Benny Goodman's Mission to Moscow - Avalon, 1962

by Len Hart

Benny Goodman's 1962 visit to the U.S.S.R. was an historic triumph for Goodman, his orchestra, his many fans and also for the cause of peace. After Goodman played Moscow I would suspect it was much more difficult for either 'side' of the long cold war to demonize the other. It was historic. It was the first time an American jazz or swing band had toured what was then the 'Soviet Union' at the invitation of the Soviet government. It was also the first time an American swing or jazz band was recorded in the Soviet Union. It is interesting to note that that the Goodman orchestra would be playing for an audience that was for the most part unfamiliar with the swing and/or jazz idiom. The auction reaction seems to prove that they embraced it.

Fortunately Benny Goodman In Moscow was recorded in concert and a double LP released on RCA Records. The Album is also interesting in that as of this article, no CD of the performance has been released.

Only a few Goodman 'classics' --hits of the 30's or 40s --were were included. Many were surprised that a very modern piece by Tadd Dameron was included in the program. And those most surprised were Goodman's American friends.

The 'album' features arrangements by younger band members including Tommy Newsom who was to be associated much later with the Tonight Show. Harkening back to the bands historic recordings of the late 30s is pianist Teddy Wilson, of the original Goodman trio.

Goodman himself had Russian origins, born of was born in Chicago of poor Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. Benny began his musical studies at age 12 at the Kehelah Jacob Synagogue.

When Benny was 12, his father enrolled him and two of his older brothers in music lessons at the Kehelah Jacob Synagogue. The next year he joined the boys club band at Jane Addams' Hull House, where he received lessons from director James Sylvester. Later he would study with the classically trained clarinist Franz Schoepp. His Jazz influences were the New Orleans clarinetists who had migrated to Chicago in such of steady work in the city's night clubs increasingly featuring many who would become jazz greats --Johnny Dodds, Leon Roppolo, and Jimmy Noone.

Benny Goodman played with his band in Moscow (1962) at the CSKA Sport Palace. CSKA stands for Central Sports Club of the Soviet Army. At the height of spy scandal (American U2 spy plane was just shot off the Russian sky) the KGB (Commitee for the State Security) was suspicious of "capitalist provocations," so only a handful of tickets went into Moscow's jazz fans' hands; several thousand tickets were distributed among "ideologically tested" blue-collar Communists through the Party committees at Moscow's industrial facilities. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was present at the concert, but soon got bored by the alien music that he hated, and left during the intermission.

The U2 spy plane incident was in 1960, not 1962. Also, doubt Khrushchev left at intermission because he sat in the VIP box with the American Ambassador and his wife and then went on to a reception at the Ambassador's residence following the concert where he had a lively conversation with Mr. Goodman.

Read more at Wiki Answers

Benny Goodman's Classic 'Sing, Sing, Sing

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