 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: illibero
Date: 2004-06-17 07:52
Well, I haven't been on the net recently, and when I came on today to check this board for streams of mourning threads from June 13th, I was shocked to find NONE.
For those of you who don't know, Benny Goodman died on June 13th, 1986.
On Sunday, I tuned into Jazz Track, Australia's more popular jazz radio program. I remembered a while ago when it was Bunny Berigan's date of death (Bunny being Benny's trumpet player in the early days) the DJ had the sense to dedicate half the program in memory of the jazzman. But, sadly, the most famous jazz clarinetist every was given no recognition, just Miles Davis and some local jazz band playing. Or am I wrong?
And on this board, too, obviously no one had paid any tribute to the great man.
If you guys forgot, the date completely slipping your minds, then it's okay, we can start reminiscing now, if a few days late.
Fire away.
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Author: OpusII
Date: 2004-06-17 08:06
illibero,
I didn’t know that mr. Goodman died on June 13th, 1986. Otherwise I would have spoken my respect for him. But I’m sure that by still listening to his great playing, we give him a better honor then by only talking about his dead.
He was a great musician and according to people who actually met him, a great person.
Eddy
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2004-06-17 09:15
Oh... Benny Goodman- of course! Sorry, it slipped my mind because on June 13th I was mourning the death of Anton Webern (he died exactly 58 years, 8 months and 29 days before). I was also shocked that there was no mention of him on my local radio station!
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Author: graham
Date: 2004-06-17 11:03
You tend to do tribute sessions or mournings on radio/TV for people who would otherwise be unfairly overlooked or forgotten. Goodman gets played every day. We don't need a Goodman day.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2004-06-17 13:26
Perhaps not, G, but "in memoriam tenere" for me. TKS to all, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: larryb
Date: 2004-06-17 15:01
at this point, it is more appropriate to celebrate his birthday (if anything)
who celebrates Mozart, Shakespeare, Louis Armstrong's death days? About the only deaths that we mourn annually are extreme tragedies: JFK, RFK, MLK, ADF (I will always remember last week for the sad loss of Ray Charles, of course)
that being said, I suppose I could go home tonight and light a jahrzeits candle for BG
Post Edited (2004-06-17 15:05)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-06-17 17:12
Benny Goodman actually died when rock and roll began ...GBK ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
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Author: john gibson
Date: 2004-06-17 20:22
I don't know about that GBK......BUT.......
I'M CELEBRATING THE FACT THAT ARTIE SHAW IS STILL ALIVE AT 94 !!!!!!
JG
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-06-18 01:41
There's only so much celebrating you can do, before you're celebrating 50 things a day. Celebrating them less often makes the celebrations more meaningful. 18th anniversary of the date of death isn't exactly a milestone.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: illibero
Date: 2004-06-18 05:50
Graham, the radio stations here that play jazz tend to focus more on bebop a la Miles Davis. In fact, none of them do ANY big band tracks. None. The one time they did feature Benny (for about 2 minutes) was one of his rare bebop recordings, and it was mainly focused on Charlie Christensen.
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Author: larryb
Date: 2004-06-18 11:39
Charlie Christian deserves the attention - he died young and tragically, but do we celebrate his death day?
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Author: BobD
Date: 2004-06-18 12:33
Well, BG was surely a great clarinetist but I'm sure he'd rather get the money than the accolades. No disrespect intended but Benny was not exactly a guy that endeared himself to many.....if any. As I recall, I viewed a tv docu several years ago and his wife and daughter(?) weren't singing his praises. Artie's comment was that BG was an idiot savant.....as I recall.
I suppose there were/are clarinetists who are/were loved......but can't think of one. RIP
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Author: GBK
Date: 2004-06-18 12:48
BobD wrote:
> Artie's comment was that BG was an idiot savant.....as I
> recall.
The Artie Shaw quote (from the 1999 LA Weekly interview):
"Benny was a superb technician, but he had a limited vocabulary. He never understood that there were more than a major, a minor and a diminished -- he just couldn't get with altered chords. We worked together for years in radio, and Benny was pretty dumb. His brother Freddy managed one of my last bands, and I once asked him what Benny was like as a kid. He said, "Stupid." I said, "How do you account for his success?" He said, "The clarinet was the only thing he knew," and it's true. He was sort of an idiot savant -- not quite idiot, but on the way. He didn't quite make it to idiocy."
...GBK
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