SWING

Swing has two meanings in music. It refers to the bouncy, “shuffle” rhythm in jazz and its effect on the music. It also describes the popular jazz form that reached its zenith in the mid-1950s to the early 1940s, and remains a musical favourite. The swing era was the only time in U.S. history when a type of jazz was considered America’s most popular music, with the bands of Duke ELLINGTON, Harry JAMES, Glenn MILLER, and Benny GOODMAN dominating international popular music markets. Many of the most enduring jazz performers, composers, and compositions came out of the swing era.

THE SHUFFLE RHYTHM

The basis for all swing music is the “shuffle rhythm.” Used by modern jazz, Dixieland, Chicago-style and jump blues, and, of course, swing big band music, the shuffle rhythm is based on the shuffle dance step. The rhythm is most easily described as a kind of strong four-in-a-bar feel, with a 12/8 feel overlaid on it. Some musicians take a broader approach to the concept of swing—they feel that any rhythm played loosely and with a sense of “forward motion” could be considered “swinging.”

MUSIC FOR DANDING

By the early 1930s, New Orleans and Chicago-style jazz were giving way to swing. Big band swing music was primarily music for dancing. Large and small ensembles led by Duke Ellington, Count BASIE, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Jimmy and Tommy DORSEY, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Chick Webb, and Glenn Miller, among others, recorded arrangements that were geared toward creating a big, “swinging” sound. That swinging sound kept crowds of young people dancing in ballrooms such as the Savoy, the Meadowbrook, and the Glen Island Casino.

Radio broadcasts from these popular venues were made live and could be heard across the country; during the early days of network radio, the airwaves were filled with the sounds of big band jazz. The big band sound, performed by jazz “orchestras,” is typified by moderate tempo to upbeat swing rhythms played by 10- to 25-piece bands. These orchestras consist of brass and reed instruments, accompanied by a rhythm section of bass, piano, drums, and often guitar or vibraphone. Popular recordings frequently include blues- or boogiewoogie- based musical arrangements and exciting ensemble brass features known as “shout choruses,” in which the horns and the rhythm section perform unison riffs that dynamically build in intensity toward the climax of the piece.

The legendary jazz drummer Gene Krupa, whose electrifying performances in Benny Goodman’s swing hand forever raised the status of the drummer.

This blues-based style was popularised by big bands, most famously Count Basie’s. Other swing styles include ballads and vocal numbers i n the tradition of the great big band singers, such as Jimmy Rushing, Joe Williams, Frank SINATRA, Billy Eckstine, and Ella FITZGERALD.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SWING AND BIG BANDS

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, there are some important distinctions, musically speaking, between swing and big bands. “Swing” as a musical style began as dance music, and only later evolved and developed a “concert” repertoire intended for listening only. Groups and artists performing in this style include Duke Ellington, Stan KENTON, the Buddy Rich Big Band, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Doc Severinsen, Don Ellis, the Willem Brueker Kollecktife, and Jaco Pastorius’s Word of Mouth big band. O n the other hand, many big bands performed “commercial” music (dance music that isn’t jazz). These groups were often called “sweet” bands. Examples of “sweet” music included Lawrence Welk, Guy Lombardo, Paul Whiteman, some of Glenn Miller’s work, and many of the well-known popular singers of the 1930s through the 1960s, such as Bing CROSBY, Perry Como, Jack Jones, and Steve and Edie Gorme.

SMALL AND SWINGING

Swing does not necessarily have to be performed by large ensembles or big bands. There were several important small groups and even solo performers (such as Benny Goodman’s small ensembles, the Nat King COLE Trio, Teddy Wilson, and Art TATUM), as well as mid-sized, blues-oriented bands (such as Louis Jordan’s) that helped shape and define the “jump blues” style of swing. B. B. KING is an example of a blues performer who was greatly influenced by the big band format, and w h o often uses big band arrangements to present his electrified southern blues.

Several big bands and jazz orchestras feature Latin music exclusively. Many of these bands began as dance orchestras, but this style too has developed its own concert music, and has also influenced more modern sounds and styles (such as salsa). A large ensemble that plays jazz, and is exclusively dedicated to Latin style music, is the Tito PUENTE Orchestra.

RISE OF THE ARRANGER

Musicians such as guitarist and banjoist Elmer Snowden (the original bandleader of what became the Duke Ellington Orchestra) had experimented with larger ensembles as early as the 1920s, and by the mid-1950s the big band format was firmly entrenched in jazz and popular music. This explosion of larger groups helped to establish the importance of the arranger.

An “arranger” in jazz is someone who helps bring a song or piece to life through the creative use of musical materials and instrumentation.

Written arrangements had not been necessary with smaller combos, but with the advent of big bands they became essential. The number of tunes in a group’s repertoire, and the accompanying written music, became known as that band’s “book” (a term that is still used for a musical group’s repertoire). Jazz arrangers were important in defining the big band/swing sound, and several arrangers helped create many memorable hits. Duke Ellington, often in collaboration with Billy Strayhorn, was the most important jazz arranger, and he had many hits, including “Cotton Tail” and “Moon Mist.”

Over the years, several conventions or standard practices developed in jazz arranging—the use of “kicks” and “fills” (drummers punctuating ensemble passages and shout choruses, filling in the spaces between these ensemble sections with rhythmic “fills” on the drums), block voicing (harmonised melody spread across the ensemble), “antiphonal” (call and response), and alternating sections where saxes are featured over a brass accompaniment, or where brass instruments are featured over sax accompaniment.

Regional styles developed as well. These styles ranged from the “Kansas City” sound (Count Basie and “Big Jay” McShann), an “East Coast” sound (Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and the groups for which Fletcher HENDERSON arranged) and much later, with the development of “cool jazz,” there was a “West Coast” sound in which Gerry MULLIGAN was instrumental.

Big band music continues to draw audiences to both the concert arena and the ballroom. Many of the important groups are still touring (often under the direction of former band members who have stepped up to lead after the retirement or death of the founder). And, movies such as the early 1990s release Swing Kids draw younger listeners to the music.

The music of the swing era and the big band style remain viable as entertainment and as part of the serious jazz repertoire.

Gregg Juke