Producer, Liner Notes – John Hammond. Recorded live December 23, 1938 and December 24, 1939, Carnegie Hall, New York City First released 1959. Politique du Vendeur.

The legendary FROM SPIRITUALS TO SWING concerts were organized by John Hammond, a producer and talent scout for Columbia records. Hammond wanted to represent black music of all kinds in a single concert. To that end, he brought together jazz giants like Lester Young and Count Basie with blues performers like Ida Cox and James P. Johnson (who had often accompanied Bessie Smith). Other performers included jazz/blues singer Joe Turner, country blues giants Big Bill Broonzy and Sonny Terry, and the gospel vocal groups Golden Gate Quartet and Mitchell's Christian Singers

From Spirituals to Swing was the title of two concerts presented by John Hammond in Carnegie Hall on 23 December 1938 and 24 December 1939. The concerts included performances by Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson, Helen Humes, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Mitchell's Christian Singers, the Golden Gate Quartet, James P. Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and Sonny Terry.

It also served to open the doors of this prestigious venue to events as far ranging as John Hammond’s 1938 and 1939 From Spirituals to Swing all-star concerts to Goodman once again in 1978 for his 40th anniversary celebration. Originally issued in a two-LP gatefold album in 1950, the nearly forgotten documentation of this historic event quickly became Columbia’s best-selling jazz release, a distinction it was to hold for decades to come

It was the first time jazz had been presented on the stage of a major concert hall instead of in a club or bar, and all eyes were on Goodman and company to see if the "legitimization" of swing would hold or falter. Fortunately for us, and for all jazz musicians and fans since then, it held fantastically

From Spirituals to Swing 1938. The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert 1950. Peggy Lee Sings with Benny Goodman 1957. The Benny Goodman Treasure Chest 1959. Frederator Films is an animation studio founded by Fred Seibert as part of Frederator Studios, with. John Hasbrouck Van Vleck.

From Spirituals to Swing was the title of two concerts presented by John Hammond in Carnegie Hall on 23 December 1938 and 24 December 1939  . The recordings of the concerts commissioned by Hammond were acetate sound checks, and only transferred to tape in 1953 and released in 1959, with faked announcements recorded by Hammond the previous year. The album was reissued by Vanguard Records as a triple CD set in 1999. Inside were two documents: a modern brochure describing the contents of the box set, and a reproduction of the original 1938 program for the show.