Swing Comes to Carnegie Hall
Next: January 16, 2027
The night jazz took a seat.
The story
Where it comes from
This Story marks the anniversary of 16 January 1938, when the clarinettist Benny Goodman, the 'King of Swing', brought his orchestra to Carnegie Hall in New York. Carnegie Hall calls it the first time people sat in a concert hall to listen to swing rather than dance to it. Goodman's trio and quartet, with Teddy Wilson on piano and Lionel Hampton on vibraphone, were among the first racially integrated groups to play before a paying audience, and guests from the Duke Ellington and Count Basie bands joined a jam session.
How it's celebrated
There is no formal observance, but the anniversary is a fine day to put on a swing record, or to listen to the concert itself: it was recorded privately and released in 1950 as The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert, which the Library of Congress has added to the National Recording Registry. Carnegie Hall shares a Goodman playlist with selections from that night.
Did you know
- The concert sold out weeks ahead, and the best seats cost $2.75.
- Goodman returned to Carnegie Hall more than two dozen times; his last concerts there were in June 1982.
- A clarinet of his, given to the Carnegie Hall Archives in 1991, led to the creation of the hall's Rose Museum.
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