“This is the Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert from 1938. And to give you an idea of what this album means to me – my father brought it home when I was in the 7th grade.

Here I am, neck deep in the Hollywood renaissance of The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Doors, The Mothers of Invention and here’s this album that my dad puts on and there’e something very compelling about it.

I can’t turn away from it. I’m listening to this over and over and over again. And what this album was for me was a long hallway with a series of doors each door was special, each door had something interesting for me to investigate.

It’s my first serious encounter with swing music, it’s my first encounter with Benny Goodman’s playing and getting to know this prolific improvisor.

My first encounter with the music of Lester Young.

Lester Young sits in on the Honeysuckle Rose jam session where the band is playing in the key of G but his solo is in Ab.

It’s hearing the Ellington soloists for the first time, Johnny Hodges, Ben ‘Cootie’ Williams and Harry Carney and starting to understand how special those individual voices are.

And then there’s the Goodman band itself- If not the best white swing band in the country – maybe Glen Gray and his Casa Loma band can give them a run for the money – I don’t now, but probably the best white jazz orchestra in the country.

I’m hearing Harry James for the first time - but I’m not hearing the Harry James that the larger American public would come to know – the syrupy populariser – I’m hearing Harry James the jazz player.

Not too long out of Denton Texas, still enthralled to his Louis Armstrong roots.

I’m hearing Gene Krupa - very good solid rudimentary swing drummer.

And then of course you’ve got Sing Sing Sing with those wonderful Stravinsky-like trumpet voicings and the other-worldly impressionist Jess Stacy piano solo.

All this stuff – it took me years to assimilate, to masticate but I did it because it kept pulling me back.

And it was as I say a hallway with a series of doors and I went through every one of them and they all led me to my present predicament as a jazz journalist.”

Kirk Silsbee: Hollywood CA. 10th April 2014

Benny Goodman:

The Famous 1938 Carnigie Hall Jazz Concert released 1950

Kirk Silsbee

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