 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rev. Avery
Date: 2004-03-11 16:15
I just found (and ordered) Benny's last concert. It comes with the CD of the show as well as a DVD of the show. This was a 1981 concert in Denmark. I got it for $15.00 at Overstock.com.
Here's a link for those who might be interested:
http://www.dvd-1.com/b/Benny-Goodman-Farewell.htm
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-03-11 17:05
Although the CD and DVD, I'm sure are quite good...
Final recorded performance? I don't think so.
Goodman performed with his big band on November 5, 1985 (he died seven months later) at an invitation-only concert at New York's Marriot Marquis. It was recorded (the CD was available from many sources, including Musical Heritage Society) as well as video taped and was shown on PBS the following March.
I still have a copy of the video tape. Benny is in rare form and the band (which included Louis Bellson, Bob Haggart, Ken Peplowski and Loren Schoenberg) is very tight.
The CD from that performance was nominated for a Grammy award in 1986 in the category "Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Big Band"...GBK
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Author: Rev. Avery
Date: 2004-03-11 19:07
GBK, thanks for the info. By any chance do you know the name of the cd? I'd love to get it.
Here's the description from the site where I got the one I mentioned. I guess it's not the first or last time I'll be misinformed on a site ![[right]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie8.gif)
"Description : Benny Goodman steps onto the stage for his final performance in this moving concert video. Recorded in Denmark in 1981, this recording comes with a bonus audio CD."
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Author: Rev. Avery
Date: 2004-03-11 20:00
I searched around and came up with this: "His last album to be released before his death from a heart attack at 77 was Let's Dance, a television soundtrack, which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band."
GBK, does that sound correct? Let's Dance was the cd you were referring to?
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-03-11 20:30
Rev. Avery wrote:
> GBK, does that sound correct? Let's Dance was the cd you were
> referring to?
Yes... That's the one...GBK
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Author: larryb
Date: 2004-03-11 20:56
I remember seeing goodman at Carnegie Hall - must have been the late 1970s - could have been a 40th anniversary of the original Carnegie Hall concert.
Goodman stank - I can't imagine why one would want to listen to his playing from that period, or any time after World War II for that matter.
Lionel Hampton, on the other hand, played nicely. the thing I remember most was Goodman disconnecting Hampton's vibraphone - I think to demonstrate that the Hall's accoustics did not require amplification
At least that's what I remember
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Author: Rev. Avery
Date: 2004-03-11 21:14
Larryb, have you heard his Yale Recordings? Great stuff, IMHO.
Also, just picked up the somewhat recent BG Worldwide Box Set. From the same period as Yale -- thereabouts anyway. Plus a concert from 1980. The sound quailty isn't as good as the Yale Recordings; but, they're pretty good nonetheless. I think it came from a private collector of BG materials.
Not saying I'm a good judge of clarinet playing, but I must say that BG did some mean playing after WWII. Maybe not as good as WWII stuff?? He still was swinging, though. I'm glad he kept on playing past WWII 
GBK, I ordered "Let's Dance" Thanks so much! ![[hot]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/hot.gif)
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Author: JoeMich
Date: 2004-03-11 23:35
"I ordered "Let's Dance" Thanks so much!"
Rev. Avery:
I give up ........ looked and couldn't find. Where did you order it from??
Joe Michaluk
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Author: fredackerman
Date: 2004-03-12 00:33
I was at the 40th anniversary concert and I remember that it was a real nasty [weather-wise] evening. I had a friend with the Wall Street Journal [where I had once worked] he had received four tickets and asked if I would take a date & join him and his wife. So we went and I loved the show... Afterward while having supper at the Russian Tea Room, my friend told the three of us how bad the performance was! He was a real Benny Goodman fan and he was so disappointed. My date, his wife and me thought it was great. I never saw Goodman before this and had nothing to judge him by...but I'm glad I went!
Fred
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Author: Rev. Avery
Date: 2004-03-12 01:04
JoeMich, I got the last one Amazon had. However, there are others being sold there by private folks. Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007BH5X/qid=1079056868/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-7948281-7190503?v=glance&s=music
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-03-12 02:24
To all:
It seems that a number of Benny Goodman Greatest Hits and compilation albums have been released over the years with the title "Let's Dance".
Unfortunately the 1985 "Let's Dance" is a difficult album to now find.
To clear up the confusion, and make ordering the correct album a bit easier, here is a completed eBay auction which gives album details and shows what the cover looks like:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2598968058&category=1078 ...GBK
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2004-03-12 02:26
I think I might rank on all of you. I saw BG and the big band at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI in March or April 1986. (He passed that June.)
The band was just great - I'd never heard most of those charts live before - but BG himself was under the weather. Pneumonia, IIRC. He didn't appear at all during the first set and then croaked out some very feeble clarinet after intermission. He put it down right away and just fronted. Tried to sing "You Turned The Tables On Me" too - no soap. I said to my date, "This guy is on the way out." And so he was. :-(
The following fall I got to see Woody Herman and Richard Stoltzman. Twilight of the giants once again. Woody's big tone was all dried up and raspy. He too put the stick aside and just led. RS was most impressive to my young ears and "made" the evening - Ebony Concerto was the showpiece of it.
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2004-03-12 04:17
I saw Benny in Atlantic City (NJ) in November of 1979 I believe. He appeared in the Ballroom of the old Convention Hall (now Boardwalk Hall.) I was in the back of a rather large flat floored room, and it was two renovations ago, the sound and lighting weren't so good, but Benny was! This was the only time I ever saw him in person, and I was indeed impressed.
I'm pretty sure that this was the last time he played Atlantic City. The concert was sponsored by the now defunct Atlantic City Community Concert Association, and not by the casinos (of which two were open at that time.)
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Author: Rev. Avery
Date: 2004-03-12 11:06
GBK, thanks so much again! I really appreciate your effort and input.
Thankfully I didn't pay much for the other Let's Dance. I'm sure I'll enjoy that too.
But, the good news is: I found the correct one on LP and it's brand new!! Paid less than $15.00 for it. I'm pretty excited about this 
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Author: JoeMich
Date: 2004-03-12 13:52
Rev Avrey, GBK:
My sincere thanks for the information and your time and effort!!
Joe Michaluk
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2004-03-12 14:15
(GBK) >> It seems that a number of Benny Goodman Greatest Hits and compilation albums have been released over the years with the title "Let's Dance". <<
A must get, in this fan's opinion, is "The 1935 Let's Dance Broadcasts" (Circle label). This is where it all started - great quality air shots off the late night NBC program. The band was swinging pretty hard even at the beginning, along with some rounder, mellower playing than they later did, and BG's playing is at his youthful zenith (radio pun not intended). Certainly not your usual "the-best-of" album.
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Author: allencole
Date: 2004-03-13 17:40
I'm not so sure that Benny's zenith was during the big band era. He was pretty adventurous prior to his first big band experiements, and also has some excellent work on the Columbia label around late 50's/early 60's. Check out 'After You've Gone' from Ciro's in 1960.
How he sounded in the 70's depends on what you hear. I thought that the sextet at Copenhagen in 1973 was great. Some things from 1979 were less consistent. A big band performance in Stockholm around 1971 wasn't as stellar for Benny, but was pretty nice for the band.
Later Benny recordings are a crapshoot, but I still find myself taking the gamble. I thought there were some good moments on that Farewell DVD.
Allen Cole
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-03-13 20:51
"Benny, King of Swing" should have discography to help you, I'll look at it, and my old LP's, but believe they are "earliers". What a history !! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Rev. Avery
Date: 2004-03-13 22:02
Thanks Don. Any info is appreciated. I read the book several years back out of the library. I didn't even think about checking it again, duh!
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-03-13 22:40
Rev. - Benny, K ---- S ends in 1978-9, so "paulwl" 's info re: '86 is the latest in this great history. Them was the daze! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: paulwl
Date: 2004-03-13 23:11
(Don Berger) >> "Benny, King of Swing" should have discography to help you <<
No discog there, IIRC. At least not a full-dress one. "BG on the Record" / "BG Record of a Legend" / "BG Listen to his Legacy" (it changed titles every edition) is the discography and chronology.
(allencole) >> I'm not so sure that Benny's zenith was during the big band era. <<
His youthful zenith, mind you – certainly not his mature one. :-)
Also – the Let's Dance stuff was made when the big band era was about 15 minutes old, and no one really knew what it was going to be about. The freshness is incredible.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-03-14 13:51
We all have our favorite BG recordings; mine are the Columbia Jazz Masterpiece series which includes the Carnegie Hall Live and the BG Sextet series of which "Slipped Disc, 1945-46" is tops.
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Author: Rev. Avery
Date: 2004-03-17 15:26
An update:
I got the "last" concert. In the liner notes it says it was the last concert in Copenhagen in 1981. However, on the outside of the case it just says it's BG's last recorded live performance.
Concerning the concert, it is simply great! Of course, I'm a BG fan and would probably conclude that way anyway. But, watching the DVD it is clear that he's having a great time and playing incredible stuff -- even at his age with all the many miles he's traveled! He swings and pulls off some tremendous licks all throughout the concert.
I also got in the real last recording BG did. It's great too Actually, I'm amazed at the quality of his playing.
When consicdering the vast volume of great material he put out over the many years he played, I find every reason to appreciate his highs and lows. It all goes into making the musician.
What a legacy of music, right up to the very end.
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