Benny Neyman

Rockstar Records present a twenty-nine song CD album entitled Benny Joy, Little Red Book with recordings from the years 1957 to 1963. There are two recordings which are dually credited to Benny Joy and "Big" John Taylor, and one solo "Big"John Taylor release. Their initial recording from the year 1957 "Hey"… High School Baby! b/w Spin The Bottle were released using only Benny Joy’s name, and they were recorded for the Haines City, Florida based Tri-Dec label. The CD album includes the Dixie version of Spin The Bottle which was the undubbed master leased to Shelby Singleton who added his name to the writing credits.

Falling in Love With Benny Goodman is part of RCA's mid-line Falling in Love With series, which focuses on romantic highlights from classic big-band, swing, and jazz artists. There aren't any risky choices on Goodman's volume, but that's fine, since each of the title's 16 cuts - including "Body and Soul," "The Man I Love," "Moonglow," "In a Sentimental Mood," "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You," and "The Glory of Love" - sustains a mellow, romantic mood. This record may not really be necessary, but for anyone looking for lovely, romantic music from Goodman, it's not a bad choice at all.

Rockstar Records present a twenty-nine song CD album entitled Benny Joy, Little Red Book with recordings from the years 1957 to 1963. There are two recordings which are dually credited to Benny Joy and "Big" John Taylor, and one solo "Big"John Taylor release. Their initial recording from the year 1957 "Hey"… High School Baby! b/w Spin The Bottle were released using only Benny Joy’s name, and they were recorded for the Haines City, Florida based Tri-Dec label. The CD album includes the Dixie version of Spin The Bottle which was the undubbed master leased to Shelby Singleton who added his name to the writing credits.

Benny Goodman was the first celebrated bandleader of the Swing Era, dubbed "The King of Swing," his popular emergence marking the beginning of the era. He was an accomplished clarinetist whose distinctive playing gave an identity both to his big band and to the smaller units he led simultaneously. The most popular figure of the first few years of the Swing Era, he continued to perform until his death 50 years later.

By the autumn of 1941, Benny Goodman's orchestra had taken on a polished, slightly oily aspect that was quite different from the bands he'd led a few years earlier. Pianist Mel Powell was now the arranger, Peggy Lee sang on most of the records, and the focus of the material often drifted away from authentically swinging jazz to include quite a number of pop tunes. This tendency is most dramatically demonstrated by two consecutive versions of "Buckle Down, Winsocki," with its John Philip Sousa intro and jocular group vocal. Although the arrangement gets hipper in midstream, one would never guess that the great Cootie Williams was in the band. Maybe nobody did - Williams left in mid-October, knocking the trumpet section down more than one peg…

The first half of this chronological release of Benny Goodman's 1931-1933 recordings is comprised of dance band performances from 1931 - 12 selections with vocals from Paul Small, Smith Ballew, and Dick Robertson that have little to recommend them except excellent musicianship. The jazz content is pretty low and even Goodman is not heard from much. This is from the era when the clarinetist earned his employment as a studio musician. The final ten numbers are from 1933 and are of greater interest. Trombonist/singer Jack Teagarden is well featured on six songs, Billie Holiday makes her hesitant recording debut on "Your Mother's Son-in-Law" and "Riffin' the Scotch," and there are some fine solos along the way by both Jack and Charlie Teagarden, pianist Joe Sullivan, and Goodman. This is still Benny Goodman pre-history, for he would not attempt to lead a big band until 1934.

Along with Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver, the prolific Benny Golson created some of the most memorable compositions in the jazz repertoire. This reissue features his first albums as a leader, and many of his most familiar originals are to be found here. In a 1958 Downbeat article Ralph Gleason highlighted “the extraordinary attention jazz musicians are currently paying to his compositions”. Indeed by the early 60s it seemed that every rehearsal band in the UK and everyone on the jazz club circuit had at least three or four of his originals in the book…

The Jazztet had been in existence for two years when they recorded what would be their final LPs, Here and Now and Another Git Together. The personnel, other than the two co-leaders, flugelhornist Art Farmer and tenor-saxophonist Benny Golson, had completely changed since 1960 but the group sound was the same. The 1962 version of the Jazztet included trombonist Grachan Moncur III, pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Herbie Lewis, and drummer Roy McCurdy. It is remarkable to think that this talent-filled group wasn't, for some reason, snapped up to record even more albums together. Highlights of their excellent out-of-print LP include Ray Bryant's "Tonk," "Whisper Not," "Just in Time," and Thelonious Monk's "Ruby My Dear." A classic if short-lived hard bop group.