October 6, 2004

Swing

In the big band swing era, it was not uncommon for the leader both to front the band and also to play an instrument as a soloist. Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman were both clarinetists and led two of the hands-down best bands.

There seemed always to be running arguments and polls in the music magazines about who was best. Each had their very vocal fans. In an interview one time, Shaw, who was never short on ego, was reminded of the ongoing comparison and was asked his opinion about it. “The answer is simple,” he said. “Benny plays the clarinet. I play music.”

How refreshing it might be for us churchers if we could just get over it, admit that the gospel really swings for everybody, nobody ever listens alike, and some even hear the music.

No Comments

RSS feed for comments on this post.