Swing music - Citizendia

For other uses, see swing.

Subgenres
Swing
Stylistic origins	New Orleans jazz, Kansas City jazz, New York jazz
Cultural origins	1930s United States
Typical instruments	clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, double bass, drums, keyboards, electric guitars, acoustic guitars
Mainstream popularity	1930s, 1940s, 1950s
Swing revival

Swing music, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and had solidified as a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States. Dixieland or Dixie is a name for the southeastern portion of the USA; see Southern United States, Dixie. Kansas City Jazz is a style of Jazz that developed and flourished in Kansas City Missouri and the surrounding Kansas City Metropolitan Area during the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The clarinet is a Musical instrument in the Woodwind family The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word The saxophone (commonly referred to simply as sax) is a conical- bored transposing Musical instrument considered a member of the Woodwind The trombone is a Musical instrument in the brass family Like all brass instruments it is a lip-reed Aerophone: sound is produced when the player’s The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers The double bass is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed String instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra. The drum is a member of the percussion group technically classified as a Membranophone. A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a Musical keyboard. An electric guitar is a type of Guitar that uses pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current which is made louder A steel-string acoustic guitar, is a modern form of Guitar descended from the Classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter louder sound A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and Jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Swing uses a strong anchoring rhythm section which supports a brass section including saxophones, trumpets, and trombones; medium to fast tempos; and a "lilting" swing time rhythm. A rhythm section is the Musicians in a Popular music band or ensemble who establish the Rhythmic pulse of a Song or musical Brass is any Alloy of Copper and Zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties 2266-Tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl or TEMPO is the Chemical compound with the formula (CH23(CMe22NO Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise a new melody over the arrangement. In Music, a solo (from the Italian solo, meaning alone) is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer The danceable swing style of bandleaders such as Benny Goodman and Count Basie was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1945. William "Count" Basie ( August 21, 1904 &ndash April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, Organist

The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong rhythmic "groove" or drive. In jazz and related musical styles the term swing is used to describe the sense of propulsive Rhythmic "feel" or " groove " created by the musical Groove is the sense of propulsive Rhythmic "feel" or sense of " Swing " created by the interaction of the music played by a band's Rhythm section

1 History
2 Samples
3 Notable musicians
4 See also
5 Further reading
6 External links

History

1920s: Origins

During the 1920s and early 1930s, the dance form of jazz was popular. This style used sweet and romantic melody accompanied by lush, romantic string orchestra arrangements. A string orchestra is understood as an Orchestra composed solely of instruments of the Violin family. Orchestras tended to stick to the melody as it was written ,and vocals would be sung sweetly (often in a tenor voice). Swing music abandoned the string orchestra and used simpler, "edgier" arrangements that emphasized horns and wind instruments and improvised melodies.

Swing, like several other styles of 20th-century popular music, has its origins in African rhythms. Popular music is Music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more Traditional West African music brought to the US and elsewhere by enslaved Africans hybridized with western music to eventually create a distinct style. West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. The first recordings labeled race records date from the 1920s, and come from both the United States and the United Kingdom. Race records were 78 rpm Gramophone records made by and for African Americans during the early 20th century particularly during the 1920s and 1930s They are characterized by an improvised style, a smaller number of musicians, a lack of strings and a distinctive lively style which is harder to define, now known as swing rhythm.

Since these recordings were mainly produced by minorities with limited resources, the recordings were often made with sub-standard equipment such as the acoustic recording method. Many of these records are extremely rare, as they did not sell well with mainstream audiences. 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. New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana Kansas City Missouri only Items for the metro area Kansas City Kansas or North Kansas City MO should go on their respective pages The City of New York

The styles of jazz that were popular from the late teens through the late 1920s were usually played with rhythms with a two beat feel, and often attempted to reproduce the style of contrapuntal improvisation developed by the first generation of jazz musicians in New Orleans. In the late 1920s, however, larger ensembles using written arrangements became the norm, and a subtle stylistic shift took place in the rhythm, which 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.

1935: Birth of Swing

The overall effect is a more sophisticated sound than the styles of the 1920s, but with an exciting feel of its own that really makes you want to dance. Most jazz bands adopted this style by the early 1930s, but "sweet" bands remained the most popular for white dancers until Benny Goodman's appearance at the Palomar Ballroom in August 1935. The Palomar Ballroom, built in 1925 was a famous Ballroom in Los Angeles California, in the United States. The audience of young white dancers favored Goodman's "hot" rhythms and daring swing arrangements. "Hot Swing" and Boogie Woogie remained the dominant form of american popular music for the next ten years. Boogie-woogie is a style of Piano -based Blues that became very popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s but originated much earlier and was extended from piano

With the wider acceptance of swing music around 1935, larger mainstream bands began to embrace this style of music. Large orchestras had to reorganize themselves in order to achieve the new sound. These bands dropped their string instruments, which were now felt to hamper the improvised style necessary for swing music. This necessitated a slightly more detailed and organized type of composition and notation than was then the norm. Musical composition is an original piece of Music the structure of a musical piece the process of creating a new See also Modern musical symbols Music notation or musical notation is any system which represents aurally perceived Music through the use 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. In Music, an arrangement refers either to a rewriting of a piece of existing Music with additional new material or to a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch such Improvisation (also called extemporization) is the practice of acting singing talking and reacting of making and creating in the moment and in response to the stimulus of 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. A rhythm section is the Musicians in a Popular music band or ensemble who establish the Rhythmic pulse of a Song or musical Wind is the flow of Air or other Gases that compose an Atmosphere (including but not limited to the Earth's) Brass is any Alloy of Copper and Zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties A string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a Musical instrument that produces Sound by means of Vibrating strings In the Hornbostel-Sachs 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. In Music, a solo (from the Italian solo, meaning alone) is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer As a song progressed, multiple soloists might be expected to take over and individually improvise their own part; however, it was not 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. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa Radio remotes increased interest in the music, and it grew in popularity throughout the States. A big band remote (aka dance band remote) was a Remote broadcast, popular on radio during the 1930s and 1940s involving a coast-to-coast live transmission of a As with many new popular musical styles, it met with some resistance from the public because of 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. The term " swing dance " commonly refers to a group of dances that developed concurrently with the swing style of Jazz music in the 1920s '30s and '40s although 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.

WW II era

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). Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German The Swing Kids (German Swingjugend) were a group of Jazz and Swing lovers in Germany 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. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991

In the US, 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 1940s by the pop standards sung by the crooners who grew out of the Big Band tradition that swing began. Traditional pop or Classic pop or Standards music denotes in general Western (and particularly American popular music that either wholly predates the advent of A big band is a type of Musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 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. The Dorsey Brothers consisted of a studio group fronted by musicians Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12 1915 &ndash May 14 1998 was an American singer and actor

Swing music began to decline in popularity during World War II 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. On August 1, 1942, the American Federation of Musicians, at the instigation of union president James Petrillo, started a strike against the major American 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. Jump blues is a type of Up-tempo Blues music influenced by Big band sound Bebop or bop is a form of Jazz characterized by fast Tempos and Improvisation based on Harmonic structure rather than Melody

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. Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby ( May 3, 1903 &ndash October 14, 1977) was an Academy Award winning American Popular 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. Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12 1915 &ndash May 14 1998 was an American singer and actor Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African

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. Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. Aubrey Wilson Mullican ( March 29, 1909 - January 1, 1967) known as Moon Mullican, was an American Country and western James Robert (Bob Wills ( March 6, 1905 &ndash May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician Songwriter The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression This article is about the Musical genre. For the popular western swing Steel guitar tuning see E9 tuning. 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. Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12 1915 &ndash May 14 1998 was an American singer and actor Aubrey Wilson Mullican ( March 29, 1909 - January 1, 1967) known as Moon Mullican, was an American Country and western Cliff Bruner ( April 25, 1915 &ndash August 25, 2000) was a Fiddler and Bandleader of the Western swing era of Artists like Willie Nelson and Jerry Lee Lewis have kept the swing elements of country music present into the rock 'n' roll era. Willie Nelson (born April 30, 1933) is an American country Singer-songwriter and Actor. Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American Rock and roll and Country music Singer, Songwriter Nat King Cole followed Sinatra into the pop music world bringing with him a similar combination of swing bands and ballads. Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17 1919 &ndash February 15 1965 known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12 1915 &ndash May 14 1998 was an American singer and actor Like Moon Mullican, he was important in bringing piano to the fore of popular music. Aubrey Wilson Mullican ( March 29, 1909 - January 1, 1967) known as Moon Mullican, was an American Country and western The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers

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. Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American Rock and roll and Country music Singer, Songwriter Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18 1926 in St Gene Vincent, real name Vincent Eugene Craddock, ( February 11, 1935 - October 12, 1971) was an American Rock'n'roll pioneer 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. Among the critically acclaimed band leaders of the 1930s and 1940s whose performances included elements of both "Sweet Band" music and traditional swing music was Shep Fields. Shep Fields ( September 12, 1910 &ndash February 23, 1981) was the band leader for the critically acclaimed "Shep Fields and His Rippling

Late 1990s: Swing revival

Main article: Swing revival

Although ensembles like the Count Basie Orchestra and the Stan Kenton Orchestra survived into the 1950s by incorporating new musical styles into their repertoire, they were no longer the hallmark of American popular music. The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and Jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as In the late 1990s (1998 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, Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums Featuring Miss Carmen Getit and Brian Setzer. The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and Jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a contemporary swing band from southern California. The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are an American rock band formed in 1989 in Eugene, Oregon. The Royal Crown Revue (RCR is a band formed in 1989 in Los Angeles, California. The Squirrel Nut Zippers are a band formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina by James "Jimbo" Mathus (vocals and guitar Katharine Lavay Smith is an American Singer specialising in the Blues and Jazz, from Swing to Bebop. Brian Setzer (born April 10 1959, Massapequa, New York) is an American Guitarist, Singer and Songwriter The style also revived swing dancing, both in a traditional style, and in hybrid approaches which blended 1930s dancing with 2000-era dance styles. The term " swing dance " commonly refers to a group of dances that developed concurrently with the swing style of Jazz music in the 1920s '30s and '40s although

In recent years Swing music has become hugely popular in Germany. Singers Roger Cicero and Tom Gaebel [1]have attained large followings both in their native country and world wide. Roger Marcel Cicero Cziczeo (born July 6 1970 in Berlin) is a German Jazz musician and the son of the Romanian pianist Cicero’s style is predominantly that of 1940s and 1950s swing music, combined with German lyrics; he became Germany's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007.

Samples

Download sample "Jumpin' at the Woodside" by Count Basie & His Orchestra, a popular swing song by a jazz legend

Notable musicians

Band leaders: Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Chick Webb, The Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Fletcher Henderson, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, Gloria Parker, Harry James, Louis Prima, Shep Fields. William "Count" Basie ( August 21, 1904 &ndash April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, Organist Arthur Jacob Arshawsky ( May 23, 1910 &ndash December 30, 2004) better known as Artie Shaw, was an American Jazz Bernard "Buddy" Rich ( September 30 1917 &ndash April 2 1987) was an American jazz drummer and Bandleader Cabell "Cab" Calloway III ( December 25, 1907 &ndash November 18, 1994) was a famous American Jazz Singer William "Count" Basie ( August 21, 1904 &ndash April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, Organist William Henry Webb, usually known as Chick Webb ( February 10, 1905 – June 16, 1939) was a Jazz and Swing music The Dorsey Brothers consisted of a studio group fronted by musicians Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29 1899 &ndash May 24 1974 was an American Composer, Pianist, and Bandleader. Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, ( 28 December, 1903 Duquesne Pennsylvania &ndash 22 April Fletcher Hamilton Henderson Jr ( December 18, 1897 &ndash December 28, 1952) was an American pianist bandleader Arranger Gene Krupa ( January 15, 1909 &ndash October 16, 1973) was an influential American Jazz and Big band Drummer Alton Glenn Miller ( March 1 1904 &ndash presumably December 15 1944) was an American Jazz musician and Glorious Gloria Parker is an American Entertainer active during the Swing Era as a Bandleader of an All-female band, Gloria Harry James ( March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American Musician and Band leader, and a well-known Louis Prima ( December 7, 1910 Legacy The Prima-Butera arrangements and recordings continued to be copied by younger musicians including David Shep Fields ( September 12, 1910 &ndash February 23, 1981) was the band leader for the critically acclaimed "Shep Fields and His Rippling

Clarinet:

Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw

Saxophone:

Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Lester Young, Charlie Parker

Trumpet:

Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, Harry Edison, Louis Prima

Marimba:

Gloria Parker

Piano:

Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Earl Hines, Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson, Jelly Roll Morton

Drums:

Sonny Greer, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Chick Webb

External links

Swing era entry at the University of Virginia's Jazz history site. The University of Virginia (also called UVa, UVA, Mr Jefferson's University, or The University) is a highly selective public research Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States
Swing & Big Band Internet Broadcast Schedules
Swing: Last.FM Group
About swing (Link collection) at HepTown, a Swedish swing and retro culture site.

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