Benny Goodman

CTL-E-5710 · Person · other · 1909–1986

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-06986 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-5710.

Benny Goodman, born Benjamin David Goodman on May 30, 1909, in Chicago's Maxwell Street neighborhood, was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the King of Swing. The ninth of twelve children of Jewish immigrants David and Dora Goodman, he learned clarinet at Kehelah Jacob Synagogue and in the Hull House band, was working professionally by 1921, and held a union card at thirteen. He joined Ben Pollack's orchestra at sixteen and made his first recordings in 1926. After freelance work in New York from 1929, he formed his own orchestra in 1934, broadcast on NBC's Let's Dance with arrangements by Fletcher Henderson, and opened at Los Angeles's Palomar Ballroom on August 21, 1935 — the engagement remembered as the symbolic start of the Swing Era. His January 16, 1938, Carnegie Hall concert brought jazz to that stage as headline art. Goodman died on June 13, 1986, in New York City.

The record

• Also known as: Benjamin David Goodman, King of Swing

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Fill 500 Lists Wave 4, Tier 1 — 747 Program). Gate A (2026-10-16): no Benny Goodman entity in the live graph at 3,409 entities (exact/normalized/alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-5710 free. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Fill 500 Comedians gap #16. Identification note, stated openly: Goodman was a white Jewish Chicagoan; as in wave 3, the packet stages the people on the founder's list and says what each record actually is, rather than re-labeling the list. Vital status: DECEASED — died June 13, 1986, New York City (Martin Frères timeline and biographies agree); tribute treatment applies in the Curator's Judgment. STATISTICS (sourced, dated): own orchestra formed 1934; Palomar Ballroom opening August 21, 1935; Carnegie Hall concert January 16, 1938 — Martin Frères timeline, accessed 2026-10-16. MEDIA: photo HELD (candidate named in the packet; no Commons file page read at file-page level in this pass); chart FILLED; video HELD; audio HELD (his Decca/Capitol-era recordings are commercial label material; no CTL-cleared archival audio located). Blocked edges documented in the packet: Hull House, Fletcher Henderson, and Carnegie Hall — no graph entities; the Club DeLisa edge staged for Kirby and Harris-era peers does not apply to Goodman (his Chicago start was the synagogue and Hull House bands). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Persons receive no maps (media-layer rule carried from the CULTGRAPH packets).) | visual_assets = HELD: No Commons file page could be read at file-page level in this pass, so the slot is HELD rather than cleared on | chart = FILLED (Built only from this record's own sourced, dated facts; data table printed in the packet.) | video = HELD (No CTL Short for this subject — checked against the CTL Shorts Link Map catalog (2026-10-15) by full name and ) | audio = HELD (No matching-entity audio with a verified rights basis located in this pass. Goodman's Decca, Victor, and Capit)

Sources

• Martin Frères, “Benny Goodman” timeline — born May 30, 1909, Chicago; Kehelah Jacob Synagogue and Hull House training; professional by 1921; Pollack orchestra; 1934 orchestra and NBC Let's Dance; Palomar Ballroom, August 21, 1935; Carnegie Hall, January 16, 1938; died June 13, 1986, New York — martinfreres.net, accessed 2026-10-16 (build store)
• Donald Clarke, MusicWeb Encyclopedia of Popular Music, “Benny Goodman” — career line corroborating the Pollack years, the Henderson arrangements, and the King of Swing standing, accessed 2026-10-16 (build store)
• Notable Biographies, “Benny Goodman” — Maxwell Street upbringing, ninth of twelve children of David and Dora Goodman; union card at thirteen; first recordings 1926 — notablebiographies.com, accessed 2026-10-16 (build store)
• Old Time Blues, Benny Goodman biography — early Chicago career corroboration, accessed 2026-10-16 (build store)

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Record CTL-E-5710 · Combined Graph record U-06986 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 4 sources.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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