I've been checking out the Benny Goodman festival on the radio on wkcr-fm in NYC. Benny 24-7 for the next 2 weeks or so. I posted the internet link on another thread, but I hope that Ed dosen't mind if I post it again here.
www.wkcr.org They're playing his discography in chronological order. I started listening on the 2nd day, they were up to 1927 or '28. Tonight as I drove home from my gig, they were playing his 1941 vintage.
I was very impressed with the sound of the reeds in his first big band, 1934-35 I believe. This band kept the same personel in the reeds into around '36. The lead alto player was Hymie Shertzer. Slightly later editions of the band had Dave Matthews playing lead, and I was not as impressed. The band I heard tonight had Les Robinson on lead, and he sounded as strong and confident as Hymie, as a matter of fact, I thought that it was Hymie blowing lead.
But, in my years in music, I've learned to listen past the obvious and try to determine what external factors are helping to contribute to a players excelence. Hymie was a great lead alto, no doubt about it, but there was a cat named George Koenig sitting under him on third alto. Les Robinson had the great Gus Bivona sitting in the third alto chair. The 3rd alto is the cushion that the lead player rests his or her sound on, so that chair had better be well taken care of if the lead player is to sound his or her best. Maybe Dave Matthews didn't have the vonce that Hymie or Les had.... style, beauty, and power. But maybe Dave's 3rd man was a little weak and left him out there to do it all himself.
Just an observation from the listening post.
Julian
