Overview
In the 1920s, a new type of jazz emerged that was related to, but separate from, Dixieland. Called swing or big band, this music often had less improvisation, more dancing, and more instruments than its Dixieland counterpart. Led by bandleaders such as Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Fletcher Henderson, swing bands provided the soundtrack for dancing and merrymaking during what were becoming increasingly difficult times in the United States.
Objectives
- Recognize the difference between swing music and Dixieland jazz such as instrumentation, form, purpose, and composition
- Examine how race relations affected the performance and recording of swing music throughout the 1930s and 1940s
- Identify various bandleaders and the way each cultivated a specific style within their individual groups such as Count Basie’s Kansas City swing style
Introduction
At the end of World War I, Americans had gone on an entertainment spree, all of which were summed up in the phrase, "The Roaring Twenties." But on October 28 1929, "Black Friday," the whole structure came tumbling down with the crash of the stock market. Nearly twenty-five thousand banks failed, thirty thousand businesses folded, and by 1931, there were ten million jobless workers waiting in bread lines, soup kitchens, and free milk depots. The Great Depression had begun.
Record sales plunged; nightclubs and dance halls closed. Concert ticket sales dropped to an all-time low. In 1921, Americans purchased over $100 million in records, but in 1933, they bought only $6 million. The entertainment and recreation industries suffered more than the industries devoted to food, lodging, and health, of course, but the entire country was in serious economic trouble. In this new socioeconomic environment, a "big band" popular music style took shape. The new style was called "swinga style of jazz that featured large instrumental ensembles (called big bands) playing high-energy dance music," and it came partly from blues and ragtime traditions, and partly from earlier dance music as played by the "society syncopators."
