Benny Goodman was entitled to spend two weeks at a summer camp near Chicago. It was the only time he could get away from his bleak neighborhood. He also received two years of instruction from classically trained clarinetist Franz Schoepp. When he was 17, his father was killed by a passing car after stepping off a streetcar. His father's death was "the saddest thing that ever happened in our family", Goodman said. He attended Lewis Institute (Illinois Institute of Technology) in 1924 as a high-school sophomore and played clarinet in a dance hall band. His early influences were New Orleans jazz clarinetists
Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian Goodman and His Sextet featuring Count Basie): Tracks 5-7, Side 3 recorded in New York 19 Dec 1940. Personnel (Benny Goodman and His Sextet): Tracks 1-3, Side 4 recorded in New York 15 Jan 1941. Personnel (Benny Goodman and His Sextet featuring Count Basie): Track 4, Side 4 recorded in New York, 4 Mar 1941. Personnel (Benny Goodman and His Orchestra): Tracks 5 & 6, Side 4 recorded in New York, 13 Mar 1941 during warm-up sessions while members of the Benny Goodman Sextet waited for their tardy leader. Columbia Records' practice at the time was to record all takes,