Benny Goodman
It is one of the celebrated stories in the lore
of jazz, that the Goodman legacy, and thus, the Golden Age of America's
music came close to never happening.
At Elitch Gardens in Denver, Colorado on Friday,
July 26, 1935, the new Benny Goodman Orchestra opened what was
to be a three-week stand. But their style of
swinging, big band jazz met with public rejection, and the manager didn't
like
the extended performance of each number. At three
dances for a dime, that hurt business and the manager wanted to fire
the band. With bitter disappointment and hurt
pride, Goodman decided to cancel the engagement, return to New York
and give up his ambition to lead his own band.
Fortunately, Goodman's booking agent, William
Alexander, intervened. Alexander believed that Goodman would do well
in California. Goodman reluctantly changed his
mind about giving up and agreed to stay at Elitch's through the scheduled
August 15th closing. In order to get through
the booking, the group put aside Fletcher Henderson's superb arrangements,
played commercial stock orchestrations and wore
silly hats. Even so, the unknown band did poor business, while at
nearby Lakeside, the Kay Keyser Orchestra was
drawing large crowds.
Leaving Denver, the band played one-nighters
in Grand Junction, Salt Lake City, Oakland and Pismo Beach, California.
On August 21, 1935, with morale knocked down
to its nadir, the Benny Goodman Orchestra limped into the Palomar
Ballroom in Los Angeles to begin its flight to
fame.
A good crowd was on hand, but they didn't respond
during the first set. Goodman, fearing another rejection in a major
market, was playing it safe and had the band
playing stock material. In his autobiography, Goodman explained what
happened next.
"I decided if we had to flop, at least I'd do
it playing the kind of music I wanted too. I called out some of our big
Fletcher
arrangements for the next set and the boys seemed
to get the idea. They dug in with some of the best playing I'd heard
since we left New York. When Bunny Bergin stood
up and blew King Porter Stomp and Sometimes I'm Happy, the
place exploded. The first big roar from the crowd
was one of the sweetest sounds I ever heard in my life," Goodman
recalled.
The Palomar explosion was the birth of the Swing
Era, the golden age of America's music. Swing, or jazz, soon became
the popular music of the entire country, as well
as an original contribution to the performing arts, and Benny Goodman
became a household name.
The information above was taken from the programme notes used at the performance.
This performance was made possible by arrangement with Thomas Cassidy,
Inc. Artist Management
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