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 1. Home
 2. This Day in History
 3. January 16
 4. Benny Goodman brings jazz to Carnegie Hall

This Day In History: January 16

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Today

1938


BENNY GOODMAN BRINGS JAZZ TO CARNEGIE HALL



On January 16, 1938, swing jazz music has its high-brow coming out party at
Carnegie Hall, with a concert featuring big band sensation Benny Goodman.

Jazz has been called “America’s classical music,” a label that does more than
just recognize its American origins. The label also makes the case that jazz is
worthy of aesthetic consideration alongside music usually thought of as
“classical.”

In the current era, when programs of Duke Ellington and J.S. Bach often draw the
same highbrow crowds, that argument hardly seems controversial. In the 1930s,
however, the notion was almost laughable, which is what made Benny Goodman’s
January 16, 1938, concert at New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall so
revolutionary. Goodman and his supporting cast claimed a new place for jazz on
the American cultural scene that night, in what has come to be seen as the most
important jazz concert in history.

This concert wasn't technically the first jazz presentation at Carnegie Hall. In
1912, Harlem bandleader James Reese Europe and his Clef Club Orchestra made a
historic debut with their Concert of Negro Music, which brought ragtime,
blues—and an integrated audience—to the famed concert hall for the first time.

Benny Goodman, a white bandleader popular for his swing dance repertoire, was at
the absolute height of his legendary career when his publicist first suggested
they book Carnegie Hall. He was a star on radio, on stage and on film, and the
label “King of Swing” was already attached permanently to his name. So
outlandish was the suggestion that a jazz band might play inside the citadel of
American high culture, however, that Goodman is said to have laughed the idea
off at first.

Once he warmed to the notion, however, Goodman threw himself into the task with
characteristic passion. In addition to numbers from the regular repertoire of
his own band—which included the legendary Harry James on trumpet, Lionel Hampton
on vibraphone and Gene Krupa on drums—Goodman planned a program featuring a
brand-new “Twenty Years of Jazz” piece and an extended jam session featuring
stars of the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras. The concert sold out
weeks in advance, with the best seats fetching $2.75.

It would be another decade before anyone who was not in the audience or
listening on the radio that night would hear the famed concert. All recordings
of the show were presumed lost until Goodman’s sister-in-law came across a set
of acetates in 1950. By then, the performance had already become the stuff of
legend—particularly the stunning, unplanned piano solo by Jess Stacy on “Sing,
Sing, Sing,” the evening’s final number. The album made from the recovered
acetates became one of the first 33 1/3 LPs to sell over a million copies. The
eventual discovery of the aluminum studio master recordings led to high-quality
CD reissues in 1998, 2002 and 2006 of the legendary Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert.

By: History.com Editors

HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate
and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the
HISTORY.com team. Articles with the “HISTORY.com Editors” byline have been
written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy
Sullivan, Matt Mullen and Christian Zapata.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




CITATION INFORMATION

Article TitleBenny Goodman brings jazz to Carnegie Hall
AuthorHistory.com Editors
Website NameHISTORY
URLhttps://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/benny-goodman-brings-jazz-to-carnegie-hall
Date AccessedSeptember 4, 2024
PublisherA&E Television Networks
Last UpdatedJanuary 14, 2020
Original Published DateNovember 16, 2009


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