Benny Goodman (May 30, 1909 - June 13, 1986) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader whose music helped establish swing as the dominant popular style of the 1930s. Widely known as the "King of Swing," Goodman combined a highly disciplined technique with a clear, agile tone that made him one of the most recognizable instrumentalists of his generation.
Born Benjamin David Goodman in Chicago, he began studying clarinet as a child and received instruction from Franz Schoepp, a classically trained clarinetist associated with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Goodman also played at Hull House, the Chicago social settlement founded by Jane Addams. By his early teens he was working professionally, and in 1926 he joined the Ben Pollack Orchestra. His recordings with Pollack marked the beginning of a career that would soon take him from regional dance bands to the center of American popular music.
Goodman moved to New York in the late 1920s, where he worked as a studio musician and performed with several leading orchestras. He recorded with figures including Red Nichols, Ted Lewis, Isham Jones and Glenn Miller, while also developing a reputation as a precise and flexible clarinet soloist. In the early 1930s he began working with record producer and jazz promoter John Hammond, whose encouragement helped Goodman assemble a band and record with musicians such as Gene Krupa and Jack Teagarden.
Goodman formed his first major orchestra in 1934. Its arrangements, many supplied by Fletcher Henderson, combined the rhythmic drive of jazz with the precision of a large dance band. A national radio engagement on the program "Let's Dance" introduced the orchestra to a wide audience, and a subsequent tour helped turn Goodman into a national star. Recordings such as "King Porter Stomp," "Don't Be That Way," "Stompin' at the Savoy" and "Sing, Sing, Sing" became defining examples of the swing era.
Goodman's small groups were equally important. His trio with pianist Teddy Wilson and drummer Gene Krupa was one of the first prominent racially integrated ensembles to perform for large American audiences. The later quartet added vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. These groups gave Goodman room to improvise and demonstrated that small-group jazz could be both commercially successful and artistically sophisticated.
On January 16, 1938, Goodman and his orchestra performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. The concert, featuring guests from the bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington as well as Goodman's own musicians, is regarded as a landmark in the public acceptance of jazz as a serious concert music. The recording was later preserved in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.
As the big-band era declined, Goodman continued to perform, record and tour. He also maintained a strong interest in classical music, appearing with symphony orchestras and performing works written or adapted for clarinet, including compositions by Bela Bartok, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. His career was revisited in the 1955 film "The Benny Goodman Story," in which Steve Allen portrayed him.
Goodman received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1982 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986. He continued to make occasional concert appearances until his death in New York at the age of 77. His legacy rests not only on his recordings and clarinet style, but also on the role his ensembles played in bringing swing, integrated performance and jazz improvisation into the American mainstream.