Benny Goodman

Goodman, Benny 

(full name, Benjamin David Goodman). Born May 30, 1909, in Chicago. American clarinetist and jazz-band leader.

Goodman was born into the family of a Russian emigrant. At the age of ten he began to study the clarinet, and at 12 he began to perform classical and contemporary music as a virtuoso clarinetist. At 15 he became a professional performer of popular dance music. In 1934 he organized a band that mastered the repertoire and style of the new trend in Negro jazz—so-called swing. By opening up new forms of Negro music for broad sectors of the public, Goodman contributed to the development of jazz. Together with Negro improvisa-tional groups, he created a number of jazz chamber works. He also appeared in films. Goodman toured the Soviet Union in 1962.

WORKS

The Kingdom of Swing. New York [1961]. (With I. Kolodin.)

REFERENCE

Pereverzev, L. “Benni Gudman i ego orkestr.” Muzykal’naia zhizn’, 1962, no. 12.