Swing music

Swing music, or simply swing, is a form of American music that dominated in the 1930s and 1940s. Swing uses a strong rhythm section of double bass and drums as the anchor for a lead section of brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones, woodwinds including saxophone and clarinets, and sometimes stringed instruments such as violin and guitar, medium to fast tempos, and a "lilting" swing time rhythm. The name swing came from the 'swing feel' where the emphasis is on the off–beat or weaker pulse in the music. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, a period known as the swing era. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Notable musicians of the swing era include Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Woody Herman, and Artie Shaw.

Swing has roots in the late 1920s as larger ensembles began using written arrangements. A typical song played in swing style would feature a strong, anchoring rhythm section in support of more loosely tied wind and brass. The most common style consisted of having a soloist take center stage, and improvise a solo within the framework of his bandmates playing support. Swing music began to decline in popularity during World War II because of several factors. By the late 1940s, swing had morphed into traditional pop music, or evolved into new styles such as jump blues and bebop jazz. Swing music saw a revival in the late 1950s and 1960s with pop vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald.

Swing blended with other genres to create new styles. In country music, artists such as Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican and Bob Wills introduced many elements of swing along with blues to create a genre called western swing. Gypsy swing is an outgrowth of Venuti and Lang's jazz violin swing. In the 1970s, and 1980s, fans of big band music attended swing music performances at supper clubs. In the late-1980s (into the early 1990s) a trendier, more urban-styled swing-beat emerged called new jack swing, spearheaded by Teddy Riley. In the late 1990s and into the 2000s there was a swing revival, led by Squirrel Nut Zippers, Brian Setzer, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Lavay Smith. In Canada, some of the early 2000s records by The JW-Jones Blues Band included swing revival elements.

1920s: Roots

The styles of jazz that were popular in the 1920s were usually played with a two-beat "feel", and often attempted to reproduce the style of contrapuntal improvisation developed by jazz musicians in New Orleans. In the late 1920s bigger ensembles using written arrangements became the norm. Rhythm developed a four-beat feel, with a smoothly syncopated style of playing the melody while the rhythm section supported it with a steady four-to-the-bar. Many bassists were unsure of what to do with these extra beats, and thus commonly played each note twice. This led to the sound of doubled notes becoming an indication of a swing bass line.

In the 1920s Big Band music became more prominent. Big Band was a form of music played by an orchestra in the Tin Pan Alley style mixed with jazz rhythm. The invention of radio in the 1920s, and the importance of disk jockeys, contributed to Big Band's popularity. Paul Whiteman is often credited with creating the Big Band era. With his orchestra he wanted to create what he called "symphonic jazz" by mixing classical and jazz music.[1][2]

Some critics ridiculed Whiteman's music because it broke convention.. He was neither a classical composer nor a jazz musician. But he believed American pop music was unique due to the environment in which America was born. He believed that his music was genuine American music, and he hoped his compositions would be the future of jazz.[1] His records were popular and his orchestral approach was adopted by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman.

1930s: Birth of swing

When Louis Armstrong was asked on the Bing Crosby radio show what swing was, he said, "Ah, swing, well, we used to call it syncopation — then they called it ragtime, then blues — then jazz. Now, it's swing. Ha! Ha! White folks, yo'all sho is a mess."[3]

Swing's birth has been traced by some jazz historians to Chick Webb's stand in Harlem in 1931, but the music failed to take off because the Depression killed the nightclub business, particularly in poor black areas like Harlem. By the early 1930, most jazz bands had adopted swing, but "sweet" bands remained the most popular for white dancers until Benny Goodman's appearance at the Palomar Ballroom in August 1935.

Goodman had won a spot on the radio show "Let's Dance", but he had only a few songs to play. He increased his repertoire with the help of arrangements by Fletcher Henderson, a bandleader who needed work. The show was on after midnight in the East, and few people heard it. It was on earlier on the West Coast and developed the audience that later led to Goodman's Palomar Ballroom triumph. The audience of young white dancers favored Goodman's rhythm and daring arrangements.

"Hot swing" and boogie-woogie remained the dominant form of American popular music for the next ten years. Standards like "Moten Swing" by Bennie Moten and the Kansas City Orchestra were important in the development of swing music and the move towards a freer form of orchestral jazz.[4][5][6] Audiences raved at the new music, and at the Pearl Theatre in Philadelphia in December 1932, the doors were let open to the public who came crammed into the theatre to hear the new sound, demanding seven encores from Moten's orchestra.

1935–1946: The swing era

Benny Goodman, one of the first swing bandleaders to achieve widespread fame.

From 1935 to 1946 swing was the most popular music in America. This period is known as the swing era.

With the wider acceptance of swing music around 1935, larger mainstream bands began to embrace this style of music. Orchestras had to reorganize themselves in order to play the new sound. A larger number of musicians required more detailed, organized composition and notation. Therefore, bandleaders spent more time on arrangements to reduce the chaos that might result from as many as 16 musicians improvising.

A typical song played in swing style would feature a strong, anchoring rhythm section in support of more loosely-tied wind, brass. During the swing era, string or vocal sections, or both, were also common. The level of improvisation that the audience might expect varied with the arrangement, song, band, and band-leader. The most common style consisted of a soloist taking center stage and improvising while his bandmates played support. As a song progressed, multiple soloists would take over and improvise their parts. It was not unusual to have two or three band members improvising at any one time.

Many of the songs of the swing era were from the Great American Songbook, and thus swing influenced traditional pop music by popularizing standards.[7] Bandleaders such as the Dorsey Brothers often helped launch the careers of vocalists like Frank Sinatra.

As with many new popular musical styles, swing met with some resistance because of its improvisation, tempo, lack of strings, occasionally risqué lyrics, and frenetic dancing. Audiences used to romantic arrangements, and what was perceived as classier and more refined music, were taken aback by the rambunctiousness of swing music. Until the swing era, jazz was respected by musicians around the world, including by classical composers like Stravinsky. But swing was sometimes regarded as light entertainment, more of an industry to sell records to the masses than a form of art. Some musicians, after failing at "serious" music, switched to swing. In his autobiography, W. C. Handy wrote that "prominent white orchestra leaders, concert singers and others are making commercial use of Negro music in its various phases. That's why they introduced "swing" which is not a musical form."[8]

1940s: Decline

Swing declined for many reasons. It became difficult to staff a big band because many musicians were overseas fighting in the war. It was also more expensive to tour with a big band with many players, especially taking into account wartime economics. There were the musician strikes of 1942 and 1948. In 1948, no records were made legally , although independent labels continued to bootleg records in small numbers. When the ban was over in January 1949, swing had morphed into traditional pop music or evolved into newstyles such as jump blues and bebop jazz. This was much to the chagrin of artists such as Benny Goodman: "Bop. To me it's a circus. For all I know those guys might think they're playing soulful music. Basically, it's all wrong. Not even knowing the scales."[9] Bebop was created to counter the popularity of swing music , by being more fast-paced and difficult to dance to. Many jazz musicians and fans enjoyed bebop more than swing. Swing also had to compete with rock and roll in the 1950s.

1950s–1960s: Swingin' pop and cross-genre swing

Frank Sinatra

Swing saw a revival in the late 1950s and 1960s. Today, this music is sometimes referred to as easy listening. It was an updated form of big band swing music that had been popular in the 1930s and 1940s. This music emphasized the vocalist more than the instrumentation. Like the music of the swing era, many of these songs were selections from the Great American Songbook. This brand of music was made popular by arrangers such as Nelson Riddle and pop vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Judy Garland, and Nat King Cole, as well as jazz-oriented vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald and Keely Smith. Many of these singers were also involved in the "less swinging" vocal pop music of this period. By the late 1960s, this form of swing was replaced by rock music.

In country music Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican, and Bob Wills combined elements of swing and blues to create a western swing. Mullican left the Cliff Bruner band to pursue solo career that included many songs that maintained a swing structure. Artists like Willie Nelson have kept the swing elements of country music present into the rock 'n' roll era. Nat King Cole followed Sinatra into pop music, bringing with him a similar combination of swing bands and ballads. Like Mullican, he was important in bringing piano to the fore of popular music.

Gypsy swing is an outgrowth of the jazz violin swing of Venuti and Lang. In Europe it was heard in the music of guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli. Their repertoire overlaps 1930s swing, including French popular music, gypsy songs, and compositions by Reinhardt, but gypsy swing bands are formulated differently. There is no brass or percussion; guitars and bass form the backbone, with violin, accordion, clarinet or guitar taking the lead. Gypsy swing groups generally have no more than five players. Although they originated in different continents, similarities have often been noted between gypsy swing and western swing, leading to various fusions.

Rock music hitmakers like Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley inlcuded swing standards in their repertoire. Presley's hit "Are You Lonesome Tonight" was a swing standard and Lewis's "To Make Love Sweeter For You" was a new song in the old style. Domino made the swing standard "My Blue Heaven" into a rock and roll hit. Shep Fields was among the band leaders of the 1930s and 1940s whose performances included elements of both "Sweet Band" music and traditional swing.

1970s–2000: Big Band nostalgia and swing revival

Main article: Swing revival

Though swing music was no longer mainstream, fans could attend "Big Band Nostalgia" tours during the 1970s and 1980s. The tours featured bandleaders and vocalists of the swing era who were semi-retired, such as Harry James and vocalist Dick Haymes.[10]

A Swing Revival occurred during the 1990s and 2000s led by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Lavay Smith, and Brian Setzer. Many of the bands played neo-swing which combined swing with rockabilly, ska, and rock. The music brought a revival in swing dancing.

In 2001 Robbie Williams's album Swing When You're Winning consisted mainly of popular swing covers. The album sold more than 7 million copies worldwide. In November 2013, Robbie Williams released Swings Both Ways.

In 2006 Christina Aguilera's album "Back to Basics" mixed swing, jazz and blues. The album was another commercial success.

In recent years, swing music has become popular in Germany. Roger Cicero, Tom Gaebel, and Thomas Anders have attained large followings both in their native country and worldwide. Cicero's style is predominantly that of 1940s and 1950s swing music combined with German lyrics. He was Germany's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007.

1990s to present: swing house, electro swing and swing pop

Another modern development consists of fusing swing (original, or remixes of classics) with hip hop and house techniques. "Swing house" was particularly popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Influences incorporated into it include Louis Jordan and Louis Prima. Electro swing is mainly popular in Europe, and electro swing artists incorporate influences such as tango and Django Reinhardt's gypsy swing. Leading artists include Caravan Palace and Parov Stelar. Both genres are connected with a revival of swing dances, such as the Lindy hop.

Notable musicians

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Popa, Christopher (November 2007). "Big Band Library: Paul Whiteman". www.bigbandlibrary.com.
  2. ↑ Berrett, Joshua (1 October 2008). "Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman: Two Kings of Jazz". Google. Yale University Press.
  3. ↑ Argyle, Ray (1 April 2009). "Scott Joplin and the Age of Ragtime". Google Books. McFarland.
  4. ↑ Lawn, Richard (2013). Experiencing Jazz. Routledge. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-415-69960-0.
  5. ↑ Driggs, Frank; Director, Marr Sound Archives University of Missouri-Kansas City Chuck Haddix (1 May 2005). Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop. Oxford University Press. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-19-536435-4.
  6. ↑ Daniels, Douglas Henry (January 2006). One O'clock Jump: The Unforgettable History of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils. Beacon Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-8070-7136-6.
  7. ↑ Wernick, Forrest (21 September 2011). "How to Swing in Jazz Music and Improvisation | jazzadvice.com". www.jazzadvice.com.
  8. ↑ Handy, William Christopher (1941). Father of the Blues. MacMillan. p. 292.
  9. ↑ Gilbert Millstein (April 19, 1953). "The New York Times".
  10. ↑ Parker, Jeff. "Jazz History Part II". www.swingmusic.net.

Further reading

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