Giants Of The Big Band Era

Chicago-born BENNY GOODMAN was the original precociously talented kid. Before his teens he was playing the clarinet in public alongside men like Jimmy McPartland, Frank Teschermacher and Dave Tough, and by the age of fourteen he was a full member of the American Federation Of Musicians, a feat he’d celebrated by jumping up onstage to play with Bix Beiderbecke. Goodman subsequently played in bands led by Ben Pollack, Red Nichols, Ted Lewis etc., before forming his own large dance band in 1934. The band’s hard-driving sound & style, fuelled by Fletcher Henderson’s arrangements, soon established them as the most popular danceband in America and in 1938 Goodman was officially acknowledged as “The King Of Swing”. Goodman was a magnet for great musicians, vocalists on this set including Helen Ward, Helen Forrest, Peggy Lee and Martha Tilton, whilst ‘sidemen’ include men of the calibre of Count Basie, Harry James, Teddy Wilson, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, Zoot Sims, Cootie Williams and Charlie Christian. Their record sales, during the 30s and 40s, were astronomical: in the period covered by this compilation, 1934-1948, they registered more than 150 US chart entries, including many No.1s.