Benny Goodman

Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".

In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America. His January 16, 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music.

Benny was born in Chicago, Illinois, the ninth of twelve children of poor Jewish immigrants from Russia, who lived in the Maxwell Street neighborhood. His father was David Goodman, a tailor from Warsaw; his mother was Dora Grisinsky.

His parents met in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to Chicago before Benny was born.

When Benny was 12, his father enrolled him and two of his older brothers in music lessons at the Kehelah Jacob Synagogue. The next year he joined the boys club band at Jane Addams' Hull House, where he received lessons from director James Sylvester. He also received two years of instruction from the classically trained clarinetist Franz Schoepp. Goodman learned quickly, becoming a strong player at an early age: he was soon playing professionally in various bands.

When Goodman was 16, he joined one of Chicago's top bands, the Ben Pollack Orchestra, with which he made his first recordings in 1926.

On December 9, 1926, David Goodman was killed in a traffic accident. Benny had recently joined the Pollack band and was urging his father to retire, since he and his brother (Harry) were now doing well as professional musicians. It was a bitter blow to the family, and it haunted Benny to the end that his father had not lived to see the success he, and some of the others, made of themselves.

Goodman left for New York City and became a successful session musician during the late 1920s and early 1930s (mostly with Ben Pollack's band between 1926 and 1929). A notable March 21, 1928 Victor session found Goodman alongside Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Joe Venuti in the All-Star Orchestra. He recorded sides for Brunswick under the name Bennie Goodman's Boys, a band that featured Glenn Miller. In 1928, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller wrote the instrumental "Room 1411", which was released as a Brunswick 78. He also recorded musical soundtracks for movie shorts; fans believe that Benny Goodman's clarinet can be heard on the soundtrack of One A. M., a Charlie Chaplin comedy re-released to theaters in 1934.

During this period as a successful session musician, John Hammond arranged for a series of jazz sides recorded for and issued on Columbia starting in 1933 and continuing until his signing with Victor in 1935, during his success on radio. There were also a number of commercial studio sides recorded for Melotone between late 1930 and mid-1931 under Goodman's name. The all-star Columbia sides featured Jack Teagarden, Joe Sullivan, Dick McDonough, Arthur Schutt, Gene Krupa, Teddy Wilson, Coleman Hawkins (for 1 session), and vocalists Jack Teagarden and Mildred Bailey, and the first two recorded vocals by a young Billie Holiday.

n 1934 Goodman auditioned for NBC's Let's Dance, a well-regarded three-hour weekly radio program that featured various styles of dance music. His familiar theme song by that title was based on Invitation to the Dance by Carl Maria von Weber. Since he needed new arrangements every week for the show, his agent, John Hammond, suggested that he purchase "hot" (swing) arrangements from Fletcher Henderson, an African-American musician from Atlanta who had New York's most popular African-American band in the 1920s and early 1930s.

n 1934 Goodman auditioned for NBC's Let's Dance, a well-regarded three-hour weekly radio program that featured various styles of dance music. His familiar theme song by that title was based on Invitation to the Dance by Carl Maria von Weber. Since he needed new arrangements every week for the show, his agent, John Hammond, suggested that he purchase "hot" (swing) arrangements from Fletcher Henderson, an African-American musician from Atlanta who had New York's most popular African-American band in the 1920s and early 1930s.

In July 1935, a record of the Goodman band playing the Henderson arrangements of "King Porter Stomp" backed with "Sometimes I'm Happy", Victor 78 25090, had been released to ecstatic reviews in both Down Beat and Melody Maker.

August 21, 1935 at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, Goodman and his band began a three-week engagement. On top of the Let's Dance airplay, Al Jarvis had been playing Goodman records on KFWB radio, and Los Angeles fans were primed to hear him in person. Goodman started the evening with stock arrangements, but after an indifferent response, began the second set with the arrangements by Fletcher Henderson and Spud Murphy. According to Willard Alexander, the band's booking agent, Krupa said "If we're gonna die, Benny, let's die playing our own thing." The crowd broke into cheers and applause. News reports spread word of the enthusiastic dancing and exciting new music that was happening. Over the course of the engagement, the "Jitterbug" began to appear as a new dance craze,and radio broadcasts carried the band's performances across the nation.

The Palomar engagement was such a marked success it is often exaggeratedly described as the beginning of the swing era.

In his 1935–1936 radio broadcasts from Chicago, Goodman was introduced as the "Rajah of Rhythm."

Slingerland Drum Company had been calling Krupa the "King of Swing" as part of a sales campaign, but shortly after Goodman and crew left Chicago in May 1936 to spend the summer filming The Big Broadcast of 1937 in Hollywood, the title "King of Swing" was applied to Goodman by the media. Goodman left record company RCA for Columbia, following his agent and soon to be brother in law John Hammond.

Goodman continued his meteoric rise throughout the late 1930s with his big band, his trio and quartet, and a sextet. By the mid-1940s, however, big bands lost a lot of their popularity. In 1941, ASCAP had a licensing war with music publishers. In 1942 to 1944 and 1948, the musician's union went on strike against the major record labels in the United States, and singers took the spot in popularity that the big bands once enjoyed. During this strike, the United States War Department approached the union and requested the production of the V-Disc, a set of records containing new and fresh music for soldiers to listen to.

Benny Goodman's band appeared as a specialty act in major musical features, including The Big Broadcast of 1937, Hollywood Hotel (1938), Syncopation (1942), The Powers Girl (1942), Stage Door Canteen (1943), The Gang's All Here (1943), Sweet and Lowdown (1944) and A Song Is Born (1948). Goodman's only starring feature was Sweet and Low Down (1944).

Goodman was regarded by some as a demanding taskmaster, by others an arrogant and eccentric martinet.

Goodman is also responsible for a significant step in racial integration in America. In the early 1930s, black and white jazz musicians could not play together in most clubs or concerts. In the Southern states, racial segregation was enforced by the Jim Crow laws. Benny Goodman broke with tradition by hiring Teddy Wilson to play with him and drummer Gene Krupa in the Benny Goodman Trio. In 1936, he added Lionel Hampton on vibes to form the Benny Goodman Quartet; in 1939 he added pioneering jazz guitarist Charlie Christian to his band and small ensembles, who played with him until his death from tuberculosis less than three years later.

One of Benny Goodman's closest friends off and on, from the 1930s onward was celebrated Columbia records producer John H. Hammond. Hammond and Goodman were so close that Hammond influenced Goodman's move from RCA records to the newly created Columbia records in 1939. Benny Goodman dated John H. Hammond's sister Alice Frances Hammond (1913–1978) for three months. She had previously been married to British politician George Duckworth, from whom she obtained a divorce. She and Goodman married on March 14, 1942. They had two daughters, Benjie and Rachel.

Both daughters studied music, though neither became the musical prodigy Goodman was.

Hammond had encouraged Goodman to integrate his band, persuading him to employ pianist Teddy Wilson. But Hammond's tendency to interfere in the musical affairs of Goodman's and other bands led to Goodman pulling away from him. In 1953 they had another falling-out during Goodman's ill-fated tour with Louis Armstrong, which was produced by John Hammond. oodman appeared on a 1975 PBS salute to Hammond but remained at a distance. In the 1980s, following the death of Alice Goodman, John Hammond and Benny Goodman, both by then elderly, reconciled.

Despite increasing health problems, he continued to play until his death from a heart attack in New York City in 1986 at the age of 77.

Glen Miller and his Orchestra

The Swing band became very popular and recorded a number of chart successes — among these were the ever-popular, "Moonlight Serenade", "In the Mood", "Tuxedo Junction", "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo."

Glen disappeared (and presumed dead) in 1944.

Hollywood contributed to the band's immortality and that of its founder and original members with the 1953 release of The Glenn Miller Story on the big screen. Its popularity garnered award nominations and box office success, as well as top hit status for its soundtrack album in 1954.

So who was Glen Miller?

Miller was born on a farm in Clarinda, Iowa, to Lewis Elmer Miller and Mattie Lou

He went to grade school in North Platte in western Nebraska. In 1915, Miller's family moved to Grant City, Missouri. Around this time, Miller had finally made enough money from milking cows to buy his first trombone and played in the town orchestra. In 1918, the Miller family moved again, this time to Fort Morgan, Colorado, where Miller went to high school. During his senior year, Miller became very interested in a new style of music called "dance band music." He was so taken with it that he formed his own band with some classmates. By the time Miller graduated from high school in 1921, he had decided he wanted to become a professional musician.

In 1923, Miller entered the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he joined Sigma Nu Fraternity, but spent most of his time away from school, attending auditions and playing any gigs he could get, most notably with Boyd Senter's band in Denver. He dropped out of school after failing three out of five classes one semester, and decided to concentrate on making a career as a professional musician. He later studied the Schillinger technique with Joseph Schillinger, under whose tutelage he composed what became his signature theme, Moonlight Serenade.

In 1926, Miller toured with several groups, eventually landing a good spot in Ben Pollack's group in Los Angeles. During his stint with Pollack, Miller wrote several musical arrangements of his own. He also co-wrote his first composition, "Room 1411", written with Benny Goodman and released as a Brunswick 78. In 1928, when the band arrived in New York City, he sent for and married his college sweetheart, Helen Burger. He was a member of Red Nichols's orchestra in 1930, and because of Nichols, Miller played in the pit bands of two Broadway shows, Strike Up the Band and Girl Crazy (where his bandmates included big band leaders Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa)

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Miller managed to earn a living working as a freelance trombonist in several bands. On a March 21, 1928 Victor session Miller played alongside Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Joe Venuti in the All-Star Orchestra, directed by Nat Shilkret.

On November 14, 1929, an original vocalist named Red McKenzie hired Glenn to play on two records that are now considered to be jazz classics, "Hello, Lola" and "If I Could Be With You One Hour Tonight." Beside Glenn were clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, guitarist Eddie Condon, drummer Gene Krupa and Coleman Hawkins on tenor saxophone. In the early-to-mid-1930s, Miller also worked as a trombonist and arranger in The Dorsey Brothers, first when they were a Brunswick studio group and finally when they formed an ill-fated co-led touring and recording orchestra.

Glenn Miller made his first movie appearance in the 1935 Paramount Pictures release The Big Broadcast of 1936 as a member of the Ray Noble Orchestra performing "Why Stars Come Out at Night". The Big Broadcast of 1936 starred Bing Crosby, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Ethel Merman, Jack Oakie, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and also featured other performances by Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers, who would appear with Miller again in two movies for Twentieth Century Fox in 1941 and 1942.

Glenn Miller compiled several musical arrangements and formed his first band in 1937. The band failed to distinguish itself from the many others of the era, and eventually broke up.

Miller returned to New York. He realized that he needed to develop a unique sound, and decided to make the clarinet play a melodic line with a tenor saxophone holding the same note, while three other saxophones harmonized within a single octave.

In September 1938, the Miller band began making recordings for the RCA Victor, Bluebird Records subsidiary. In the spring of 1939, the band's fortunes improved with a date at the Meadowbrook Ballroom in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, and more dramatically at the Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle, New York. The Glen Island date according to author Gunther Schuller attracted "a record breaking opening night crowd of 1800. Miller's huge success in 1939 culminated with his band appearing at Carnegie Hall on October 6, with Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, and Fred Waring also the main attractions.

From 1939 to 1942, Miller's band was featured three times a week during a quarter-hour broadcast for Chesterfield cigarettes on CBS, first with the Andrews Sisters and then on its own.On February 10, 1942, RCA Victor presented Miller with the first gold record for "Chattanooga Choo-Choo"

In 1942, at the peak of his civilian career, Miller decided to join the war effort. At 38, Miller was too old to be drafted, and first volunteered for the Navy but was told that they did not need his services. Miller then wrote to Army Brigadier General Charles Young. He persuaded the United States Army to accept him so he could, in his own words, "be placed in charge of a modernized Army band. After being accepted into the Army, Glenn’s civilian band played its last concert in Passaic, New Jersey, on September 27, 1942.

At first placed in the United States Army, Glenn Miller was transferred to the Army Air Force.Captain Glenn Miller served initially as assistant special services officer for the Army Air Forces Southeast Training Center at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama, in December 1942. He played trombone with the Rhythmaires, a 15-piece dance band, in both Montgomery and in service clubs and recreation halls on Maxwell. Miller initially formed a large marching band that was to be the core of a network of service orchestras. Miller's attempts at modernizing military music were met with some resistance from tradition-minded career officers. For example, Miller's arrangement of "St. Louis Blues March", which combined blues and jazz with the traditional military march. This led to permission for Miller to form his 50-piece Army Air Force Band and take it to England in the summer of 1944, where he gave 800 performances.

Miller spent his last night alive at Milton Ernest Hall, on the outskirts of Kemspton, Bedfordshire. On December 15, 1944, Miller was to fly from the United Kingdom to Paris, France, to play for the soldiers there. His plane (a single-engined UC-64 Norseman, USAAF serial 44-70285) departed from RAF Twinwood Farm in Clapham, Bedfordshire and disappeared while flying over the English Channel. No trace of the aircrew, passengers or plane has ever been found. Miller's status is missing in action.

There are many theories about what happened to Glen's plane, but none have been proven to date. Regardless of this, Glen still lives in memories and music.

Tommy Dorsey

Tommy Dorsey was one of the first jazz trombonists; Dorsey was also one of the few trombonists - or jazz musicians, for that matter - of his generation to achieve both fame and financial success.

While Dorsey was known to dislike of improvisation and modern jazz, his flawless technique and dedication to his instrument earned him respect among his peers, which has endured among subsequent generations of jazz trombonists. His ballad and his signature song "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You," set a standard for expressive interpretation on the instrument.

Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. was born in Shanendoah, Pennsylvania on November 27, 1905. His father was a coal mine worker and local community bandleader who insisted that his two sons, Tommy and his older brother Jimmy, become musicians in order to escape the harsh economic realities of life in rural Pennsylvania. Extremely demanding and at times physically abusive, Dorsey Sr. insisted they practice many hours a day.

His mother, Theresa Dorsey, also supported his father's ambitions for their future. Tommy claimed these demands led him to develop a technique of playing the trombone slide with his bare foot, so he could turn the pages of his comic books while he practiced. Both brothers began on the trumpet, but fierce sibling rivalry led Jimmy to take up the alto saxophone and other woodwinds, and Tommy to the trombone.

Jimmy began performing with local musical acts as early as 1913, and by 1920 had established himself with the Scranton Sirens, a leading regional band. When trombonist Russ Morgan left the band a few years later, Jimmy arranged for Tommy, who had just married at age 17, to join the group as his replacement.

The Sirens were brought to New York City in the spring of 1923, where the brothers made their first recording. When Jimmy left New York to join Jean Goldkette's band in Detroit, Tommy soon followed. The brothers returned to New York in 1925 to play with the California Ramblers.

For the next few years, Tommy Dorsey bounced between New York and the Midwest, and he recorded frequently. One example of this early work is his 1925 recording "Davenport Blues" with cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. Dorsey doesn't play a very prominent role in the arrangement, but his strong presence and clean tone are already in evidence.

In 1927, Dorsey joined the Paul Whiteman Orchestra for about a year, but left with his brother Jimmy to do more studio work and start the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, which began recording in 1928. The brothers recorded frequently on studio dates, such as Tommy's 1930 "Hit of the Week" recording of "Get Happy," and Bix Beiderbecke's almost inexplicable version of the novelty tune "Barnacle Bill the Sailor."

Both Dorseys were also active in the emerging radio broadcasting market and were especially successful backing vocalists, as is evident on the Boswell Sisters' "Shout Sister Shout" and "Shuffle Off to Buffalo." The pair can also be heard on Mildred Bailey's "Shoutin' in That Amen Corner" and Ethel Waters' "Stormy Weather."

By this time, Tommy's friend and fellow trombonist Glenn Miller had begun writing arrangements for the Dorsey Brothers Orcherstra, which after five years cutting records finally became a permanent touring group in 1934.

The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra's existence as a touring swing band was famously short-lived, due primarily to the increasingly acrimonious relationship between the brothers. In May of 1935, Tommy angrily stormed off the stage during a show at the Glen Island Casino, after which he left the band and took over Joe Haymes's Orchestra.

The Haymes musicians became the foundation of the first Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, which quickly became one of the most popular bands of the era. Dorsey's original plan for the group's repertoire was to contrast his lyrical ballad playing with Chicago-inspired hot dance numbers. But his manager cut the "hot jazz" after their first recording in 1935 and replaced it with the pop tunes and vocal numbers for which the band became best known. Dorsey did continue to utilize a subgroup of his big band, The Clambake Seven, as a Dixieland ensemble during his performances. Dorsey began to earn recognition as a master technician on his instrument, being voted into numerous All-Star polls.

His admiration for fellow trombonist Jack Teagarden came through in one session, where he can be heard turning to Teagarden during the solo section, imploring him, "Jack - you play the jazz!" Indeed, Dorsey did not improvise in any of his big band recordings; all of his solos were worked out ahead of time.

The best example of Dorsey's virtuosity can be heard on his signature song, "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You," which he first recorded in 1935. This performance demonstrates the incredible smoothness with which he moves from the middle to upper register of the instrument, his ease playing as high as C#, his impeccable slide vibrato, and his pure, wide tone.

By 1936, Dorsey had upped the ante for his band by adding oustanding musicians such as drummer Dave Tough, saxophonist Joe Dixon and trumpeter Max Kaminsky, the band was churning out hits and earning rave reviews at its concerts all over the country. Their 1937 version of "Jammin'" is a good example of this band at its best.

The Tommy Dorsey Band's number-one hits during the Swing Era include "On Treasure Island," "The Music Goes 'Round and Around," "Alone," "You," "Marie," "Satan Takes a Holiday," "The Big Apple," "Once in a While," "The Dipsy Doodle," "Music, Maestro, Please," "Our Love," "All the Things You Are," "Indian Summer," "I'll Never Smile Again," "There Are Such Things," "In the Blue of Evening," and "Dolores."

Dorsey was also one of the first swing bandleaders to employ the use of classical melodies as centerpieces of his songs. One of his biggest hits, "Song of India," was based on a melody by Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov, and features Dorsey's typical smoothness and lyricism darkened by his use of a straight mute, typical of many of Dorsey's solos.

Dorsey's group continued to develop and experiment with new arrangers such as Bill Finegan, who penned "Lonesome Road" for the band in 1939.

In late 1939, Dorsey finally settled on Sy Oliver as his principal arranger. Oliver's experience with Jimmy Lunceford gave him a deep understanding of the emerging trends in swing, as evidenced by arrangements such as "Well Git It" and "Opus One." This set the band on a new, exciting trajectory as a number of other musicians joined the band, including drummer Buddy Rich and lead trumpeter Ziggy Elman. Rich's bombastic style and incredible technique drove the band from the drum set, and Elman came over from the Benny Goodman Orchestra to offer his powerful lead chops.

This set the stage for singer Frank Sinatra's arrival in the group in 1940, when he was still a relative unknown. Sinatra's style took a lot of cues from the established sound of Dorsey's trombone - Sinatra claimed, for example, to have learned breath control from Dorsey. Sinatra, backed by the Dorsey Orchestra and the vocal quartet The Pied Pipers, launched his career singing tunes such as "How Do You Do Without Me," recorded in 1941. Sinatra left Dorsey in 1942 to start his solo career, but took many of the musical lessons and much of the trombonist's aggressive perfectionism with him.

At this point, Dorsey added a 10-piece string section to the band and remained successful through the mid-1940s. In 1944, Dorsey hired Charlie Shavers to join his trumpet section, the first African-American to perform as a part of his orchestra.

At the peak of the band's fame, Dorsey became embroiled in a very public divorce with his first wife, Mildred Kraft, after an affair with singer Edythe Wright. He then wed actress Pat Dane in 1943, only to divorce her four years later. In 1946, he was forced to disband his orchestra for two years, during which the Dorsey brothers briefly reunited to film the Hollywood biopic The Fabulous Dorseys. Shortly thereafter, he met and married his third wife, Jane Carl New, in 1948.

With the help of his close friend comedian Jackie Gleason, who featured the orchestra on his television show for several seasons beginning in 1950, Dorsey managed to start the band up again. The music that the group performed during this final period referenced the earlier swing repertoire that had made the band famous, rarely employing newer musical developments ocurring in the jazz world at the time. Dorsey himself was known to be somewhat contemptuous towards bebop, and discouraged his band from using the new musical language in their improvisations.

Tommy and his brother Jimmy finally reconciled in 1953, three years before Tommy's death. When Jimmy was unable to continue with his own band, Tommy brought him on as a featured guest with his own orchestra. Their work with Gleason at CBS marked some of their best work during this time, which eventually spun off into the Dorsey Brothers' own television show, Stage Show. The most notable guest on Stage Show was a young Elvis Presley, whom the Dorsey Brothers helped introduce to a national audience. Sadly, this period of activity was cut short on November 26, 1956 when Tommy accidentally choked to death on a meal after having taken sleeping pills.

The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra has lived on under the leadership of a succession of fellow musicians including Jimmy Dorsey, Warren Covington, and more recently trombonist Buddy Morrow. Most important, however, is the enduring impact of Dorsey's singing trombone and his incredible success as one of the Swing Era's most popular musicians.

Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973) was an influential American jazz and big band drummer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.

Biography

Eugene Bertram Krupa was born to Polish parents in Chicago, Illinois. He began playing professionally in the mid 1920s with bands in Wisconsin. He broke into the Chicago scene in 1927, when he was picked by MCA to become a member of “Thelma Terry and Her Playboys”, the first notable American Jazz band (outside of all-girl bands) to be led by a female musician. The Playboys were the house band at The Golden Pumpkin nightclub in Chicago and also toured extensively throughout the eastern and central United States.

Gene made his first recordings in 1927, with a band under the leadership of banjoist Eddie Condon and “fixer” (and sometime singer, who did not appear on the records), Red McKenzie: along with other recordings beginning in 1924 by musicians known in the “Chicago” scene such as Bix Beiderbecke, these sides are examples of white “Chicago Style” jazz. The numbers recorded at that session were: ‘China Boy’, ‘Sugar’, ‘Nobody’s Sweetheart’ and ‘Liza’. The McKenzie – Condon sides are also notable for being the first records to feature a full drum kit.

Gene also appeared on six recordings made by the Thelma Terry band in 1928.

Then Gene studied with Sanford A. Moeller.

In 1929 he moved to New York City and worked with the band of Red Nichols. In 1934 he joined Benny Goodman’s band, where his featured drum work — especially on the hit “Sing, Sing, Sing” — made him a national celebrity. In 1938, after a public fight with Goodman at the Earl Theater in Philadelphia, he left Goodman to launch his own band and had several hits with singer Anita O’Day and trumpeter Roy Eldridge. Krupa made a memorable cameo appearance in the 1941 film Ball of Fire, in which he and his band performed an extended version of the hit Drum Boogie.

Gene Krupa Drive in Yonkers, NY

In 1943, Krupa was arrested for possession of marijuana and was given a 3 month jail sentence. After his release, Krupa reorganized his band with a big string section, featuring Charlie Ventura on sax. It was one of the largest dance bands of the era, sometimes containing up to forty musicians. He gradually cut down the size of the band in the late 1940s, and from 1951 on led a trio or quartet, often featuring the multi-instrumentalist Eddie Shu on tenor sax, clarinet and harmonica. He appeared regularly with the Jazz At the Philharmonic shows.

He continued to perform in the 1960s even in famous clubs like the Metropole near Times Square in New York. Krupa retired in the late 1960s, although he occasionally played in public in the early 1970s until shortly before his death from leukemia and heart failure in Yonkers, New York at age sixty-four. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City, Illinois.

Many consider Krupa to be one of the most influential drummers of the 20th century, particularly regarding the development of the drum kit. But he made history in 1927 as the first kit drummer ever to record using a bass drum pedal. His drum method was published in 1938 and immediately became the standard text. He is also credited with inventing the rim shot on the snare drum.

Krupa was featured in the 1946 Warner Bros. cartoon Book Revue in which a rotoscoped version of Krupa’s drumming is used in an impromptu jam session.

Kings of Swing

Who was the king of swing?

Currently people would argue that there were many who wanted that claim.

* THE GLENN MILLER BAND

* BENNY GOODMAN BAND

* TOMMY DORSEY ORCHESTRA

*GENE KRUPA and his BIG BAND

These are just a few Big Bands that thrill to the imagination. For those swingers of the era they were the kings of swing.

In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular bands in America. Benny’s bands launched the careers of many major players in jazz, and during an era of segregation, he also led one of the first racially-integrated musical groups. He continuing to perform to nearly the end of his life, including exploring his interest in classical music.

To me he is the King of Swing.

Glen Miller and his band came a close second and following that Tommy Dorsey.

There are many blogs about the different bands that followed Jazz and namely the Big Bands but I actually am a big fan of the three mentioned. Ostensibly Benny Goodman and his band. Gene Krupa has to be the best drummer who ever lived. In 1934 he joined Benny Goodman's band and his drum work on "Sing Sing Sing" made him a national celebrity.