Benny Goodman, born Benjamin David Goodman, (1909-05-30 – 1986-06-13) was a famous jazzmusician, known as "King of Swing", "Patriarch of the Clarinet", and "Swing's Senior Statesman". Many suggest that Goodman achieved the same success with jazz and swing that Elvis Presley did with rock and roll. Both helped bring black music to a young, white audience. It is true that many of Goodman's arrangements had been played for years before by Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra. While Goodman publicly acknowledged his debt to Henderson, many young white swing fans had never heard Henderson's band.
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