Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall Concert — New York City

On January 16, 1938, Benny Goodman and his orchestra played Carnegie Hall in what is widely considered the most important jazz concert in American history. The performance was the first time jazz had been presented in the hall — then regarded as the exclusive preserve of classical music — and it sold out entirely. The crowd, a mixture of swing devotees and curious socialites, was electrified. Soloists Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, and Gene Krupa delivered performances still celebrated eighty years later. The concert's centrepiece, a 12-minute jam on "Sing, Sing, Sing," became legendary.

Goodman had been the reigning "King of Swing" since a triumphant run at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles in 1935 first brought swing to national consciousness. The Carnegie Hall concert was conceived partly as a legitimisation of jazz as an art form deserving a serious concert-hall audience — and it succeeded beyond all expectations. A recording of the performance was discovered in a closet at Goodman's home in 1950 and released to enormous acclaim, and it remains one of the best-selling jazz albums ever made.

Carnegie Hall continues to host concerts at 881 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The 1938 concert is commemorated in the hall's history, and the building's main auditorium — Stern Auditorium — seats nearly 2,800. The concert is often cited as the moment jazz stepped fully into the American cultural mainstream.