THE KING OF SWING

by John (Jack) Clarke

I met old Benny Goodman at the Blue Note in Chicago.
He was a prick. Pissing with Terry Gibbs, vibraphonist
that night, 1950, he opened. Berryman [David?} man
of self. Nothing new in Swing after 1937 Duke had said,
that popular black Chevy year wrappin’ it up, bass drum
Gene Krupa never did “swing” (Berry thought him the best
later fired “Big Sal” Catlett, the “Goodman Ray” didn’t work 1941)
tho Papa Jo did credit his tom-toms on “Sing Sing Sing”
then at bar’s end Red Norvo switches to vibes and the sextet
took off again (weren’t lying back as Lionel Hampton in 1936)
but by then night-time television had killed the remote
hotel pick-ups though I pulled in that Hotel Roosevelt
from New Orleans, though of course, the Count, the Duke
and the Earl, real royalty of survival, all but the King.

June 16, 1991 Saturday