Allen Goodman
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Allen Goodman is an American drummer. He was born in Brooklyn in a working class family. A founding member of the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band, Goodman’s career has spanned from his early beginnings in New York City to performing with Jazz, Rock and Pop legends as a staff musician for NBC television studios.
He has performed and recorded for such entertainers as Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Vicky Carr, Bobby Troupe, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, Red Norvo, Al Hirt, Margaret Whiting, Anthony Newly, Dinah Shore, Matt Munroe and The Hi Lo’s.
Dividing the work load with NBC staff drummer Jack Sperling, Goodman played on The Dean Martin Show, Laugh In, The Flip Wilson Show, Name That Tune and many others. Working for animator Jay Ward of The Bullwinkle and Rocky Show fame, his tom work can be heard extensively on the theme song to George of the Jungle.
Goodman received his cabaret card at 17 and started playing in nightclubs all over New York. He got his chops up playing at all of the strip joints, including the famous Three Deuces on 52nd Street which used to be a Jazz club and I worked a lot of those jobs with his good friend pianist Bob Corwyn.
He started working with the legendary Billy Holiday at the Town Hill, at the Suburban with Johnny Hartman, with O.C. Smith at the Copa Lounge, Ethel Waters at the Ruben Blue, Jerry Vale in Jackson Heights and many other great singers. Living in an apartment in Manhattan and gaining experience by working with established acts, he began to make a name for himself as an accomplished drummer working at the Roseland Ballroom and The Arcadia.
Goodman was asked to play with Johnny Mathis which became his first big breakout playing Las Vegas 16 dates a year, in the big rooms. Those were the days of segregation and he had to go through all that B.S. Even though he was the only white guy in the band he still got treated as bad as the black guys.
He continued working with Mathis for 5 years and was told by him to move to Los Angeles because of all the work they were getting there.
In 1979 Goodman opened up a nightclub called Mulberry Street which created the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band.
In 1984, Goodman moved back to New York as a drummer/percussionist for Square One a children show on PBS.
Moving to the Coachella Valley in 2005 to semi-retire, Goodman formed the Desert Cities Jazz Band with some of his musician friends and has performed every Sunday afternoon in La Quinta at Vicky’s of Santa Fe.
Goodman was nominated for an Emmy with Oscar Castro-Neves for Reflections Through A Brazilian Eye. He also played drums on numerous recordings with Johnny Mathis from 1952 to 1963.
