Song:Love Me Or Leave Me
Album:The Early Years
Of course Benny Goodman was known as the King Of Swing. He led what was probably the first really popular swing band. Before he became popular in the late 30s, Goodman's recordings like this one from 1933 were more jazz oriented. And the CD is really cheap. Goodman moved from his home in Chicago to New York City in 1928. For the most part, he was a session musician. For example, he played on Bessie Smith's final recordings and plenty of other things. In 1933, Columbia Records producer John Hammond decided to record Goodman. Love Me Or Leave Me was one of those recordings. That song was written by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn for the 1928 show Whoopee! and popularized by Ruth Etting in 1929. Goodman's band on this recording was Jack Teagarden on trombone, Charlie Teagarden on trumpet, Manny Klein on trumpet, Art Karle on tenor sax, Joe Sullivan on piano and Gene Krupa on drums. Goodman recorded Love Me Or Leave Me a second time in 1936 with basically the same band except Jack Teagarden sang on that version. By this time, Goodman had been on radio and was more popular and he had signed with RCA. You can get the 1936 recording on the RCA CD Greatest Hits. Biograph Records released this CD of early Goodman recordings in 1991 and Collectables picked it up for distribution a few years ago. I think it's a must if you're familiar with Goodman's more popular recordings of the late 30s. It gives you a good idea of his progression. He didn't know he would become the King Of Swing. Here's a video for Love Me Or Leave Me by Benny Goodman.
He really was something else. I loved his later hits. I have them in my music collection. Sing,sing,sing is a big oldie favorite of mine. I am not surprised by the Jazz/Blues influence in his music.
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