Music, Memories, and Family

       Many a musical journalist have written about music as a means of bringing people together: friends, family, lovers, and enemies. Music is a language shared by all peoples and classes the world over. Sure, it's no new concept, no ground-breaking revelation, but nonetheless, it's something I come back to as one of my favorite things about music. It proves further how it transcends being an art form and becomes a phenomenon, something to do with other people, something to share and enjoy with the ones you want to get close to.
       I remember when I showed my little brother a jazz song for the first time. The song was "Dixieland Jazz Band One Step" by the Original Dixieland Jazz band, a very early jazz tune. Getting to see his reaction, best described as "amused," was a moment I'll never forget. He was so completely tickled by the goofy trombone slides (glissandi), and made totally giddy by the wild clarinet playing that, to him, was "going crazy" compared to the rest of the band. Watching someone that I love, someone so young and new to so much in the world, react in such a joyous and mirthful way to a song was a treasure few other things could replicate.
       This is how music is most special to me. It starts with a song, just a tune written by people you (most likely) do not know, but around a song, a phenomenon is created, a unique and totally wonderful moment in time, a memory that can stick forever, and the catalyst for that moment, for that beautiful memory, is just a song. One little song can make such a big difference to someone.
      Music is an art, of course. A beautiful, wonderful, diverse, and gorgeous art, but it's role as a powerful social happening should never be downplayed. I think of music as a fine art, for sure, but to me, what's more important is the personal, emotional connection music can create between people. To this day, I never listen to jazz music without thinking of that awesome little kid laughing himself silly over the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.

-Andrew Oliver
The song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW7rldvqN1w

Peanuts Hucko - A Tribute to Benny Goodman 1990 (YOUTUBE ONLY)

Of those legendary jazz artists who left their marks on the world, Benny Goodman was undoubtedly one of the greatest. Ask anyone who knows anything about jazz music, and they’ll most likely recognize Benny Goodman’s name when they hear it. Peanuts Hucko, on the other hand, is not likely to be name-dropped by any casual jazz enthusiast. Indeed, Peanuts Hucko (love that name) is one of the great unsung heroes of jazz clarinet, and jazz in general, on par with some of the greatest players jazz has ever known, and whose résumé includes playing with Louis Armstrong and the Glenn Miller band, to name but a few.

Fast forward to 1990, thirteen years before Peanuts Hucko’s death. He gets together a modest-sized big band to pay a tribute to one of the greatest figures in jazz history, and what a tribute it was. There are very few instances wherein a Big Band jazz show can be said to be both endearing and touching, while still swinging as any big band should, but Peanuts’ choices of songs and ability to convey emotion and soul with his playing bring forth a heightened sentimental value in the context of this particular show.

One can’t help but smile at the beautifully soulful “Memories of You,” the theme of The Benny Goodman Story film, and when Peanuts puts down his clarinet to sing an almost laughably peculiar and heart-warming duet with Louis Tobin (“When You’re Smiling”), you get an idea of just how truly personal and sentimental this event is. It feels not so much like a concert, but rather like a family getting together to celebrate the life of a lost loved one.

Even on the tracks that really swing, you feel a true sense of passion and closeness that Peanuts had for this project. As Peanuts and the band stomps and swings through such fantastic Goodman staples as the technically impressive “Let’s Dance” and the infectiously dance-able “Oh, Baby,” we’re taken back to a time when Benny Goodman still ruled as the unchallenged King of Swing.

One must not also forget, of course, that in order to put on a proper tribute to Benny Goodman, you need something very important: Chops. Peanuts and his band, despite their decrepit ages, could really play with the best of ‘em. With songs like “Stealin’ Apples,” “King Porter Stomp,” and the timeless classic “Sing Sing Sing,” Peanuts shows true proficiency as a musician, displaying speed, complexity, and fluidity in his playing. “Stealin’ Apples” has become one of my favorite versions of the song, played with some extremely catchy and impressive soloing by Peanuts, and at the end, one of the greatest buildups and crescendos that this song has ever known, leaving me with chills every time I listen to it.

Between the faster, more swinging tunes (“I Would Do Most Anything for You”) and the slower, more emotional tunes (“Just a Closer Walk With Thee”), Peanuts Hucko managed to create and bring together an incredible show, and overall, a tribute more than fitting for Mr. Benny Goodman, a great tribute for a great man whose music touched the hearts of many people, then and now.

-Andrew Oliver