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
Jerry Jerome (saxophonist) the Glenn Miller recording "Doin' the Jive" in which in soloed. He then joined the Red Norvo band. He joined the Benny Goodman orchestra in 1938. When Goodman broke up his band in 1940, he joined the Artie Shaw orchestra. While with Shaw he appeared in the 1940 film "Second Chorus" starring Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith. Jerry Jerome (saxophonist) Jerry Jerome (19 June 1912, in Brooklyn – 17 November 2001) was an American jazz and Big Band musician, a tenor saxophonist. He played with Glenn Miller and Red Norvo, then Benny Goodman from 1938 to 1940, and Artie Shaw.