Talk:Benny Goodman

Notable songs

This article should cite one or two of his best lnown songs in the lede so that a reader who wants to seek out the Benny Goodman sound doesn't have to wade through his bio. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ghosts&empties (talk • contribs) 10:28, 28 April 2021 (UTC)

Discography Section

There's a listing for 1929 called "Benny Goodman and the Giants of Swing". I don't think that the word "swing" was even used in relation to jazz music until 1932 (Basie). Of course swing really didn't gain great popularity until that significant Goodman concert of 1937. I hope that someone improves the discography, or even creates a more accurate and detailed discography which shows the vocalists of the singles. An example would be the separate article for the Harry James discography. Worldbook1967 (talk) 14:58, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Well I don't know a huge amount about this subject but Prestige Records appears to have been founded in 1949 and this AllMusic review says it's a compilation of early recordings from 1929 to 1931. For whatever it's worth this gives 1946 as a release date, which I don't believe. An album with this title is mentioned at the Prestige Records discography page (under catalogue number PR 7644). I'm going to remove it from this article for now. Graham87 09:35, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

Nazis

"Germany's Nazi party barred jazz from the radio, claiming it was part of a Jewish conspiracy to destroy the culture." - It was not completely banned. During the war "swing" was sent also by German military radio stations. Joseph Goebbels said soldiers who fight should hear the music they like. Alex1011 (talk) 23:37, 23 July 2022 (UTC)

Right. And yet, swing fans who, by enjoying and celebrating the music, showed disrespect for the system of terror and genocide like the Swingjugend did and the 1993 movie Swing Kids shows, were usually chased by the Gestapo and took risks of quite various degree, depending on incalculable circumstances. While the German entertainment industry, expected to jolly the public along, completed the range of music genres used in their idyllic-world-movies often with operetta tunes and somewhat sedately hobbling performed variants of conga-sound(alike).

~ 80.109.113.159 (talk) 11:34, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Not a composer?

I found several files of Goodman's recordings with tags I could neither verify nor falsify, mentioning his among other names – of persons who are definitively known as composers. This is even more puzzling than the undifferentiated mentioning of lyricists and composers in many sources, leaving me confused: was he a co-composer in this case? The only composer in another one? Or (just, though with essential importance) the arranger?

Moreover, jazzstandards.com claims:

As a composer Goodman contributed to “Stompin’ at the Savoy”, “Seven Come Eleven”, “Air Mail Special”, “Flying Home”, “Don’t Be That Way”, “Lullaby in Rhythm”, “If Dreams Come True”, and “Soft Winds”.

So, if he was a composer, could someone with referring knowledge add the term and link the article with the category? And in case he did not write the entire music of at least one song, thus being “only” a co-composer and your definition would strictly deserve more, could then a remark in the introduction – i. e. something like “though he shared his composing skills by merely co-writing eight songs, his historic imprtance for popular music in general (...)” – clarify this?

~ 80.109.113.159 (talk) 11:54, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

I don't know enough about him to feel comfortable contributing this to the actual article ... but for what it's worth, my 1998 electronic copy of Visions of Jazz by Gary Giddins says this: "As late as 1975, a leading classical music critic challenged me with the assertion that Goodman was a more important composer than Ellington. When I told him Goodman didn't compose at all, he was incredulous. Goodman himself had no trouble penetrating the delusions of reputation. I once asked him if he actually composed any of the several riff tunes for which he is cocredited. "Oh, maybe one or two, but I doubt it," he said. At the other extreme, the director of Jazz at Lincoln Center told a New York Times writer in 1997 that Goodman's music didn't merit performance because he didn't write anything. So it goes." Graham87 15:07, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

Sentence fragment

"In Pittsburgh at the Stanley Theater some members of the audience danced in the aisles." Is a sentence fragment unless combined with the previous sentence Iheartkeays (talk) 02:43, 29 December 2023 (UTC)

That doesn't appear to be the case. Nikkimaria (talk) 03:41, 29 December 2023 (UTC)

Concert

@‎Binksternet, just to clarify that edit on the concert date—where did you get the information that it was published a week later? I can't find any mention of it on the Commons page or at the original source which just says "This item was produced or created on April 26, 1940." AbsoluteWissen (talk) 15:47, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

I jumped to a conclusion. The photo is apparently from a collection that was assembled in 1940 from images that had been taken starting in 1934. We don't know exactly what concert date is shown on the photo. Maybe someone with an eagle eye for women's fashion could tell us more about the date. Binksternet (talk) 15:52, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

I don't really see an argument for not trusting the date given at the National Archives. One thing that narrows it down though is this image which is from the same night—the book in the foreground that the man is holding came out c. 1939., so that rules out Goodman's Oakland concert in 1935. AbsoluteWissen (talk) 15:57, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

Some more information: the description page of the series of images says they were "taken in California in the Spring of 1940". Not sure why there are a few photos from before 1940 there (possibly just thematically related to the photographer's project), but if we trust those dates then it makes sense to trust the 1940s dates as well. Also, a number of other images by the same photographer in the days before and after the 26th are in Oakland, so that gives more credence to trusting the source date in my opinion. At the very least, it should say "1940 concert". AbsoluteWissen (talk) 17:01, 13 May 2024 (UTC)