"What would you think of a concert by Benny Goodman's band in Carnegie?"
...Gerald Goode to Irving Kolodin, December 1937
The agent for the "Camel Caravan" radio show, on which Goodman was appearing, had called Goode, who worked for impresario Sol Hurok, who passed the question on to Kolodin, a journalist. Thought Kolodin: "If Paul Whiteman could do it, why not Goodman?" Hurok, who specialized in classical music concerts, wasn't sure, but after an evening at the Manhattan Room watching people spend money and dance to Goodman's band, he decided to give it a go.
Goodman wanted to fill the house and rock the joint. That meant some new arrangements and a lot of extra rehearsing. Benny decided on one thing right off the bat: It would be his band and allied talent only, with no special compositions, just a few new things from arrangers Fletcher Henderson, Jimmy Mundy and Edgar Sampson.
It's an understatement to say that the place was sold out.
Sampson, a one-time tenor saxophone man who became a composer and arranger, wrote this piece for Chick Webb's band. It was new to the jazz world when it made its appearance in this orchestration. After an ensemble chorus, there are solos for clarinet (Goodman), tenor sax (Babe Russin) and trumpet (Harry James). Gene Krupa thought that the band was sounding stiff, and his explosive drum riff was intended to wake them up. It worked. This became a Goodman trademark piece.