Benny Goodman Sextet

Biography

The Benny Goodman Sextet emerged from the big band era as one of jazz's most consequential small-group experiments. Benny Goodman — born May 30, 1909, the ninth of twelve children to Russian Jewish immigrants in Chicago's Maxwell Street neighborhood — began clarinet lessons at Hull House at age 10, studying under Franz Schoepp of the Chicago Symphony. By 13 he held a union card and was performing professionally on Lake Michigan excursion boats. He moved to New York, became a session musician, and by August 21, 1935, his band's performance at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles ignited the Swing Era. Time magazine crowned him "King of Swing" in 1937, and his January 1938 Carnegie Hall concert — the first jazz concert at that venue — redefined jazz as a listening art form rather than purely dance music.

The Sextet was born in August 1939 when talent scout John Hammond flew a young Oklahoma guitarist named Charlie Christian to audition for Goodman. Christian's amplified single-note soloing immediately transformed the ensemble's sound. The classic lineup — Goodman on clarinet, Christian on electric guitar, Lionel Hampton on vibraphone, Teddy Wilson or Fletcher Henderson on piano, Artie Bernstein on bass, and Nick Fatool or Gene Krupa on drums — first recorded for Columbia on October 2, 1939. The group's rotating cast over two years also included Count Basie, Cootie Williams, and Georgie Auld. This "chamber jazz" format proved that small groups could rival big bands in both sophistication and commercial appeal.

The Sextet's legacy operates on two levels. First, it gave Charlie Christian — who died of tuberculosis in 1942 at just 25 — a platform to establish the electric guitar as a lead instrument equal to any horn, pioneering harmonic ideas that fed directly into bebop. Second, Goodman's integrated lineups (the Sextet predated Jackie Robinson's MLB debut by nearly a decade) made a cultural statement about race in America that resonated far beyond music. Goodman continued leading various small groups and orchestras until his death in 1986, but the 1939–1941 Sextet recordings remain his most musically radical contribution to jazz history.

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Fun Facts

• Charlie Christian was discovered not directly by John Hammond but tipped to him by pianist Mary Lou Williams, who spread word of the extraordinary electric guitar player working in Oklahoma City — making his Sextet debut one of jazz's great word-of-mouth chain reactions.
• Goodman commissioned Béla Bartók to write 'Contrasts' in 1938 — a clarinet-violin-piano trio piece now considered a 20th-century classical masterpiece — demonstrating his drive to push beyond jazz into concert music.
• The Sextet's integrated lineup (Black and white musicians performing together on the same stage) predated Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by nearly a decade, making Goodman's small groups an early flashpoint for racial integration in American public life.
• Benny Goodman's personal clarinet is now housed in the Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection, marking him as one of very few jazz musicians whose instrument achieved museum-artifact status.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Franz Schoepp - Classically trained clarinetist and Chicago Symphony member who gave Goodman two years of clarinet lessons as a child at Hull House — foundational technical training [~1919–1921]
• John Hammond - Record producer and talent scout who shaped Goodman's career, brokered the Columbia Records deal in 1939, and arranged Charlie Christian's audition for the Sextet [1930s–1940s]

Key Collaborators

• Charlie Christian - Electric guitarist whose amplified single-note soloing defined the Sextet's sound; joined via John Hammond's recommendation (tipped off by Mary Lou Williams); recorded with the Sextet 1939–1941 [1939–1941]
• Lionel Hampton - Vibraphonist and core member of Goodman's small groups including the Sextet; Goodman discovered Hampton at the Paradise Club in 1936 [1936–1940]
• Teddy Wilson - Pianist who was one of Goodman's first integrated small-group hires (Trio, Quartet) and participated in Sextet sessions [1935–1940]
• Gene Krupa - Drummer in Goodman's big band and early small groups; appeared on Sextet recordings before departing to lead his own band [1934–1938]
• Fletcher Henderson - Pianist and arranger who temporarily replaced Teddy Wilson in the Sextet; also the primary arranger whose charts powered Goodman's big band rise [1939–1940]
• Count Basie - Pianist who appeared in Sextet sessions, extending Goodman's cross-pollination with the Kansas City swing scene
• Cootie Williams - Trumpet player who joined rotating Sextet lineups after leaving Duke Ellington's orchestra [1940–1941]

Artists Influenced

• Charlie Christian - Though a collaborator, Christian's entire electric guitar legacy — the template for every jazz guitarist who followed — was forged through his Sextet recordings; his bebop harmonic ideas influenced generations [1939–present]
• Artie Shaw - Fellow clarinetist whose own swing-era success was shaped in part by competing with and learning from Goodman's dominance of the idiom [1930s–1940s]

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia