Thursday, August 09, 2007

Benny Goodman- The Earl

















Retired.

I couldn't help overhearing a group of elderly gentlemen as they visited the American Jazz Museum yesterday. Their comments- delivered in the shout utilized by the hearing impaired- were priceless. "Charlie Parker? Whose band was he in?" "Where the hell did Bob go?" "Where's the damn exit?" And my favorite: "There's not one picture of Benny Goodman in this place!" I forget that to much of the World War II generation, jazz meant Glenn Miller, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. It'd be easy to dismiss old folks' lack of interest in the last fifty years of jazz. But not only would that be disrespectful, it would be a serious oversight not to investigate Goodman's later work. This May 1957 date features Hank Jones on piano and some startling clarinet work by Goodman. It's from the out-of-print The Yale Collection: Volume 4, a set of unreleased material from Goodman's vault.

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My friend Tim told me about the forthcoming release by Arthur Alexander. Three songs stream at his MySpace page, and they're every bit as good as Tim indicated.

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The new UGK is great- shockingly great.

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Kansas City Click: It's my lucky day. I'll be indoors at the icy Harrah's casino for Rufus Wainwright, Neko Case and A Fine Frenzy.

2 comments:

bgo said...

Any exposure for Arthur Alexander is a beautiful thing. I am so delighted to see the return of this lost classic with bonus material thrown in. In fact, I am giddy with joy. Arthur Alexander has long been a top favorite of mine. So...do the already dead in myspace have to go to mydeathspace too? Just wondering.

Bill O

Casey said...

Thanks for the Benny G. Pretty cool!