Since everything has a start, the greatest way to explain something, for the slightest extent of misunderstanding, is to start at the very beginning. My question for the history books, is where did swing music originate? Upon further research I came to the conclusion that the United States is a relatively young country, and I decided to extend my question to take in the influence the world has had on the development of swing music in the United States. Swing can reasonably be referred to as an international project that was born in America.
It was not accomplished simply, quickly, or by one person but was the umulative efforts of many people from around the world with different pieces to offer to complete the puzzle that created swing. The main source that will be used to discuss “swing” includes When Swing was the Thing by John R. Tumpak. This book is perfect for this paper because it discusses the upsurge of swing and the famous bandleaders, that from 1929-1935, toiled to get swing widespread.
Another extremely declared source is Swingin’ the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture by Lewis A. Erenburg, this author does a great job of setting the Jazz ground work that began with the band eaders in the previous book that paved the way for swing to really take off. One of the lesser used sources in this paper includes that of Big Band Jazz in the Black West Virginia by Christopher Wilkinson. Author Christopher Wilkinson aids in adding more depth to the discussion, in that he brings other backgrounds into the picture to more fully develop the background of how music from around the world meshed as he brings the black heritage into the light of swing.
The final source used in reference to swing was entitled Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: Genres-North America, like the revious lesser source this too shed more light on the worlds inclusion in the genre of swing. Dictionary online was also used to define words and origins, but it is not an often cited source. Defining the words that made up the name of the specific type of music sheds light on the true understanding and origin of the name and music argued.
The word ‘swing’ is in fact a European term, it comes from both England and Germany and refers to a rhythm that gets people moving to jazz music Thus, swing refers to how the music is played not the style of music itself. Almost any kind of music around the world can swing. However, the emphasis of this question is on jazz swing. The term jazz is a combination of “English slang” and African that if the meaning were ever really known the word jazz may not be so commonly used. Jazz music has come to be known as a style of music written for bands in which each member has an opportunity for unarranged solo parts.
Big Band is the final term to be determined, it referrers to exactly what it says, a large band. From the very beginning it has been contested whether the style was to be called Big Band or Swing, but in the end both were used as one refers to the band and the other has become the tyle of dance that usually accompanies it. Often times the names are even combined and called Big Band Jazz Swing. Being that each word had a different origin all words were often used in the beginning when introducing the evening’s entertainment so as not to offend one group of people.
The elements that make up swing music were in existence long before what today is referred to as Big Band Jazz Swing. It took the establishment of a new country, the United States, for all of the ideas from different lands to immigrate to and then have those ideas fused together. Consequently, most of the elements of Jazz Swing are o bonded together that experts are unable trace them back to just one culture, race, country, or peoples; therefore, Swing has generally been known and accepted as a worldwide phenomenon born in America.
Roughly two hundred and thirty- nine years ago the process of integration of music from around the world began on the shores of the newly formed United States. However, since that is over two hundred years of history to cover this will start in 1935 when “swing” made its main debut in Los Angeles and kept on swinging right through World War II. Now 1946 is not the end of Swing it is just when it, so to speak, as put on the back burner. The era of Swing, in the public eye, began in 1935.
Many Big Bands of the time were attempting to make the music captivate the fans, especially black bands with leaders such as Duke Ellington who had made endeavors to bring jazz swing to the table. As a result, a bandleader by the name of Benny Goodman decided to start performing his jazz swing music to black communities and owing to their reaction to the music Goodman decided it was worth sharing with everyone else who would listen. It was not until Benny Goodman and his big hit band came through Los Angeles to perform at the
Palomar Ballroom playing their first jazz number with the swinging rhythm, leaving the crowd begging for more, that things took off for swing. Benny Goodman and his pioneering efforts for Big Bands and Swing got him named the “King of Swing”. Up until the 1940s swing had also been identified as Big Band Jazz but then the differentiation was made between “Big Band Swing” and “Western Swing” as “Urbanites” took over Big Band Swing and Hispanic populations from Texas took over forming what is now Western Swing.
Big Band Swing through its days kept more of the jazz side of things. Bandleaders began ooking to African-American arrangers, their instrumental styles, and uses of the instruments as a way of keeping the audience demanded jazz-oriented dance music. ” As the audience for Big Band swing continued growing, so did the diversity of the audience, including blacks, whites, and even European immigrants so as different cultures came together Big Band Swing kept getting tweaked with each cultural addition. “Overall the many different avenues of black, Latin, White, American, and European” music influences began to merge when Swing in the form of Big Band Jazz Swing hit its highest point.
At the innacle of popularity, Jazz Swing was known as the “proper” gone “primitive” and was thought to be for the youth of the times as the tempo of the music started speeding up to match the speed of time. Observers that followed the path left by the “wake” of Benny Goodman observed that because of his work with adding the swing to jazz, jazz itself became the biggest hit with the youth as they got a real introduction to it. In the observation of Swing performances spectators often commented that swing brought on the most hysterical jubilant reactions by crowds ever beheld on the American mainland.
These jubilant reactions were to the swing rhythm that can be traced back to the jungle chants of descendants of Africans. Swing kept the country going as it tied people from many different races, and cultural backgrounds together. Even as World War II came about, swing continued its motivation in the lives of people such as Glenn Miller and President Roosevelt. “Roosevelt envisioned music helping to “promote tolerance of minority groups in our midst by showing their cultural contributions to our American life. ” When Miller was drafted and worked his way to becoming an Air Force Captain, Miller as made a band leader over the Air Force band.
Miller decided that swing music was what the band should play because he believed that it embodied the American values. Following the example of Captain Miller other branches of the military such as “Artie Shaw” and the “Navy Swing Band”, “Sam Donahue’s” “Navy Swing Band”, and “Bob Crosby” and the “Marine Swing Band” sprang up and aided in taking the popular music from the household to the battlefront as a “vital measure of the war. ” Big Band Swing Jazz, is not a style of music that came about overnight or by the efforts of one person but rather it is an ccumulation of the works of many.
Each technique that makes up the style was carefully shaped and preserved, then brought to America by someone looking to be able to be free to then share that technique with others. Due to the work of many, those techniques turned into swing music that all could enjoy. Swing even earned its place as “true American music” that could entertain the youth and adults alike. Swing can reasonably be referred to as an international project that was born in America. Its main debut ran from 1935-1946 but it has been revived in later years and continues to be known as Americas’ music.
