Music of Benny Goodman
Jazz @ Lincoln Center
Alice Tully Hall
New York, New York USA
Broadcast date: 2007-11-22
Performance date: 2002-12-12

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Music of Benny Goodman — Clarinetists Paquito D'Rivera, Bob Wilbur, and Victor Goines propel an evening of hits from the reign of swing. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Wynton Marsalis digs into Goodman's classical canon with jazz arrangements of Ravel's Bolero and Dvorak's Humoresque. Then they stomp down the house on One O'Clock Jump, and Fletcher Henderson's arrangement of Sing, Sing, Sing.


Announcer 0:54
Let's Dance 0:47
Bugle Call Rag 2:47
Announcer 2:16
Down South Camp Meeting 2:07
Memories of You (E. Blake) 4:48
Announcer 1:41
Bolero (Ravel; F. Henderson arr.) 2:13
Humoresque (Dvorak) 3:49
And the Angels Sang 2:34
Announcer 0:35
Benny Rides Again (Sauter) 4:03
Announcer 0:37
Stealin' Apples (F. Waller) 4:37
Announcer 1:23
Sing, Sing, Sing (F. Henderson arr.) 17:26
Announcer 0:17
One O'Clock Jump 1:56
Outro 0:54

Total Time: 55:52



Review:
The teenage mania for Benny Goodman's big band in the 1930's has been well documented; one of the most effective set pieces in Ken Burns's jazz documentary was about the riots at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. That mania can be puzzling to anyone born several generations later. Rioting, to Benny Goodman?

On Thursday night the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra shed some light on how riots get started. The second tune of the evening was ''Bugle Call Rag''; it was set at superfast tempo with a string of short, tight solos in swing rhythm, each more driving than the last. It was thundering; there's not much like it in jazz. There's your answer.

For ''The Music of Benny Goodman,'' with the clarinetist Bob Wilber as host, the arrangements were original, the work of Goodman band employees from the 30's to the 50's. There was no structural reinterpretation, not even in ''Sing, Sing, Sing,'' one of the most famously open-ended pieces in swing. This concert with its rapid-fire menu of concise repertory made you aware of how short 78-r.p.m. records were.

The clarinet role was shared by Mr. Wilber, Victor Goines (of the Lincoln Center band) and Paquito D'Rivera; each had his special moments. Mr. Wilber's came early with ''Bugle Call Rag''; Mr. Goines was excellent in ''Down South Campmeeting,'' with the guitarist James Chirillo and the bassist Carlos Henriquez setting their stiff chonk-chonk rhythm. But Mr. D'Rivera, whose virtuosity beams forth from the first note of any performance, did the extraordinary work of the night.

For ''Memories of You,'' he played soft, woody, long tones, with perfect form and intonation, yet surprisingly human; in the bridge section of ''Clarinade'' he seemed to be gliding peacefully on the music, only to return to rigor when he arrived back at the main theme.

The concert was not all hits; warhorses like ''One O'Clock Jump'' shared a bill with lesser-knowns like Chico O'Farrill's ''Undercurrent Blues.'' BEN RATLIFF