Benny Goodman it was premiered by Goodman. Herman was the dedicatee (1945) and first performer (1946) of Igor Stravinsky's "Ebony Concerto", but many years later Stravinsky made another recording with Goodman as the soloist. He made a recording of Mozart's "Clarinet Quintet" in July 1956 with the Boston Symphony String Quartet at the Berkshire Festival; on the same occasion he recorded Mozart's "Clarinet Concerto in A major", K. 622, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch. He also recorded the clarinet concertos of Weber and Carl Nielsen. After forays outside swing, Goodman started a new band in 1953. According to
Benny Goodman late 1930s with his big band, his trio and quartet, and the sextet formed in August 1939, the same month Goodman returned to Columbia Records after four years with RCA Victor. At Columbia, John Hammond, his future brother-in-law, produced most of his sessions. By the mid-1940s, however, big bands had lost much of their popularity. In 1941, ASCAP had a licensing war with music publishers. From 1942 to 1944 and again in 1948, the musicians' union went on strike against the major record labels in the United States, and singers acquired the popularity that the big bands had once enjoyed.