I have a question for you guys, one which I genuinely don't know the answer to. If I was to ask you to name the best leader of a big band its likely that you would name Duke Ellington first, and maybe Dizzy Gillespie second, maybe Count Basie would be a pick? But my question is how come Woody Herman wouldn't be classed as a contender now? Unlike those 3 which continue to have reissue series, I rarely hear of new reissues of Hermans music. He certainly doesn't get mentioned the same amount.
I just finished reading his fantastic biography by Steve Voce, and Woody and his 'Herd' literally dominated every type of jazz they played, from Dixieland to Bop. His approach was always to have strong soloists and build the 'Herd' around them. Past members or guests included Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Cal Tjader, Shelly Manne, Dizzy Gillespie (who even wrote 3 arrangements for Woody), Nat Adderly (the younger brother of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley), Charlie Parker, Nat King Cole (Woody made $77,000 profit off just 14 performances with Nat King Cole in 1949).
In 1949 Woody was declared the winner of Down Beat's Readers Poll for best band and it wasn't even close, with Woody gaining 1,042 votes, followed by Duke Ellington with 301 votes.
He was unfortunately forced to work at the end of his life to pay off $1.6 million owed to the Inland Revenue after his previous manager gambled away the money given to him to pay the bill originally before passing away (and therefore passing the blame onto Woody). But to show how much he was loved, when the government went to seize his home the likes of Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, and Clint Eastwood paid the expenses and his monthly rent.
So before I ramble on anymore, my question is - how come Woody Herman is overlooked nowadays when compared with the likes of Ellington, Gillespie, Basie, etc?
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