Benny Goodman returned to his swing band because he concluded that was what he knew best. In 1953, he said, "Maybe bop has done more to set music back for years than anything...Basically it's all wrong. It's not even knowing the scales...Bop was mostly publicity and people figuring angles." In 1949 he studied with clarinetist Reginald Kell, requiring a change in technique: "instead of holding the mouthpiece between his front teeth and lower lip, as he had done since he first took a clarinet in hand 30 years earlier, Goodman learned to adjust his embouchure to the use of both lips and
Benny Kalama Benny Kalama Benny Kalama (June 29, 1916 – September 21, 1999), born Benjamin Kapena Kalama in Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii, is an American singer with a honey-voiced falsetto. He is credited with discovering and nurturing Alfred Apaka, and was part of several groups. Until the day Apaka died, Kalama was coaching and arranging music for him. At Kalakaua Intermediate School in 1931, Benny began playing trombone in the band. Upon graduation from McKinley High School where he played in the band, Kalama hooked up with Leonard "Red" Hawk and the Waikikians. Kalama's ability to read music, rather