The Yearly GELT's TOP 1936

Olivia De Havilland & Errol Flynn in The Charge Of The Light Brigade

Artist of the year : Benny Goodman, the King of Swing

He remains one of the most leading characters of the big bands' era .

The young Benny was 10 years old when his parents,  humble Russian immigrants, decided to make  him give clarinet's lessons at the synagogue. He quickly mastered the instrument and matched his classic training with jazz tunes from New Orleans clarinetists. At the age 14, he chose to give up middle school to venture into the musical world. He made indeed promising debut by recording from 1926 with the band of Ben Pollack and a few time later under his own name. After a brief stay in Los Angeles, he moved in 1929 to New York where he started offering his services as a studio musician. This gave him the opportunity to be known with trendy bandleaders such as Nat Shilkret, Ben Selvin, Red Nichols, Isham Jones or Ted Lewis. He also met talented young musicians including Glenn Miller with whom he wrote Room 1411. In 1933, producer John Hammond made ​​him sign a contract with Columbia that brought him closer to artists such as Jack Teagarden, Mildred Bailey and the young Billie Holiday that he will soon accompany for a series of recordings.

He decided then to form his own big band and enlisted in a series of broadcasts entitled Let's Dance organized by NBC. Two other bands occured alternately including Xavier Cugat. The adventure was not however really conclusive and the following tour was a failure. He was about to give up when the public finally got on in August, 1935, during a dance party in Oakland. Many young people in the audience were obviously conquered by the rhythm. Benny Goodman and his musicians including drummer Gene Krupa, trumpeter Bunny Berigan and vocalist Helen Ward renewed the experience a few days later at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. The public was this time truly unleashed, the swing era had just begun.

Song of the year : Summertime performed by Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday records her own cover of the emblematic song composed by George Gershwin for his opera Porgy & Bess. She has for the occasion chosen to be sided with top-flight musicians. Bunny Berigan is on the trumpet, sending the intro to which answers Artie Shaw's clarinet. He reaches to create a growling effect in the New Orleans style announcing clearly the jazz coloration given to the song. Joe Bushkin is on the piano, Dick McDonough on guitar, Pete Peterson on double bass and Cozy Cole William on the drums.

#	Artist	Title	CT	VIDEO
1	Tommy Dorsey & His  Orchestra	Will I Ever Know ? feat.  Edythe Wright  (Mack Gordon/Harry Revel)
2	Benny Goodman	There's A Small  Hotel feat. Helen Ward  (Lorenz Hart/Richard Rodgers)
3	Billie Holiday	Summertime   (George & Ira Gershwin)
4	Fred Astaire	Let's Face The Music And  Dance  (Irving Berlin)
5	Charlie Barnet	Until The Real Things  Come Along  (Sammy Cahn/Saul Chaplin/L.E.  Freeman/Mann Holiner/Alberta  Nichols)
6	Judy Garland	Swing, Mr Charlie  (Irving Taylor/Harry Brooks)
7	Bing Crosby	I'm An Old Cowhand  (From the Rio Grande)  feat. Louis Prima & friends  (Johnny Mercer)
8	Alice Faye	This Year's Kisses  (Irving Berlin)
9	Lil' Armstrong	My Hi-De-Ho Man  (Lil' Armstrong)
10	Mary Lou Williams with  Andy Kirk Orchestra	The Lady Who Swings The  Band feat. Pha Terrell  (Sammy Cahn/Saul Chaplin)
11	Bob Crosby & His Orchestra	It's Been So Long    (Harold Adamson/Walter  Donaldson)
12	Benny Goodman	The Glory Of Love feat.   Helen Ward  (Billy Hill/Alexander Hill)
13	Fred Astaire with The  Johnny Green Orchestra	I'm Putting All My Eggs  In The Same Basket  (Irving Berlin)
14	Ella Fitzgerald & Teddy  Wilson Orchestra	My Melancholy Baby  (Ernie Burnett/George Norton)
15	Henry "Red" Allen	In The Chapel In The  Moonlight feat. Harold  Arnold  (Billy Hill)
16	Jimmie Lunceford	This Is My Last Affair  (Haven Johnson)
17	Red Norvo & His Orchestra	Now That Summer's  Gone feat. Mildred Bailey  (Seymour Simmons)
18	Bing Crosby	Empty Saddles  (Billy Hill/Keirn Brennan)
19	Benny Goodman	You Turn The Tables On  Me feat. Helen Ward  (Ralph Rainger/Leo Robin)
20	Frances Langford	Easy To Love  (Cole Porter)
21	Fats Waller	It's A Sin To Tell A Lie  (Billy Mayhew)
22	Connee Boswell	On The Beach At Bali-Bali  (Al Sherman/Jack Meskill/Abner  Siver)
23	Willie Bryant	Is It True What They Say  About Dixie  (Gerald Marks/Irving  Caesar/Sammy Lerner)
24	Bing Crosby	Pennies From Heaven  (Johnny Burke/Arhur Johnston)
25	Benny Goodman	These Foolish Things  (Remind Me Of You feat.  Helen Ward  (Harry Link/Holt Marwell/Jack  Strachey)
26	Fred Astaire with The  Johnny Green Orchestra	A Fine Romance feat.  Ginger Rogers  (Dorothy Fields/Jerome Kern)
27	Duke Ellington	Love Is Like A Cigarette  feat. Ivie Anderson  (Walter Kent/Jerome  Jerome/Richard Byron)
28	Billie Holiday	Did I Remember  (Harold Adamson/Walter  Donaldson)
29	Charlie Barnet	You Do The Darndest  Thing  To Me  (Ralph Rainger/Leo Rubin)
30	Willie Bryant	All My Life  (Sam H. Stept/Sidney Mitchell)
31	Judy Garland & Bob Crosby  Orchestra	Stompin' At The Savoy  (Andy Razaf/Benny Goodman/Chick  Webb/Edgar Sampson)
32	Charlie Barnet	Sing, Baby Sing  (Channing Pollack/Jack Yellen)
33	Wingy Manone	Shoe Shine Boy  (Sammy Cahn/Saul Chaplin)
34	Andy Kirk & His Clouds Of  Joy	Until The Real Things  Come Along feat. Mary Lou  Williams & Pha Terrell  (Sammy Cahn/Saul Chaplin/L.E.  Freeman/Mann Holiner/Alberta  Nichols)
35	Bob Crosby & His Bobcats	Swingin' At The Sugar  Bowl  (Bob Crosby/Bon Hafggart/Gil  Rodin/Nappy Lamare)
36	Tommy Dorsey	The Music Goes Round  And Round feat. Edythe  Wright  (Edgar Leslie/Joe Burke)
37	Billie Holiday	Let's Call A Heart A Heart  (Sonny Burke/Arthur Johnson)
38	Fred Astaire & Ginger  Rogers	Let Yourself Go  (Irving Berlin)
39	Eddy Duchin	It's De-Lovely feat. Jerry  Cooper  (Cole Porter)
40	Buddy Clark	Midnight Blue  (Edgar Leslie/Joe Burke)