SID CAESAR: Benny Goodman - Sing, Sing, Sing [MUSICAL] (CAESAR'S HOUR, Nov 1 1954)

Want to see how limitless Sid Caesar's talent was? Take a look at this clip of Benny Goodman performing his classic barnstormer "Sing, Sing, Sing" -- with a surprise saxophone solo by Sid. Was there anything this man couldn't do?
With Carl Reiner and Howard Morris. Solos by legendary drummer Gene Krupa and the great trumpeter Cootie Williams (who spent most of his career with Duke Ellington).
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[@daniellack3559]

Absolutely hysterical watching Sid, Howie Morris and Carl Reiner (all in their early 30's by '54} playing teen-agers in the audience...and what a treat, the incomparable Gene Krupa on drums joining the Goodman Band...and what can you say about Sid on the Sax..if he had applied himself solely to playing the Sax, he would have been among the best...but then we wouldn't have had the golden age of TV !

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

So true! It's not really uncommon for people who are true geniuses in one area to have enormous talents in others. At a certain point in their lives, they focus on one aspect of their gifts and develop them to the fullest, necessarily leaving other considerable gifts to languish. Sid was certainly in this category. I think his sax solo is quite impressive, speaking as a jazz aficionado. He lacks real "chops", but that's only because an instrument like the sax requires constant practice just to maintain the muscles around the mouth that are needed for optimal tone. I have no doubt, if Sid had focused on music, he'd have been a great jazz player!

[@mikerca]

I read his book "Where have I been". He played sax with a song and dance troupe while in the army, and also played sax in the Shep Fields orchestra.

[@wildbillhackett]

"He lacks real "chops"" Are you serious? I've played jazz since the 70's and know very few sax players who could blow a better solo than that. Sid had chops to die for.

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

Yeah, I'm serious. As I said, the muscles around the mouth that are necessary to control tone on a reed instrument need to be **maintained**. They don't come from nowhere. You don't practice, you lose the musculature. You're entitled to your opinion of the quality of his playing-- which I praised, of course. It's not opinion, however, that it takes constant practice to maintain those muscles, and that Sid had no time at all for practicing. The miracle here is how GOOD he was under these circumstances. I don't see any need to claim he demonstrated here that he was a better sax player than all but a few people. Just a bit of an exaggeration there.

[@wildbillhackett]

He was still pretty young in the late 50's. He probably played quite a bit. During the late 80's when I was in my late 30's, I was a full-time meat cutter at Kroger and went to college at night learning to work on computers and still found time to play in a band and practice every day.

[@jayconnell173]

Man! Wow.....Sid on the sax......That blew me away because I've always liked Sing, sing, sing with Bennie and Gene but daggone Sid...You were awesome!

[@jeffreymiller4814]

Oh. My. Goodness!! This is a genuine historical document. What a loss it would have been to not have this captured on video. Sid Caesar was a bona fide genius. His talent knew no bounds.

[@moldyoldie7888]

It also survived being recycled for silver content.

[@SheridanJazz]

I remember seeing this live when I was about 8 yrs. old. Caesar's sensational, but Goodman and the band are amazing. As close to the 1937 "real deal" as it gets. Many familiar faces here.....Mel Powell (piano), Krupa and Hymie Schertzer to name a few. Superb.

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

Wow. Wish I could have seen it live. A Goodman classic! And what impresses me about Caesar is that, by 1954, he hadn't played the sax professionally for almost 10 years, yet could still rip off a solo like that! --kjh

[@Terribleathletes]

Charlie Shavers. Great player.

[@agamemnonpadar5706]

Great comment

[@kevinbutler1955NYC]

Wow! Classic Sid,Carl,Howie and Classic Benny and Gene.

[@savethetpc6406]

That was a lot of fun to watch! Thanks for posting it! :-)

[@bethany1954]

You should be thanking the channel he stole it from.

[@WhatsMyLine]

I didn't steal this from anyone. This comes from my own DVDs that I purchased legally. The material itself is not copyrighted. I'm gonna go out on a limb and take a WILD guess that you're a trolling friend of Bill Seper from the other thread who came here just to toss a few stupid flames. I suggest you find something better to do with your life than this. Your last name seems a very apt descriptor for your behavior.

[@bethany1954]

Oy, if this came from DVD's then why are SOME of the many uploaded videos of this higher quality? In fact, yours is the worst of the ones I've checked. The ones it's closest to in quality are of the exact same length and only slightly better quality. I guess you couldn't find the higher quality ones. I don't believe you. Troll. (See how my saying it makes it true....)

[@WhatsMyLine]

Listed below are all the reasons why I would give a crap whether a totally ignorant internet troll believes me: That about wraps it up.

[@reinacoffee8557]

This was before the British Invasion...I think it was great!!!!! Teenagers went wild for this....Wow!!!!! Love it!!!

[@LaptopLarry330]

This instrumental was a hit for Benny Goodman way back in 1937. I guess that sometimes, what comes around, goes around. But because of Jazz music being recycled for public consumption, it almost became a necessity for Rock music to play a larger role in the American music landscape.

[@jeffglazer5418]

I DID NOT KNOW THAT SID CAESAR PLAYED SAX.

[@gailjarvis2592]

I want him to play sax with some other ghostly greats by my bed when it's time to go.

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

You could also, if you wanted, request a clarinet solo--he was pretty good on that, too! --kjh

[@agamemnonpadar5706]

Not Cootie Williams, the trumpeter is Charlie Shavers

[@JimDavidson1]

You are correct. That's Charlie Shavers.

[@roybeckerman7843]

1954…the year ROCK N ROLL started, with ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK and THAT’S ALRIGHT MAMMA.

[@wrongway3363]

Is everyone just going to ignore possibly the greatest clarinet solo I've ever heard. I lost track counting the notes ! I've never heard this particular solo on any of the Sing sing sing tracks. Does anyone know when he came up with this beast of a solo ?

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

I agree, it's great! If he was playing this version of the clarinet solo before 1954, I unfortunately don't know. Anyone? ---kjh

[@francescaemc2]

grazie

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

Prego. Glad you enjoyed it! ---kjh

[@francescaemc2]

@@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250 very much!!

[@johnsradios484]

Holy smokes

[@bobbyfrancis8957]

FOR ONCE, between 0:00 and 2:50, Howard Morris and Carl Reiner are stealing the entire scene from Sid, I wish it showed them more than that! They are really into it, those crazy "teenagers"!

[@sandy3482]

maybe Gene Krupa couldn't do the things Buddy Rich could and maybe Benny Goodman wasn't technical as good as Artie Shaw but when they got together they were the best!

[@agamemnonpadar5706]

Benny Goodman was the best clarinet player ever.

[@bobtaylor170]

​@@agamemnonpadar5706listen to Artie Shaw. The late Richard Sudhalter, in his classic book, "Lost Chords," writes that there is no question that Goodman was a great hot jazz clarinetist. Sudhalter's chapter on Goodman takes up about ten pages in a book which is close to 1,000 pages in length. He devotes two full chapters to Shaw, and they take up about 90 pages. I don't know whether it's still available, but I have a no frills ten CD boxed set of Artie Shaw recordings made between 1936 - 1942. It's astonishing stuff. Having Sudhalter's book as the listener goes through this set is invaluable, because though Sudhalter doesn't devote attention to everything Shaw recorded in this period, but he devotes a lot to it. It's interesting that though Sudhalter admires them, he isn't as keen on the last Gramery 5 recordings which Shaw made in 1954. He thinks Shaw was trying to be a little unnecessarily formal. Maybe, but it's still great, small group jazz. I am a huge fan of the Benny Goodman small group recordings from the late 30s, but if you get into Shaw, you won't be able to maintain your view of Goodman any longer. Shaw and Goodman were having lunch one day. Goodman was going on and on about clarinet mouthpieces. Finally, Shaw, who was not known for his even temper, snapped. "Benny! Why do you keep going on about the g*ddamned clarinet?!" Goodman, looking astonished, replied, "Well, Artie, that's what we play!" Shaw: "Maybe you play the clarinet! I play music! And I use the clarinet to do it!"

[@NewFrontier4.0]

​@@bobtaylor170Artie never could outswing Benny.

[@bobtaylor170]

@@NewFrontier4.0 maybe not. But there's a lot more to music than swing. Look, I love The Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet Small Group Sessions, especially the ten or so cuts with Dave Tough. But between 1936 and 1942, what Shaw did with his orchestras was marvelous, and The Gramercy 5 were always fun. He made several albums worth of revived Gramercy 5 recordings in 1954, and they're remarkable. In his book, "Lost Chords," Richard Sudhalter devotes ten pages to Goodman and about eighty to Shaw. Having that book when I got a boxed set ( 10 CDs ) of the Shaw orchestras during those six years enabled me to appreciate Shaw at a whole new level.