Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life & Times of Benny Goodman - Softcover

Ross Firestone

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393311686 ISBN 13: 9780393311686

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994

Synopsis

“A first-rate biography. . . . The narrative flows like a swinging jazz solo.” ―Dan Morgenstern, director, Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies

Before Elvis Presley and rock-'n'-roll, another King ruled the roost of American popular music. His name was Benny Goodman and his domain, the gilded age of Swing. Benny's concerts, records, and radio shows catapulted the hot and controversial sounds of jazz into the hearts and homes of a hungry public. Swing, Swing, Swing at once illustrates Goodman's enormous impact on American music and culture, reflects the rich textures of the times in which he lived, and evokes the very private life of a complicated, difficult man. Raised in a tenement in Chicago's Maxwell Street ghetto, he grew up to become the symbol of glamorous high-society living. Benny's undeniable position as social groundbreaker ―his were the nation's first racially integrated bands―was characteristically downplayed by the man himself: he simply wanted the finest musicians he could find. Here are the sounds and stories that define the remarkable life of the world's most demanding and idiosyncratic band leader. The violent clashes between his smiling public persona and his intensely private nature; the infamous "Goodman Ray" (no musician who played with Benny escaped its wrath); the conflicting stories of Goodman's parsimony and his largess―these stories and many more paint a vibrant portrait of a truly original, undeniably American artist.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Firestone ( The Man in Me ) strikes the right chords in this exceptionally fine biography of the King of Swing, Benny Goodman (1909-1986). With a social historian's command of events and places, he vividly chronicles his subject's ascent, beginning with his split from his brother's Chicago band just before the Crash of 1929. Firestone illuminates the recordings, club dates, tours and players in the clarinetist and bandleader's surprisingly rocky career. Full, revealing reports describe Goodman's popular appearances at the Paramount Theater and Carnegie Hall in New York City during the 1930s; his integrated bands, which crossed the racial lines in the movies as well as in the music business; his conflicts with record executive John Hammond Sr.; and his steadfast support of his bandmembers, including drummer Gene Krupa, whose career was left in tatters after he was imprisoned for giving marijuana to a minor. Extensive interviews with Goodman's contemporaries and judicious use of newspaper accounts of performances and trends not only sharpen this portrait but revive the excitement of the early days of swing. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Firestone offers a sympathetic biography of jazz bandleader Goodman (1909-86), who spearheaded the swing dance craze. He describes the clarinetist's poverty-stricken childhood in Chicago, his early musical career, and his rise to national prominence from 1935 through World War II. The author also chronicles Goodman's pioneering efforts to racially integrate his bands, his interest in modern jazz, and his work around the world until his death. Though he writes a lively narrative, Firestone never acknowledges James Lincoln Collier's Benny Goodman and the Swing Era ( LJ 9/15/89), to which he adds little. Recommended for general collections without Collier's book and comprehensive jazz collections.
- David Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0393311686
• ISBN 13: 9780393311686
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 524