While some folks think that all has been said about this significant event in jazz history, here are some things you might not know.
One of my fellow bloggers, Mr. Eric Bogart, has detected one of two little details, only known to the folks with big ears who had the time to listen closely to a) the very first LP-release of this concert, and b) who have purchased the official CD-release (produced by Mr. Phil Schaap in 1999), and can so compare it with the before mentioned LP.
But let’s read what Mr. Bogart wrote in 2000:
“(…) Skeptics might believe that my blue labeled set might just be unusually clean, or mastered louder than later issues, but, there is one crucial difference! A whistle! Just before the opening note by the Goodman band is sounded on the concert’s first song, “Don’t Be That Way,” there is a whistle discernible from somewhere in the audience. This whistle has been deleted from all subsequent versions. (…) Learn more HERE.
By the way, the little whistle right before Don’t Be That Way can also be heard on the old Phillips-LP-twofer with the concert.
The other, more crucial detail is that on the official CD-release, claiming to contain “all” recorded music performed that night, are missing 27 seconds of I Got Rhythm which is posted at JazzTube in its complete version, transferred from the LP (see link).
In this very informative blog entry, written five years ago by jazz critic Fernando Ortiz de Urbina will you learn more about the 34 missing bars (which is one full chorus!) of I Got Rhythm. Señor Urbina is also featuring audio comparisons.
There is another little known fact about the concert. If you listen closely to Avalon, performed by the Benny Goodman Quartet, you can hear Lionel Hampton playing the first two notes of Stompin’ At The Savoy right before the applause is faded out.
I guess that this quartet number, which was eventually played during the 2nd half of the concert, was actually listed on the program as the next piece; but since George Gershwin had passed away in 1937, Benny decided spontaneously to perform The Man I Love, followed by the above posted I Got Rhythm, published in 1930.
Before we continue with another highlight, here comes lovely Martha Tilton and her two features: Loch Lomond and Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, featuring Mr.-Fralich-in-Swing, trumpet man Ziggy Elman with his inimitable ride.
Please let me introduce to you yet another fellow with big ears who seems to know – and to have! – everything about that famous concert: Mr. Jon Hancock (who was the first who has noticed the 34 missing bars of I Got Rhythm).
He has created a lovely video, or rather a collage, combining the only news reel footage of the concert with photos and the 2nd part of Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing), the last number of the concert, followed by the two encores If Dreams Come True (this track is *not* from that concert!) & Big John’s Special. — (FB-page of Mr. Hancock with great pictures from the concert and an update of his book about the concert, released in 2009).
This is really a labor of love, and it’s great fun to watch, and I guess it’s the best way to say:
Keep on swingin’ on, Benny Goodman, wherever you may blow your horn!
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