80 years ago today: the Benny Goodman-Count Basie Octet

By the autumn of 1940, Benny Goodman had undergone his first back surgery and was already on the mend. He had put his orchestra on hold for the summer, with a few men on retainer, like electric guitar wonder Charlie Christian, who'd taken the opportunity to visit family and friends back in Oklahoma, his first chance since he'd hit the big time the previous summer.

While still a popular bandleader, Goodman had somewhat lost some of his spark after the departure of some key men in his big band, namely Harry James and Gene Krupa, and with his current band on hold, rumours were rife. A big one was a possible merger with Count Basie, himself having some problems with his booking agency. Besides mutual admiration and being signed to the same label, a common thread to both bands was producer John Hammond, who had championed both and in 1942 became Goodman's brother-in-law.

Benny Goodman and Charlie Christian sitting in with the Count Basie Orchestra,
Apollo Theatre, Harlem, October 24, 1940 (source)

It was after Hammond's divorce some time in the 1970s, when his estranged wife sold some acetates to a dealer, which happened to contain a hitherto unknown session by an octet of Basie and his men with Goodman and Christian.

Left to right: Jo Jones, Freddie Green, Walter Page, Lester Young, Buck Clayton,
Benny Goodman, Charlie Christian, Count Basie,
John Hammond. October 28, 1940  (source)

All these men had known each other for a while: Young said he had jammed with Christian when the guitarist was about 16, around 1932-3, and Goodman, through Hammond, had already included some Basie-ites in his recordings. Coming as they all—but Goodman—did from the midwest, getting together in New York must have been special, although probably not as much on this occasion as in their first public reunion, at Carnegie Hall for the second From Spirituals to Swing concert the previous December. 

About the two guitar players in the session, not a common occurrence, we also know that Christian and Green were good friends, and while the electric star encouraged Basie's rhythm man to follow his steps, repeated sabotage from Green's "mates" in the band discouraged him from following that path.  

The music speaks for itself, but note the extra "oomph" Jo Jones lends Lester Young on his solos; how Christian's joins Freddie Green on rhythm duties; on the presumably impromptu "Ad-Lib Blues", how Lester Young resolves his unconventional a capella bits with the standard blues phrases he plays over the rhythm section; still on "Ad-Lib...", how Young shadows Christian towards the end of his solo on that tune; on "Wholly Cats", another blues, how Goodman corrects Basie at the beginning and how he compels Christian to take the first solo, which he attacks on overdrive from the top, followed by Goodman's gruff clarinet; the straight-out-of-Kansas-City riffs on all tracks... plus a long etcetera helped by the exceptional sound quality of these old recordings. This music rewards repeated listening. 

Front: Young, Clayton, Goodman, Christian, Basie
Back: Jones, Green, Page. October 28, 1940 (source)

As we know, the rumoured merger never happened. Shortly after this session, Goodman famously snatched Cootie Williams from Duke Ellington's band (with Duke's blessing), and the Benny Goodman Sextet became—with the addition of tenor sax George Auld—Benny Goodman and His Sextet, which Jones would still join once, and Basie twice, in the studio.

So, here they are: Buck Clayton on trumpet, Benny Goodman on clarinet, Lester Young on tenor sax, Charlie Christian on electric guitar, Freddie Green on acoustic guitar, Count Basie on piano, Walter Page on bass, and Jo Jones on drums, on October 28, 1940, eighty years ago today. 

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