Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson

Gr 2–5—This DVD captures the historic moment of the first integrated band onstage in America by illuminating the musical lives of clarinetist Benny Goodman and pianist Teddy Wilson. The story flips back and forth between Benny's growing up in Chicago, playing in a synagogue band, to Teddy's youth living at the Tuskeegee Institute, playing violin, oboe, clarinet, and piano. Famous names drop like rain: Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Bix Beiderbecke, Jimmy McPartland, and Louis Armstrong. The musical influences on the two young men are legendary. When Benny and Teddy finally meet and record amazing hit music with drummer Gene Krupa as the Benny Goodman Trio, they still cannot perform together live in a segregated America until 1936. The language has an infectious rhythm: "Toes tapping, fingers snapping, listening." Sadly, narrator, Sean Crisden does not give this musical text its due. A more expressive vocal interpretation with much less repetitive syntax and more of a sense of surprise would fit the jazz theme. There are no special animated effects either, and the result is flat overall. Background music and crowd sounds give some impression of the wizardry of Benny's clarinet and Teddy's piano, but no additional resources are included, which is unfortunate. Useful when examining segregation in America or revealing our musical history; rely instead on the music itself to tell the incredible story of swing.