swing bands featured sections of trumpets, saxophones, and

Jazz vocalists during this era were highly influenced by horn players. Unlike the concert band, the lead players should never be seated on the end of the section. Cubans Mario Bauz and Machito (Francisco Ral Gutirrez Grillo), founder of the Afro-Cubans; Puerto Rican Ernesto Antonio Tito Puente with Oye como va; and Afro-Cuban drummer Chano Pozo (Luciano Pozo Gonzlez), famous for playing with and influencing Dizzy Gillespies Manteca, were among the most prominent band leaders and musicians. ,r,el1)PrPer{mN,cq+W!yJn?@}gU-+GACIuyrPgnpQCZ76il9%0A9b vr, Q&L Sc3oX *{{toV Swing is a term often used in reference to large dance bands of 15 or more musicians that played written arrangements using improvised sections alternating with arranged passages by brass and/or reeds. the jukebox The popular appeal of Benny Goodman's Trio and Quartet had a good deal to do with the extroverted energy of Lionel Hampton and Gene Krupa The most prominent features of big band swing were the use of written arrangements and improvised solos, repetitive horn riffs, call and response between the brass and reed sections, and a rhythmic drive derived from walking and/or boogie-woogie type bass lines. The Timeline of African American Music has been made possible in part by a major grant from theNational Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom. Foremost, they accentuated the movement of choreographed dancers. Daniels, Douglas. Playing multiple riffs playing at once as a kind of call and response. "Hot" Jazz, as improvised over standard blues patterns. style, boogie-woogie was born. orchestral jazz crossover movement that had an enormous impact on getting white The Henderson band is considerably larger than most syncopated dance bands of the 1920s (eight or nine musicians). Two other musical characteristics of swing bands are a return to the use of a flat-four rhythm and the use of block chords (chords with many notes moving in parallel motion). HWYo8~G ("b+[:r$%_r8oFdnIt]5pu\Kr|z~+au/I8vTm3}` e While each instrument in a swing band can be compared to an ingredient in Gumbo, none of them have been equated with the seasoning so far. A versatile instrument, the saxophone is swing musics version of the Holy Trinity (celery, bell peppers and onions) used in Gumbo. [32] They experiment, often with one player coming up with a simple musical figure leading to development within the same section and then further expansion by other sections, with the entire band then memorizing the way they are going to perform the piece, without writing it on sheet music. exemplifies many of the most innovative aspects of this new jazz style: (1) It So lets quickly take a look at all three genres: Lets dive into these characteristics of Swing Music a little deeper:
The Glenn Miller Band worked the best jobs and recorded often. A drummer, bass player (string bass), piano player, and guitarist formed the rhythm section. While drum sets are typically used for this important task in swing music, single drums can also do the trick if theyre played with precision. Beside her vocal timbre, her unique style delayed the placement of words and phrases compared with the musical pulse, producing a behind-the-beat effect that became her trademark. II. Guiding Principals. Jazz is America's in Blue (1925). This expansive eclecticism characterized much of jazz after World War II. (String Bass or Electric Bass), plucked with the fingers, often providing a Instead of just embellishing the melody, he created a whole new melody based on the songs harmony by arpeggiating the chords and adding further chord alterations and substitutions to make his solo more complex. [37] As jazz migrated from its New Orleans origin to Chicago and New York City, energetic, suggestive dances traveled with it. of the most creative composers in the history of jazz, particularly renowned listeners to love jazz.. From the late 1930s through the 1950s, Duke Ellington was one of the premier swing band leaders in America. is America's - the tuba was replaced the string bass - the banjo was replaced the guitar - (a&c on test) and His Mother Called Him Bill, featured "Blood Count" and "Lotus Blossom," was a tribute album to . He was also a band leader and arranger who traveled throughout Europe and Japan during the 1950s and 1960s. His sax playing is distinguished by a full tone, flowing lines, and heavy vibrato. The "Modern Popular Music" chart below, Glenn Miller (19041944) was a brilliant arranger, an outstanding businessman, and a fine trombone player. until you reach alto saxophone. In general, swing refers to the music of large dance bands that played written arrangements. The band features selections mostly from the swing era, with a dose of 50's Sinatra and 60's hipsters. [9] During the 1940s, somewhat smaller configurations of the big band emerged in the form of the "rhythm sextet". ELLINGTON and William "Count" In the 1970s, popular fusion groups included BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS, CHICAGO, and SANTANA With no market for small-group recordings (made worse by a Depression-era industry reluctant to take risks), musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines led their own bands, while others, like Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver, lapsed into obscurity. One of the most common forms used in jazz - trombones The invention of ______ helped the record industry to recover in the mid-1930s. Among all the jazz vocalists that followed, most cite her as having the most influence on their scatting style. A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section.Big bands originated during the early 1910s and dominated jazz in the early 1940s when swing was most popular. [51] Fictionalized biographical films of Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, and Benny Goodman were made in the 1950s. The Glenn Miller band was one of the most popular bands of the Swing Era. Q G("CH^T)daA]yg~zN^y>.g~01D%>7dj.|K+8'9 q*U!i|O1#"v\YOGtc_GD1JL. Swing was hugely popular in fact, it was the pop music of the 1930s. The 1930's brought a new style of jazz "big band swing". Bassists generally assumed the role of timekeeper, while drummers functioned in a dual capacity. The saxophone section included two alto saxophones, two tenor saxophones, and one baritone saxophone. Since he could not read music, Webb memorized the arrangements. has complex syncopated polyrhythms, (3) expressive "blue" (bent While bassists can use a bow to vibrate the strings, swing band bassists will frequently pluck the strings instead. The popularity of many of the major bands was amplified by star vocalists, such as Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey, Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly with Jimmy Dorsey, Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb, Billie Holiday and Jimmy Rushing with Count Basie, Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest with Harry James, Doris Day with Les Brown,[40] and Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman. projected in the way the drums and bass express the beat, how the piano Loops are played at 120 and 125 bpm. It was all about showmanship which is epitomised by people like Cab Calloway and Fats Waller. The successful bands of the Swing Era featured carefully . Duke Ellington's . By the end of the war, swing was giving way to less danceable music, such as bebop. Arrangers notated specific notes for each instrument to play in every measure on a written score. during the World War II years. While the trumpet is commonly featured in a swing band, a saxophone is also often used to enhance melodies. The Dorsey Brothers started with a large-band version of Dixieland featuring singer Bob Crosby who later developed his own band. There was a quality to her voice that fascinated me, and Id sing along with her, trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words., A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead. The swing era was the one time that jazz was a truly popular style. Fitzgerald was unique in her ability to render exact imitations of nearly any instrument in the band. an important catalyst in the socio-political and artistic transformation of [28] This development may take the form of improvised solos, written solo sections, and "shout choruses". !/$v}5cliH_+B9W#PBY]C ::B) on the chart below to go to that interactive webpage). for hits such as Take the A Train, and Satin Doll, as well as colorful and From Basie, Count. The major "black" bands of the 1930s included, apart from Ellington's, Hines's and Calloway's, those of Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb, and Count Basie. Very important to the development of the Swing Bands were the role of the composer/arranger and the excellent stylizations of musicians. The lyrics kept within these traditions. With the exception of Jelly Roll Morton, who continued playing in the New Orleans style, bandleaders paid attention to the demand for dance music and created their own big bands. (called a "chorus"). shows the development of the main jazz styles in relation to other aspects of Henderson and arranger Don Redman followed the template of King Oliver, but as the 1920s progressed they moved away from the New Orleans format and transformed jazz. City. ARMSTRONG took "Hot" Jazz to Chicago, where its popularity grew These consist of the independent use of trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and rhythm section with the use of soloists. She arranged music for dozens of leading swing bands including those of Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Benny Goodman. They provide the base, the foundation on which the rest of the music can thrive. 1U^ p(s XA@H:@!+H30q:pYL4#9 S premiered. By the 1930s, these and other cities became major centers for the development of the swing style. In the 1960s, Gunther SCHULLER developed a style known as "Third A distinction is often made between so-called "hard bands", such as those of Count Basie and Tommy Dorsey, which emphasized quick hard-driving jump tunes, and "sweet bands", such as the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Shep Fields Rippling Rhythm Orchestra,[41][42]. Count Basies music contains lively rhythms, economic piano style, and a relaxed swing sound. Typically the most prominent shows with the earliest time slots and largest audiences have bigger bands with horn sections while those in later time slots go with smaller, leaner ensembles. Louis ARMSTRONG (1900-1971): Hotter Than That (1927). who specialized in less improvised tunes with more emphasis on sentimentality, featuring somewhat slower-paced, often heart-felt songs.[43]. (As told to Albert Murray). Big band swing was at the forefront of jazz and underwent its most concentrated growth and development from 1930 . Billie Holiday is considered to be the most influential of the jazz singers of the century after Louis Armstrong, who influenced her style. The most prominent features of big band swing were the use of written arrangements and improvised solos, repetitive horn riffs, call and response between the brass and reed sections, and a rhythmic drive derived from walking and/or boogie-woogie type bass lines. and the Lincoln Center Jazz The bands led by Helen Lewis, Ben Bernie, and Roger Wolfe Kahn's band were filmed by Lee de Forest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process in 1925, in three short films which are in the Library of Congress film collection. endstream endobj 1558 0 obj <>stream Swing bands featured orchestras with sections of trumpets, saxophones, and. DAVIS was one of the first jazz artist to cross over and adopt elements of - a jazz choir (with or without instrumental accompaniment): Jazz combos often feature virtuoso performers, on :vQxc!#\JK?1UshqkF~[!eO W,{(HBjkps~'O;5lR. But there were a few instrumental popular hits, such as Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump" and Miller's "In the Mood." 3. Compared to Dixieland bands, swing bands used two or three times as many players and produced a fuller sound. The Henderson band is considerably larger than most syncopated dance bands of the 1920s (eight or nine musicians). The instrumental lineup of a big band will vary from ensemble to ensemble, but is typically composed of around 17 musicians, divided into four sections: five saxophones; four trombones; four trumpets; a rhythm section of piano, double bass and drums; Common additions might include guitar, french horn, tuba or a vocalist. Social life changed and large ballrooms were needed for the thousands who wanted to dance every night and large bands seemed to be the answer to filling these dance halls with music. He would conduct his band from his drum set. [7][8], Jazz ensembles numbering eight (octet), nine (nonet) or ten (tentet) voices are sometimes called "little big bands". So the Swing Era was during the Depression and it acted as a kind of counter-statement or rebellion against the unemployment and misery that the Depression caused. Lead players (alto sax 1, trombone 1 and trumpet 1) should be in the middle of their sections, in a direct line with one another. The genre was gradually absorbed into mainstream pop rock and the jazz rock sector.[45]. style promoted by Ornette COLEMAN and John COLTRANE), which has raised a continuing controversy about attractive to general listeners. The better jazz musicians of swing bands would form swing combos within most large bands. Jazz began in New Orleans in the Nostalgia for the Big Band style has kept it alive today. Big bands maintained a presence on American television, particularly through the late-night talk show, which has historically used big bands as house accompaniment. Alto sax player, arranger, and bandleader Jimmie Lunceford (19021947) studied music at and graduated from Fisk University in 1926.