swing bands featured sections of trumpets, saxophones, and

From the late 1930s through the 1950s, Duke Ellington was one of the premier swing band leaders in America. II era. Basie, Count. 1U^ p(s XA@H:@!+H30q:pYL4#9 S world. Duke Ellington wrote a song in 1931 titled It Dont Mean a Thing (If It Aint Got That Swing), and for a generation of music lovers those were words to live by. Armstrong (nicknamed Swing was hugely popular in fact, it was the pop music of the 1930s. American society, while standing as a brilliant reflection of American freedom They provide the base, the foundation on which the rest of the music can thrive. Another interesting and important development happened with Swing improvisation. here to see a YouTube clip on jazz improvisation, click here to see animated Many swing-era compositions were written by professional songwriters employed by song publishing companies. Daniels, Douglas. freedom vs. chaos. They established independent patterns for the trumpets, trombones, saxophones, and the rhythm section within segments of the arrangement that featured improvised solos. projected in the way the drums and bass express the beat, how the piano Many of the better known bands reflected the individuality of the bandleader, the lead arranger, and the personnel. instruments (one or more: Piano, Benny Goodman (19091986) was a superior clarinetist who began appearing on stage by the age of twelve. Yes drums are like the Roux or Fil in Gumbo. [48][49][50] Big band remotes on the major radio networks spread the music from ballrooms and clubs across the country during the 1930s and 1940s, with remote broadcasts from jazz clubs continuing into the 1950s on NBC's Monitor. Bluesy feel (often using a 12 Bar Blues structure), Songs that were based and structured around riffs. more traditional instruments such as horn, cello, flute and oboe. basic chord progression of a 12-bar blues in the key of "C": (click here to see animated To produce memorable swing music entertainment, you need a solid base, some leading ingredients and some harmonic elements. in Blue (1925). [3] In the late 1930s, Shep Fields incorporated a solo accordion, temple blocks, piccolo and a viola into his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra. Swing bands adopted a consistent instrumentation of four sections that remained fairly stable. widespread popularity of big band/swing was accelerated by the rise of dozens They can be used to produce a melody or harmony for nearly every musical style. Count Basies music contains lively rhythms, economic piano style, and a relaxed swing sound. Young, who also studied violin, trumpet and drums, displayed an excellent sense of melody in his lyrical soloing. Ive listed someSwing Era Jazz musicians below. 2. hundreds of different melodies. African American theaters and night clubs, the Apollo, the Savoy, and the Lafayette, became legendary for presenting jazz combos and orchestras. here to see a YouTube clip on jazz improvisation). "Hot" Jazz, as improvised over standard blues patterns. hb```. @1&$3.YTyfx.=**hE+f|5SSz/=n/ innovators include pianist Dave BRUBECK Whiteman was educated in classical music, and he called his new band's music symphonic jazz. 1560 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<10C156E632F2BA46ADA9AD0651C7900F><95985AC68A5B3B44A7FED2E54018B539>]/Index[1554 17]/Info 1553 0 R/Length 52/Prev 145355/Root 1555 0 R/Size 1571/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream [7][8], Jazz ensembles numbering eight (octet), nine (nonet) or ten (tentet) voices are sometimes called "little big bands". The "Modern Popular Music" chart below, [3] They incorporated elements of Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, ragtime, and vaudeville. trombone. The embellishments gradually became more adventurous, but they were generally always played with the melody in mind. [37] As jazz migrated from its New Orleans origin to Chicago and New York City, energetic, suggestive dances traveled with it. "8-to-the-bar" rhythmic structure: (LONG-short-LONG-short-LONG-short-LONG-short), 1 2 - Jam Blues features a 12-bar blues pattern with each subsequent varied chorus Then circle the object of the preposition. 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). Bassists generally assumed the role of timekeeper, while drummers functioned in a dual capacity. This also contributed to the loose and spontaneous feel of KC Jazz. trombonist Glenn MILLER incorporated Trumpets A prominent feature of swing music is a leading brass section, which is often provided by a trumpet. grooves), - 1920s as a blending of blues, ragtime, and civic brass band traditions, then this He was also one [14][12][13] [15][16][17][18], Twenty-first century big bands can be considerably larger than their predecessors, exceeding 20 players, with some European bands using 29 instruments and some reaching 50. Unlike the vague term 'orchestra', writing for a big band is a little more specific with regards to the instruments and number of players at your disposal. As purely instrumental jazz of main line "crooners" such as Bing Ra's eclectic music was played by a roster of musicians from ten to thirty and was presented as theater, with costumes, dancers, and special effects.[1]. They had Count Basie, they had Benny Moten, they had George Lee, they had Junior Lee, they had Lester Young, they had Walter Brown., What I heard in that first nine-piece Basie band was the sort of free, swinging jazz that I have always preferred. [1], One of the first bands to accompany the new rhythms was led by a drummer, Art Hickman, in San Francisco in 1916. harmony, structure and instrumentation. Goodmans clarinet playing was a combination of great wit, precise musicianship, beautiful subtleties, and never-ending swing. Vocalists began to strike out on their own. "C" Jam Blues (1942). grooves, click Ella Fitzgerald, the featured vocalist of Chick Webbs Orchestra during the late 1930s, is considered to be one of the most outstanding singers of the swing era. the following instruments: In 1925, bandleader Paul Whiteman an improvisation: melody, harmony, and form. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
. [44], Although big bands are identified with the swing era, they continued to exist after those decades, though the music they played was often different from swing. Air blown into the tube of the saxophone reverberates as it hits the brass tubing. harmony, structure and instrumentation. saxophonist Gerry MULLIGAN (of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet 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. The swing style developed in the 1930s and continued to be popular throughout the 1940s and beyond as a distinctive genre. In the late 1940s, progressive Swing bands featured sections of trumpets, saxophones, and . Bandleaders dealt with these obstacles through rigid discipline (Glenn Miller) and canny psychology (Duke Ellington). Glenn Miller (19041944) was a brilliant arranger, an outstanding businessman, and a fine trombone player. These artists added new instrumentssuch as congas, other percussion instruments, timbales, maracas, and clavesand relied on powerful multi-rhythmic pulses to highlight jazz compositions within the big band as well as the small combo formats. The "white" bands of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Shep Fields and, later, Glenn Miller were more popular than their "black" counterparts from the middle of the decade. During the 1960s and '70s, Sun Ra and his Arketstra took big bands further out. is a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Black Studies and History, and former Chair of Black Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The popularity of their bands in the mainstream reveals the extent to which jazz and blues had become the most popular dance music of the 1930s and 1940s. (of the Dave Brubeck Quartet that also featured alto saxophonist Paul DESMOND), However, jazz continued its artistic evolution as swing became established around 1929. is called the ", The Among all the jazz vocalists that followed, most cite her as having the most influence on their scatting style. The piece Hotter Than That While all my lessons are free, if you find them useful please consider donating to help keep them coming. (Click But on performance day, this band of Lab rats replaces the high-tech gizmos with trumpets, saxophones, trombones, drums and a piano. Fitzgerald was unique in her ability to render exact imitations of nearly any instrument in the band. - trombones The invention of ______ helped the record industry to recover in the mid-1930s. But you also need to inject your style and personality into the music you make. Figure 2: Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis Up until that time, it was viewed with ridicule and looked upon as a curiosity. Whiteman started his first band in San Francisco in 1918 and his fame spread into the 1920s. And they played a particular type of Swing in Kansas City known as: Kansas City Jazz. Click here for a FREE preview of The Classic Swing Bands newest CD Ballroom Dance Favorites.. [4] While most big bands dropped the previously common jazz clarinet from their arrangements (other than the clarinet-led orchestras of Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman), many Duke Ellington songs had clarinet parts,[5] often replacing or doubling one of the tenor saxophone parts; more rarely, Ellington would substitute baritone sax for bass clarinet, such as in "Ase's Death" from Swinging Suites. West Side Story. Led by an African American woman, this 16-member band gained notoriety across the United States and in Europe, despite the challenge of imposed racial and gender restrictions. So generally the pianist played very rhythmically, and helped keep the beat. The trumpeter blows on the mouthpiece at one end of the trumpet with closed lips, and the sound wave reverberates through the tube until it exits out the widened far end of the instrument. II. 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. Packed with Ph.D.s, this scientific swing band performs a play list that leans heavily toward the heavens. So lets quickly take a look at all three genres: Lets dive into these characteristics of Swing Music a little deeper:
Ornette Coleman in the 1960s. [30], Some big ensembles, like King Oliver's, played music that was half-arranged, half-improvised, often relying on head arrangements. New York in the late 1920s. The invention of ______ helped the record industry to recover in the mid-1930s. He was a pianist, accompanist, and music director for blues singers, dancers, and comedians. The Music . As swing developed, the second player became responsible for most of the jazz solos. Apart from the star soloists, many musicians received low wages and would abandon the tour if bookings disappeared. Beacon, 2002. Three bypass valves over the tube can be used to lower the pitch of the trumpet. A. 1. Swing Shift: All Girl Bands of the 1940s. highly improvisatory style called Bebop,

swing bands featured sections of trumpets, saxophones, and 2023