f Leon Rappolo. After his 17th birthday Benny made his first recording with Pollack's band with the tune, "He's the Last Word." Benny also played in the bands of leaders such as Red Nichols (from 1929 to 1931), Isham Jones, and Ted Lewis. During the early 30s Goodman played in bands led by Red Nichols, Ted Lewis, Sam Lanin and others. In 1934, Goodman led a dance band that performed regularly on the national radio show "Let's Dance." His drummer was the urgent and exciting Gene Krupa (Klauber, 1991). When the radio show ended, Goodman took the band on a nationwide tour. In Los Angeles, the band created a sensation,essentially starting the "swing" era. In fact, Goodman became known as the "King of Swing" (Collier, 1989). Swing was the dominant idiom of the 1930s and much of the 1940s. Basically, it was a form of dance music played by a large band, and was the medium through which most white Americans first heard Jazz (Schuller,1989). Although the decade 1935-45 was called the Swing Era, swingarrangements had been played by large bands beginning in the 1920s. Bandleader-arrangers Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, and, later, Count Basie, worked out arrangements for their 10 to 12 piece bands, which, unlike traditional jazz bands, were divided into instrumental sections.The rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass, and drums) maintained a steady, even beat; the saxophone and brass sections countered each other with harmonized riffs and repeated figures, with section leaders improvisingover this background (Stewart, 1979). Utilized almost exclusively for dancing, the music of the big bands borrowed heavily from the techniques introduced by Henderson. Among the most popular bands were those led by Goodman, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, the Dorsey brothers, and Artie Shaw. As a counterpart of the highly arranged orchestrations of these New York-based bands, a Kansas City swing style developed under the influence of Count Bas...
