Plenty of pop stars could speak intelligently about their music and much else. Take for example Randy Newman and Ian Anderson.

No, he missed A LOT-over and over again. He didn’t seem to really give a flying fig about anything Benny was saying.

It's Normal. All generations think that.

@@laramaui4114 You are 100% right. My in laws are proof of that.

He stated in this interview you got to keep listening to what younger people are doing and he didn’t seem at all bothered by later incarcerations. Swing was his era and he helped define it so of course he was partial to it. Goodman seemed like a very educated/open minded person. A lot of the myths surrounding these legends are just that.

Marijuana was certainly widely used by jazz musicians of Goodman's era. Goodman said he tried it and didn't like it. In any case, Goodman is very lucid and articulate in this interview.

@Simon McCreath listen to Benny's bop Embarrassing Armstrong was smart. He didn't attempt it, he just lambasted it by calling it "Chinese music" Goodman's solos were based around the melody True jazz artists improvise based on the chord changes and, later the key signature

@@arame29 Virtually all swing jazz musicians, including Goodman, improvised around the melody (and the changes). Benny Goodman was an expert jazz musician of the swing era. He was not of the bop era, and it's ridiculous to expect him to have been. Armstrong was from an era preceding the swing era, and thus much further removed from bop. Of course he never attempted it. That doesn't make his wiser than Goodman; it just makes him older.

He played Dixieland & Swing…this is most certainly jazz. The old timers were improvisers too.

@Simon McCreath calling benny goodman the king of swing is like calling Madonna the Queen of soul

@@TheNYHITTINGACADEMY Sorry, “queen of soul” doesn’t work. It’s got to rhyme. The expression is “queen of mean”, and it’s already taken. So is “king of swing”-far, far too late to apply it to Chick Webb or anyone else who isn’t Benny Goodman. Make up your own damn sobriquet, and make it rhyming or at the very least alliterative.

Sounds like you just watched a Ken Burns jazz documentary and are rehashing some talking points. Goodman’s band was respected by guys like Basie. Goodman wasn’t white bread, tunes like “Sing, Sing Sing” are potent and propelled by Gene Krupa. Goodman’s small band was one of the best there was at the time as it had Krupa, Charlie Christian,, Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton. Finally, this is what Miles said of Goodman as a clarinetist: “I only like Benny Goodman very much. I don’t like Buddy DeFranco at all, because he plays a lot of cliches and is very cold. Tony Scott plays good, but not like Benny, because Benny used to swing so much”.

I was wondering if his speaking style mimics that of his father's. It reminded me of how orthodox rabbis will, at certain points in discussing the Torah, speak in a sort of sing-song style. Your analysis of jazz intonation is probably closer to the truth. Either way, what a joy to hear him speak.

@@vickiferstel9298 I am extremely familiar with the speech patterns of Rabbis, not only Orthodox, but of all the denominations, particularly with regard to NYC, Germany, and Israel. For one, I have worked with many dialects, accents, and what have you, from many countries, as I work in time-based entertainment. While I am very antagonistic toward organized religion, my father was born in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 20th century. His father was an ultra-orthodox rabbi and scholar of the state. My father was ordained in Jerusalem, immigrated to U.S. and was a working rabbit his entire life. Many males in his family were and are rabbis. Boy did I meet a lot of rabbis as I was growing up. That being said, Benny Goodman's speech patterns fit EXACTLY into the speech patterns of Jazz musicians all over the world. Additionally, I find no similarity to the patterns of Rabbis as they mull over the Talmud, juggle enigmas found in moral and spiritual contemplation, or crawl into the Zohar, and find themselves transcending up into a labyrinth of numerology. p.s. Benny had a terrible relationship with his father, and though his father never approved of him pursuing the life of a jazz musician, Benny sent his father a multi-vinyl fancy box set of his work. When his father died, and they were dealing with his father’s possessions, he found that the box set had never been opened.

@Simon McCreath Hahahahah, get a grip of myself? Ya know, just for the hell of it, I'm gonna tell ya what that last sentence is about - I am getting kind of old. I have known an awful lot of jazz musicians. The old school bozzzz are almost all gone, and when I started mentioning the speech patterns and intonations, I get memories of snippets of our conversations, bit of riffs we would trade off in 8s, toasts to life, and lots of laughs. So, there ain't nutt'n wrong with shedding a few tears here and there. My grip has always been firm, thank you very much.

Just because something is “before your time” is no excuse for not knowing. It’s called doing your homework.

That’s pretty stupid. If you research and listen to a lot of music, you can learn about a lot of different people involving in music…from different eras. As someone else stated, it’s “doing your homework0.

Lionel Hampton who Benny featured in his Quartet said "that was BIG at the time". Teddy Wilson (BG Trio) , Charlie Christian (electric guitar pioneer and composer) , Cootie Williams, Sid Catlett were all black musicians in Benny's groups and Fletcher Henderson , Jimmy Mundy, Mary Lou Williams (also piano) & Edgar Sampson were all black arrangers Benny hired.Benny took ALLOT of heat for hiring blacks in segregated America in the 1930's-this was over 10 years before Major League baseball & the U.S. Armed Forces intergrated. There are more but those are a few of the blacks who made wonderful contributions to the music & were heard because BG hired the best regardless of color.

@@15emac Please link me any people of color playing with Benny on video. Benny Goodman wouldn't hire people of color in a music of people of color. Benny Goodman is an American disgrace. He literally stole their music and would not hire them.

You obviously didn’t know his band