Yale Archives, Vol. 11-12: NBC Broadcast Recordings

Read About This Recording

Late in his life, Benny Goodman willed his private tapes to Yale University. Over time, ten CDs were put out of previously unreleased performances, most of it dating from 1954-67. Now, with this wide-ranging two CD set, the project comes to a swinging end.

Benny Goodman, one of the most famous jazz musicians of all time, launched the Swing Era in 1935 (and earned himself the title of "The King Of Swing"®) when his band became a surprise sensation and a very influential force in jazz and popular music. One of the truly great clarinetists, Goodman had been working in the major leagues ever since he was 17 in 1926 and hired to play with Ben Pollack. He made many record dates during the next eight years and was a busy studio musician during the worst years of the Depression, but he was bored and wanted to lead his own big band. After a bit of struggle, he rose to unprecedented fame during the second half of the 1930s, capped off with his historic Carnegie Hall concert in 1938. Goodman stayed true to his musical vision throughout his long career, playing regularly much of the time up until his death in 1986.

Yale Archives Vols. 11-12 contains valuable performances from several periods in Goodman's career. He is featured with his big band and small groups during a trio of previously unreleased broadcasts from 1940, 1941 and 1943. Goodman is also showcased with a 1961 septet, in 1986 at his last record dates and on three songs from back in 1936. Among the key featured sidemen are trumpeters Ziggy Elman, Cootie Williams, Buck Clayton (in 1961) and Randy Sandke (1986), trombonist Dan Barrett, tenors Georgie Auld and Ken Peplowski, electric guitar pioneer Charlie Christian, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, pianists Mel Powell and Jess Stacy, and singers Helen Forrest and Peggy Lee. In addition, there are some adventurous arrangements from Eddie Sauter.

Throughout this consistently enjoyable set, the main star is the remarkable clarinetist. Although this music went unreleased for decades, it features Benny Goodman in prime form. This twofer is a major addition to the King Of Swing's® discography and is a joy for swing fans.

—Scott Yanow

Quotes

"The brilliant explosion known as Benny Goodman went off in 1935, and it hasn't gone out yet." —Whitney Ballient in The New Yorker, 12/28/77

"He remains one of the great contributors to music…people are fortunate to be able to enjoy this outstandingly talented man." —John McDonough in Coda, a Canadian jazz publication, 9/74

"Benny Goodman is our 'International Ambassador with Clarinet.'" —President John F. Kennedy, upon Goodman's return from a State Department sponsored concert tour in Russia

"That night at Carnegie Hall was a great experience. When the thing was first put up to me I was a little dubious about it, not knowing just what would be expected of us. But as soon as it was understood that we could handle things in our own way, and let the people listen to it as they would any other kind of music, the proposition really began to mean something. Personally, it was the thrill of my life to walk out on that stage with people just hemming the band in (some overflow audience actually sat on the stage) and hear the greeting the guys got." —Benny Goodman, regarding his landmark Carnegie Hall Concert in 1938 from the book Kingdom of Swing

"Above all else, he was a great player, one of the greatest American music has produced. He brought his absolute talent and his invincible love of music to the fore every time he played. There are many other things connected to society and ethnicity that are often mentioned in a discussion of Benny Goodman but all of them are connected to his overwhelming affection for the art of music and the fairness it should be allowed to express." —Stanley Crouch, Jazz Historian, Author and Professor, Columbia University Jazz Program and Columnist, New York Daily News

"From his earliest small group recordings through his big bands of the swing era — of which he surely was a king — and on until the end of his days, Benny Goodman was a master of the clarinet and a bandleader admired by musicians and non-musicians alike, across all musical categories across the globe. His quicksilver tone, his insistent drive to swing the music, his ability to execute cleanly the most dramatic filigrees of passages - all these qualities made him one of the most imitated instrumentalists in the world. Equally important to his legacy is his courage in proclaiming that music is a universal language transcending race and nation. Both as musical units and as experiments in democracy, his integrated bands compromised magnificent gestures toward perfection in our time." —Robert G. O'Meally, Director, Jazz Studies Columbia University

"I had never heard anyone play like Benny Goodman and had never seen anyone like him on the stage. He seemed completely without ego, which does not mean without personality. I thought that even when he was playing he was smiling, but that of course must have been his eyes. And I remember he wore glasses, and that seemed strange to me. I had been to the theatre a lot, but this man was not like any other. I realize now that what impressed me and stayed with me in memory was — the sounds he made. He played so purely. The music seemed to come from him, not just the instrument he played with such mastery." —Marian Seldes, Actress

"Goodman was one of the most incredible players the field has ever known. It wasn't just that his own improvisation was marvelous, the spirit, the verve, the vitality, even humor he played with, but the sheer technical mastery. He played that thing like it was a yo-yo. The only thing comparable from a technical point of view would be [Art] Tatum." —Mel Powell, Pianist-Composer

"He was totally in command of everything. He was always a heavy practicer. Practiced all the time. He had ideas on how everything should be done in the band - bass, everything. Nobody argued with him, everybody had great respect for him." —Jimmy Maxwell, Leader Trumpet Player

Product Info

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Contents

Exclusive!

King Porter Stomp; Flying Home; Stardust; All the Things You Are; Indian Summer; One O’clock Jump; Frenesi; The Moon Won’t Talk; Yours; Gone With What Draft; Let the Doorknob Hitch; Caprice XXIV Paganini; I See a Million People; Moon and Sand; Superman; Who Can I Turn To?; Something New; I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire; A Smo-o-o-th One; At the Darktown Strutter’s Ball; In My Arms; Three Little Words; Sunday, Monday for Always; Bugle Call Rag; Sweet Georgia Brown; Memories of You; Medley: Oh Lady Be Good/Mack the Knife/I Can't Give You Anything but Love; Avalon; Rose Room; That’s a Plenty; Lulu’s Back in Town; New Kind of Love; Muskrat Ramble; Stompin’ at the Savoy; The Dixieland Band; Dear Old Southland.

Benny Goodman, Clarinet; Ziggy Elman, Cootie Williams, Buck Clayton, Trumpets; Georgie Auld, Tenor Sax; Charlie Christian, Guitar; Lionel Hampton, Vibes; Mel Powell, Jess Stacy, Pianos; Helen Forrest, Peggy Lee, Vocals; others.