Dubbed by Time magazine “The King of Swing,
”
Benny Goodman
combined commercial popularity with true jazz feeling, improvisational ability, and disciplined musicianship. His groups were among the first to break the “colour barrier
” in jazz, and Goodman became one of America's most important jazz ambassadors to the world.
Benjamin David Goodman was born in Chicago in , one of 12 children of an immigrant Russian-Jewish tailor. Goodman's first music lessons were at Kehelah...