Tuesday, October 28, 1975
3
Goodman pure nostalgia in homecoming concert
By BRUCE LINTON
Yes, Benny still lives—in music and the flesh. That's my answer to the question overheard in the Kansas Union the day it was announced that Benny Goodman would be here homecoming weekend. The question is understandable, for Goodman's visibility has been sporadic in the past two decades. He has been in semi-retirement; the last big change was his decision to be only occasional revivals of the combo. So it was nostalgia night in Hoch Auditorium. There was a good crowd, with a surprising number of college-age fans. From the whispers around me and warm applause after the first few bars it was obvious that a lot of people knew the title of the number; they probably owned the record.
Perhaps others have seen Ben many times, but for me it was only the second. One memorable day in the '30s I drove 90 miles to Chicago Theater. I bounced all over that theater seat to the driving rhythm. If I could have afforded a date I would have been
Review
jitterbugging in the asides along with what seemed to be half the formulation of Chicago
It was the first year of high school. Goodman, in retrospect, was the first of the music superstars able to evoke such a frenzied response. In those years, especially, he inspired thousands of beginning musicians as well as his peers.
Saturday night most of us came to hear the great standards of those days, and if there were any fears that this wouldn't happen they were dissipated by the quartet of rhythm and trombone which played the first set.
There was the light, driving touch of Urbie Green on trombone, the impeccable piano of Hank Jones and the whimsical Swarm Stair on bass. Never intruding all evening was the beat from Connie Bentley's years the drummer of the Modern Jazz Quartette.
It was frustrating not to have Goodman in the first set, but perhaps at age 66 he must have seen his face beaten; however, it was vintage Goodman for a solid 90 minutes. With a quartet (Green sitting out) Benny gave us "After You've gone" "Body and Soul" and "High How the Moon."
It was still all there—the full tone, the moving but always melodic line that has inspired countless imitations. There was the effortless physical performance which never concealed the driving beat so typical of the swing era.
The combo became a quintet with the addition of Warren Vache on trumpet. Less than half the age of anyone else in the group, Vache obviously was at home in this musical period, whether carrying the New Orleans-style lead in "Rampart Street" or blending lines and riffs to such Goodman material as "Trap In The Butterfly." Vache has a beautiful, full tone and, in this setting at least, his restrained phrasing was similar to Rudy Braff.
Goodman always picks outstanding musicians. Green is one of the top three jazz trumponists, and Jones is as well regarded on piano. Of course there is no other bass like Slam Stewart, who goes back almost as far as Goodman and who appeared in several editions of the Goodman combo. He also played in a delicate tracing of "The Very Thought of You" by Jones to Stewart's humorous "Play. Fiddle Play."
University Daily Kansan
Green rejoined the group for the last numbers, making it a sextet, the format which brought the warmest audience response. (No dancing in the aisles, just solid, foot-tapping appreciation.) A Benny fan can hum the riffs of "Avalon," but he's not a big Georgia Brown." The combo-style version of "Sing, Sing, Sing" was the inevitable climax, and the standing ovation brought them back for "Honeycuple Rose."
Innovative improvisation? Perhaps not anymore, but who cares? Goodman is the most complete jazz clarinetist of all time—in technique, tone, rhythm and (most of all) in his uncanny sense of "rightness" for every note and phrase.
But musical styles change, and so do the solo instruments. The jazz clarinetists have disappeared. The reed men of the big bands and soprano and soprano axe instead of the clarinet.
When Goodman decide to riff no more there may be no one to follow. Perhaps this was partly in the minds of those who gave him such a warm welcome. Certainly it was a special time to hear his music again and to know that "Benny Rides Again" is more than the title of an old chart. Thank you, SUA.
Concert sales better Saturday
A total of 2,015 tickets were sold for the Benny Goodman homecoming concert, according to Mike Miller, SUA activities adviser.
Rich Lindeman, SUA special events chairman, said in an SUA board meeting last week that if 1,000 more tickets weren't sold, the team would have 500 tickets were sold Saturday, he said.
Staff Photo by GEORGE MILLENER
Goodman concert
Band leader Benny Goodman treated a large audience to a combination of Big Band era and new tunes during the Saturday night homecoming concert at Hoho auditorium.
"At last...
the definitive pictorial history in the reprint edition film buffs have been waiting for." Publishers Weekly
And in the same big, handsome format as the $19.95 hardcover edition.
1. 300 PHOTOS • 200,000 WORDS
Homecoming
Arthur H. "Red" Cromb, Shawnee Mission,
president of the Gresham Co.;
$7.95 • SIMON AND SCHUSTER/FIRESIDE
by Richard Griffith and Arthur Mayer
From page one
Roy A. Edwards Jr., Kansas City, city consultant to Research Seeds Inc.; S. Stanky Learned, Bartlevilleville, Oklahoma, retired Professor Philip Petroleum Co.; Nicholas L. Gerren, Wilberforce, Ohio, director of the Learning Center at Central State Univ.; and the late N. Thomas Veach Jr., Kansas City, Mo. Professor of the Black and Veach engineering firm
--sister Maud Elsworth, also of topkea, and
sons Robert Washington D.C.; C.J. and
Joseph Washington D.C.
Four members of the Ellsworth family are presented with special medals. The group includes
Robert Ellsworth was unable to attend the ceremonies because of his duties as an assistant.
The Benny Goodman sextet gave a swinging concert to an audience of about 2,200 at Hof Auditorium Saturday night to highlight activities to a highly envolved close.
After the game the streets around the 'Hawk and the Wheel were jammed with the traditional throne of beer-drinking students. The police arrested them, and the Lawrence police to curtail the activity.
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FRIDAY, NOV. 14 — 8 P.M.
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ON SALE TODAY
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and
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