William Henry "Chick" Webb, despite being under five feet tall was a monster on the drums. he led one of the best big bands in the 1930's and proved through his music that anyone can overcome handicaps.
Benny Goodman "the king of swing" started young and became a huge success playing in places like the congress hotel in Chicago.
but what happened when they met?
Who should have the tittle of king?
I personally would go with the overall consensus of the time, that Chick Webb was “the man”;Not to discredit Benny Goodman who was also an amazing musician. When talented figures like Duke Ellington and Art Blakey credit Chick with influencing their music, you know it was great. The fact that Chick was able to have such success as a musician despite having debilitating congenital tuberculosis is beyond inspirational. His music changed jazz by raising the bar. I particularly like this version.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgX5_waK--w&feature=related
Team Chick Webb.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcrpzSmaZcI
ReplyDeleteIf we are going to talk about swing, we should know how to to dance it (Or at least the east coast variant)
Haha, this is awesomeness! We all know about the awesome film, Swing Kids, right. Its based more in the early 1940's I think but it's a great take on the spirit of swing in Europe.
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