Victor Goines

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Review:

This is the fifty second in a series of special Jazz on the Tube reviews of live stream performances.

Support live music – even when it’s streamed!

Most LiveStreams feature pianists, guitarists or singers who are joined by one instrumentalist, so it is a rare treat to see Victor Goines playing unaccompanied clarinet solos.

Goines, who was born in New Orleans, is best-known for his longtime association with Wynton Marsalis, both in Marsalis’ Septet (starting in 1993) and as a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

An excellent tenor and soprano-saxophonist, Goines is particularly valuable to Marsalis as a fluent and versatile clarinetist.

On his LiveStream of May 30, 2020, Victor Goines celebrates Benny Goodman’s birthday by playing a set of songs associated with the King Of Swing.

Goines gives Goodman a bit too much credit as a composer (BG actually wrote very few songs and none of the ones heard in this set), but Goodman’s talents as a clarinetist put him near or at the top of his field for more than a half-century.

Victor Goines shows that he does not need a rhythm section during a fine solo recital that includes “Let’s Dance,” “Rose Room,” “Stompin’ At The Savoy,” “And The Angels Sing,” “Don’t Be That Way” (which he briefly plays on the piano), a chorus of “Goodbye,” and a spirited closing version of “Happy Birthday.”

-Scott Yanow