In the 1970s I was fortunate to interview Goodman and Artie Shaw, among other great clarinetists. Both had begun as sax players, and were seated next to each other in the studio orchestras of the World Broadcasting Company's studios. Co-founder and principal conductor Gus Haenschen said that Shaw, who was a self-taught on both instruments, was as great a sax player as he was a clarinetist--but Goodman, Haenschen said, "had one of the worst sax tones, almost like a student trying to learn to play a sax, but he himself couldn't hear how bad it was." Goodman described Shaw as "a nut, or wanted to give that impression," and Shaw described Goodman as "an idiot savant whose mind is limited to a wooden tube with springs and keys and holes in it."
38 years later RIP
One of the greatest of all time. Imagine the death of a jazz musician leading the network nightly news in 2024. Wouldn't happen and that's sad.
In the 1970s I was fortunate to interview Goodman and Artie Shaw, among other great clarinetists. Both had begun as sax players, and were seated next to each other in the studio orchestras of the World Broadcasting Company's studios. Co-founder and principal conductor Gus Haenschen said that Shaw, who was a self-taught on both instruments, was as great a sax player as he was a clarinetist--but Goodman, Haenschen said, "had one of the worst sax tones, almost like a student trying to learn to play a sax, but he himself couldn't hear how bad it was." Goodman described Shaw as "a nut, or wanted to give that impression," and Shaw described Goodman as "an idiot savant whose mind is limited to a wooden tube with springs and keys and holes in it."
As a harmonic player since ten (I'm 72), I know that Goodman influenced blues playing by later harp players.
This s super sad
Please do naya rivera on July 13 and Kelly Preston on the 12th