Benny Goodman Trio—”Liza” (1945)

“Liza” is a classic composition by George Gershwin, which he wrote with lyrics by his brother Ira and lyricist Gus Kahn for the Ziegfield musical “Show Girl.” During the original 1929 stage production singer Ruby Keeler was accompanied by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. Benny Goodman‘s small group versions turned it into a swing classic.

On December 8, 1945, the Benny Goodman Trio recorded it at the Schirmer Studios in New York for British author Alistair Cooke’s BBC Home Service broadcast “The Kings of Jazz.” It was a series of radio programmes starring the leading British, American and French jazz combinations.

Next to clarinetist Benny Goodman we hear two men who once were part of his band: pianist Mel Powell and drummer Bob Sheble.

New Yorker Mel Powell, was born in the Bronx as Melvin Epstein (1923-1998). At the age of 4 or 5 he was given the opportunity to study Classical music when his grandparents purchased a piano. It was his younger brother who introduced him to listening to jazz music. In 1990, pianist, composer, arranger and educator Mel Powell became the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for music.

Philadelphia-born Robert Sheble (1922-1952) was a promising drummer and bandleader who, together with his young wife Martha, was killed in a head-on collision of their station wagon and a church bus in North Carolina. The 29 year old musician and his 23 year old wife were on their way to a vacation in Palm Beach, FL.