Benny Meroff Benny Meroff Benny Meroff (1899-1973) was an American dance bandleader active in the swing jazz era. He also played violin, clarinet, and saxophone. Meroff started his career in vaudeville, and put together his own ensemble in the middle of the 1920s. His sidemen included Wild Bill Davison, Al King, Vernon Brown, Frank Teschemacher, and Santo Pecora. He was principally active in Chicago in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and also played in New York into the 1940s. Meroff was noted for his showmanship as a bandleader; big band historian Leo Walker described Meroff as "a capable emcee, equally at
Benny Goodman two nations after the Cuban missile crisis and the end of that phase of the Cold War; both visits were part of efforts to normalize relations between the United States and the USSR. The Bolshoi Ballet came to the United States, and the Benny Goodman Orchestra toured the USSR. Members of the band included Jimmy Knepper, Jerry Dodgion, and Turk Van Lake (Vanig Hovsepian). Goodman was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After winning polls as best jazz clarinetist, Goodman was inducted into the "Down Beat" Jazz Hall of Fame in 1957. He was a member of the radio