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Benny Goodman: King of Swing

Graham Pass

Benny Goodman: King of Swing: Episode 2

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Episode 2

BBC Radio 2 - Benny Goodman: King of Swing, Episode 2

In 1928, Benny left for New York and soon began to thrive in the Big Apple.

In 1928, Benny left for New York as a member of the Ben Pollack band. Though the band initially had to retreat to Chicago, Benny soon began to thrive in the Big Apple.

Curtis Stigers remembers the clarinettist, bandleader and "King Of Swing" Benny Goodman. 

The second episode begins in 1928, when Benny left for New York as a member of the Ben Pollack band. When the work dried up, Pollack and his band retreated to Chicago but Benny was soon back in New York. Constantly in demand for a whole variety of recording sessions, from jazz to vaudeville, Benny worked with Red Nichols, the great trombonist Jack Teagarden, and played in several Broadway shows including the Gershwin Brothers' Strike Up the Band. 

His first regular band took up a residency at Billy Rose's Music Hall, before winning a spot on a new radio show called Let's Dance. The band now featured exciting soloists, such as trumpeter Bunny Berigan and drummer Gene Krupa. A weekly show also called for a lot of music so Benny hired the arranger Fletcher Henderson, who set the style for the band. They started recording for the Victor company and their breakthrough record was Henderson's arrangement of the Jelly Roll Morton composition, King Porter Stomp. 

Benny was a ferocious rehearser and the band got better and better. But when the radio series came to an end, Benny took the band on a cross-country tour to California. The tour was not a success - even his booking agent suggested they give up - but Benny was determined to see the tour through. When they opened at LA's Palomar Ballroom on 21 August 1935, a transformation occurred, and the swing era was born!

This series first broadcast on Radio 2 in 2009 and marked Benny's centenary year.

Amazing music. Played by an amazing line up.

Radio 2: Amazing music. Played by an amazing line-up. The home of great music, entertainment and documentaries

Curtis Stigers celebrates the life and music of clarinettist and bandleader Benny Goodman

Curtis Stigers celebrates the life and music of the virtuoso clarinettist and bandleader Benny Goodman, who became known as the 'king of swing'

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