“Sing, Sing, Sing” by Benny Goodman from the 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert
Benny Goodman was a clarinet player, largely during the swing years, and “Sing, Sing, Sing” is probably his most famous hit, though it was written and first recorded by Louis Prima. The Carnegie Hall concert is perhaps the most important concert in jazz history because it was the first time jazz was allowed in American concert halls; it was finally ‘respectable music’. Will Friedwald says, “In bringing jazz to Carnegie, [Benny Goodman was], in effect, smuggling American contraband into the halls of European high culture, and Goodman and his 15 men pull[ed] it off with the audacity and precision of Oceans Eleven”. The legend is that the concert was not originally intended to be recorded, but a small, crappy (even for the day) microphone was hung from the ceiling and captured the entire concert with surprisingly good audio.
At 9:26, following Goodman’s clarinet solo, he unexpectedly handed the solo off to pianist Jess Stacy. Though unprepared, Stacy gave a delicate, classically influenced, but still swinging solo.
