A Legacy of Swing: Following the Road from Kansas City to New York with Bennie Moten and Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington.

The last two tracks are white bandleader Benny Goodman’s leadership of a band in arrangements by the less well-known African-American bandleader Chick Webb, at Carnegie Hall in 1936. Goodman was joined by Lionel Hampton and many other African-American members of Chick Webb’s band; an act of racial integration that was controversial. Goodman broke a color barrier in the concert, but also arguably succeeded in putting himself at the center of an African-American genre.

Click on a link:

  1. Bennie Moten and His Orchestra: Kansas City Breakdown by Bennie Moten / Woodie Walden (1926)
  2. Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra: Hot Water Blues by Bennie Moten (1927)
  3. Bennie Moten and His Orchestra: Mack’s Rhythm by Count Basie / Bennie Moten (1928)
  4. Bennie Moten and His Orchestra: The Jones Law Blues by Count Basie / Bennie Moten (1929)
  5. Bennie Moten and His Orchestra: Rit-Dit-Ray by Count Basie / Bennie Moten (1932)


  6. Count Basie and His Orchestra: Honeysuckle Rose by Andy Razaf / Fats Waller (1936)
  7. Count Basie and His Orchestra: One O’Clock Jump by Eddie Durham / Count Basie (1938)
  8. Count Basie And His Orchestra: Cherokee by Ray Noble (1938)
  9. Count Basie And His Orchestra (with trumpet solo by Phil Guilbeau): April in Paris by Vernon Duke & E.Y. “Yip” Harburg -1932 (perf. 1938)


  10. Count Basie And His Orchestra. Excerpt of “One O’Clock Jump” (with trumpet solo by Thad Jones) followed by “Swinging the Blues” (drum solo by Jo Jones): perf. 1941


  11. A Cab Calloway: St. James Infirmary by J. Primrose or adaptation of trad. (1930-1933)



  12. Duke Ellington: Caravan by Duke Ellington (1936)
  13. Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra: Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (1939)
  14. The Duke Ellington Orchestra: Part I (album version) from Black, Brown, and Beige; suite for jazz ensemble by Duke Ellington (RCA Victor 1944)
  15. The Duke Ellington Orchestra: Part III (aka “Light”) from Black, Brown, and Beige; suite for jazz ensemble by Duke Ellington (RCA Victor 1944)
  16. The Duke Ellington Orchestra: Part V (aka “Come Sunday”) from Black, Brown, and Beige; suite for jazz ensemble by Duke Ellington (RCA Victor 1944)
  17. The Duke Ellington Orchestra with Joya Sherrill, in concert at Carnegie Hall: “The Blues”, part Black, Brown, and Beige; suite for jazz ensemble by Duke Ellington (RCA Victor 1944)
  18. Ella Fitzgerald with the Duke Ellington Orchestra: I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But The Blues by Duke Ellington (arr. 1941, recorded 1960s)
  19. Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra: I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good) (RCA Victor 1951)


  20. The Benny Goodman Orchestra, with guests, including Lionel Hampton and Gene Krupa (Carnegie Hall, January 16, 1938): Don’t Be That Way by Duke Ellington ( )
  21. The Benny Goodman Orchestra, with guests, including Lionel Hampton and Gene Krupa (Carnegie Hall, January 16, 1938): Stompin’ At the Savoy by Edgar Sampson, Benny Goodman, and Chick Webb ( )