:

TROMBONES
    Al Lorraine - Lead
    Porky Cohen - Jazz - Some lead too. (From Providence R.I.)
    Morty Trautmaun - - A little lead
    Felix Mayerhofer - A little lead

TRUMPETS
    1st - Unknown - I've got a mental block
    Willie Gillette - Jazz - He played some lead too.
    Mario Bonofidi - Split lead - From N.Y.

SAXES
    Paul Gaglio - Alto - He was featured quite often.
    Lou Lindholm - Tenor and Bass Sax - He was also featured on record dates on the bass saxophone.

RHYTHM
    Drums - Eddie Grady
    Bass - Rudy (Berser??) Replaced by Jimmy Gannon
    Piano - George Cooper
    Guitar - Griff Howe

VOCALIST
    Lucia Roberts - She did a recording with the band ("All By Myself"). She was different. More like a French chanteuse.