Archives for May 18, 2016

The original Benny Goodman Quartet plays “Avalon” on Timex All-Star Swing Festival, taped at Lincoln Center and originally telecast by NBC in 1972. Goodman plays clarinet, Lionel Hampton plays vibraphone, Teddy Wilson plays piano, and Gene Krupa plays drums. George Duvivier is on bass. The group is introduced by Doc Severinsen:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish. This is bad for everyone; the majority lose all genuine taste of their own, and the minority become cultural snobs.”

W.H. Auden, “The Poet & The City” (from The Dyer’s Hand)