Hong Kong had long been a British colony. Western cultural influences started early and seeped into people’s daily life as early as the 1920s.

Cultural influences from the West took an upward turn in the 1950s, firstly through films. During the time when Wong Jum-sum grew up, the number of Western films on show every year was never less than 200. The West was also prominent in radio broadcast. Thanks to the work of progressive radio show hosts like Aileen Woods and Uncle Ray, a whole generation came to be exposed to all styles and genres of Western pop music. They helped to nurture a world where one could embrace simultaneously the diverse sound and sentiments of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Benny Goodman. A new collective outlook was thus embodied in the skin and bone of the baby boomer generation.

Sing, Sing, Sing (1937)

Wong Jum-sum played the drums when young and was well into jazz. Naturally he listened to a lot of Benny Goodman’s music.

Goodman played the clarinet, and was a band leader who wrote his name in history when he brought black and white musicians playing under one roof. His career first peaked in the 1930s, and was famously dubbed the “King of Swing’.

Here we listen to Sing Sing Sing, in a studio version recorded in 1937, one year before the legendary Carnegie Hall Concert. Here you can hear the immaculate playing of the entire band, underpinned by the captivating drumming of the one and only Gene Krupa.

In 1956, the film Benny Goodman Story further propelled Goodman into the limelight. One year later, Goodman visited Hong Kong, bringing the swing to this aspiring colonial city.

Recommended: 夢江南

Composer: Louis Prima

Performers: The Benny Goodman
Orchestra