Swing Music - origins & history

Swing music, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that developed during the 1920s when people got together and had solidified as a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States. Swing is distinguished primarily by a strong rhythm section, usually including double bass and drums, medium to fast tempo, and the distinctive swing time rhythm that is common to many forms of jazz.

History

The dance form of jazz, popular during the 1920's and early 1930's (up until 1934), was characterized by a sweet and romantic melody and emphasized the use of strings. Orchestras tended to stick to the melody as it was written and vocals would be sung sweetly (often in a tenor voice) and in tune with the melody. Swing Music differed from what had previously been popular in a number of ways. The arrangements are simpler, more emphasis was placed on horn/wind type instruments and, most importantly, throughout the 1930's there was a complete lack of a string section. Moreover, there was an overriding tendency to improvise the melody. The music had more of an edge to it and vocals were sung in an improvised manner.

Swing, like several other styles of 20th Century popular music, has its origins in African rhythms. Traditional West African music brought to the USA and elsewhere by enslaved Africans hybridized with western music to eventually create a distinct style. The first recordings labeled swing style date from the 1920s, and come from both the United States and the United Kingdom. They are characterized by the swing rhythm already at that time common in jazz music, and a distinctive lively style which is harder to define. Although swing evolved out of the lively jazz experimentation that began in New Orleans and that developed further (and in varying forms) in Kansas City and New York City, what is now called swing diverged from other jazz music in ways that distinguished it as a form in its own right.

Although swing was performed by small ensembles as well, the quintessential swing bands tended to be bigger and more crowded than other jazz bands, necessitating a slightly more detailed and organized type of composition and notation than was then the norm. Band leaders put more energy into developing arrangements, perhaps reducing the chaos that might result from as many as 12 or 16 musicians spontaneously improvising. But the best swing bands at the height of the era explored the full gamut of possibilities from spontaneous ensemble playing to highly orchestrated music in the vein of European art music.

Benny Goodman, one of the first swing bandleaders to achieve widespread fame.A typical song played in swing style would feature a strong, anchoring rhythm section in support of more loosely tied wind, brass, and later, in the 1940s, string and/or vocal sections. The level of improvisation that the audience might expect at any one time varied depending on the arrangement, the band, the song, and the band-leader. The most common style consisted of having a soloist take center stage, and improvise a solo within the framework of her or his bandmates playing support. As a song progressed, multiple soloists might be expected to take over and individually improvise their own part; however, it wasn’t unusual to have two or three band members improvising at any one time.

Swing jazz began to be embraced by the public around 1935. Prior to that, it had had limited acceptance, mostly among African American audiences. As the music began to grow in popularity throughout the States--as with many new popular musical styles--it met with some resistance from the public, for its improvisation, fast erratic tempos, lack of strings, occasionally risqué lyrics, and other cultural associations such as the sometimes frenetic swing dancing that accompanied performances. Audiences who had become used to the romantic arrangements (and what was perceived as classier and more refined music), were taken aback by the often erratic and edginess of swing music.

Harsher conflicts arose when Swing spread to other countries; for example, in Germany it was forbidden by the Nazi regime on the basis of its connection to African and Jewish musicians (see Swing Kids). And, while jazz music was initially embraced during the early years of the Soviet Union, it was soon forbidden as a result of being deemed politically unacceptable.

In the U.S., By the late 1930s and early 1940s, swing had become the most popular musical style and remained so for several years, until it was supplanted in the late ‘40s by the pop standards sung by the crooners who grew out of the Big Band tradition that swing began. Bandleaders such as the Dorsey Brothers often helped launch the careers of vocalists who went on to popularity as solo artists, such as Frank Sinatra.

Swing music began to decline in popularity during World War 2 because of several factors. Most importantly it became difficult to staff a "big band" because many musicians were overseas fighting in the war. Also, the cost of touring with a large ensemble became prohibitive because of wartime economics. These two factors made smaller 3 to 5 piece combos more profitable and manageable. A third reason is the recording bans of 1942 and 1948 because of musicians' union strikes. In 1948, there were no records legally made at all, although independent labels continued to bootleg records in small numbers. When the ban was over in January 1949, swing had evolved into new styles such as jump blues and bebop.

Cross-genre swing

Many of the crooners who came to the fore after the swing era had their origins in swing bands. An example is Bing Crosby. Frank Sinatra used the swing-band approach to great effect in almost all of his recordings and kept this style of music popular even after the rock 'n' roll era.

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. Like Sinatra did, Moon Mullican went solo from the Cliff Bruner band, had a successful solo career that included many songs that maintained a swing structure. Artists like Willie Nelson and Jerry Lee Lewis have kept the swing elements of country music present into the rock 'n' roll era.

Nat King Cole followed Sinatra into the pop music world bringing with him a similar combination of swing bands and ballads. Like Moon Mullican, he was important in bringing piano to the fore of popular music.

Rock 'n' roll era hitmakers like Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley also found time to include many swing-era standards into their repertoire. Presley's hit "Are you lonesome tonight" is an old swing standard and Lewis' "To make love sweeter for you" is a new song but in the old style.

Swing revival

Although ensembles like the Count Basie Orchestra and the Stan Kenton Orchestra survived for decades by incorporating new musical styles into their repertoire, they were no longer the hallmark of American popular music. In the late 1990s ('98 until about 2000) there was a short-lived Swing Revival movement, led by bands such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Royal Crown Revue, Squirrel Nut Zippers and Brian Setzer. The style also revived swing dancing, both in a traditional style, and in hybrid approaches which blended 1930s dancing with 2000-era dance styles.

Source: Wikipedia