History Of The Big Band Era
Jimmie Lunceford’s big band at the height of the Swing era employed a beat that was simultaneously 2/4 and 4/4. The Bob Crosby Orchestra and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra also featured two-beat rhythms long after four-beat rhythm became the standard. The Big Band Era – The Swing Era. The Big Band era is generally regarded as having occurred between 1935 and 1945. It was the only time in American musical history that the popularity of jazz eclipsed all other forms of music. To many, the appearance of Benny Goodman and his Big Band at the Palomar in Los Angeles in August of 1935 was the start of the Swing Era.
The Origins Of Big Band Musicby, 1994The Jazz music of the Big Band Era was the culmination ofover thirty years of musical development. What is it that madeJazz so innovative and different that it could literally sweepthe world, changing the musical styles of nearly every country?And what is it about big band Jazz that makes the feet tap andthe heart race with excitement?African Music and RagtimeThe musical and cultural revolution that brought about Jazz was a direct result of African-Americans pursuing careers in the arts following the American Civil War. As slaves, African-Americans had learned few European cultural traditions. With increased freedom to pursue careers in the arts and bringing African artistic traditions to their work, African-Americans changed music and dance, not only in the U.S., but all over the world. For after the war, African-American dancers and musicians were able to create work that was not hidebound by hundreds of years of musical and dance traditions brought from the courts and peasant villages of Europe.What was the European tradition?
European music throughthe nineteenth century was melodically based, much of it with asquare or waltz rhythmic structure.What was the African tradition? Much African music has anorganization which is based around rhythm and accent, rhythmsand accents that may actually shift and move in relation to eachother as the music progresses.The big change that took place in music rhythmically was the shift away from the Ooom-pah-Ooom-pah (1-2-3-4) rhythmic structure. Ooom-pah has a strong accent on '1.' African musical tradition tends to count towards the accented beat so that an African may count 2 on the same beat a European would count 1.
It is also typical of West African music to have rhythms of different lengths overlaid each other, creating shifting accents. Which is to say that by the late 1920's African-American Jazz music had developed a tradition where musicians put a strong rhythmic accent on '2' and '4' (oom-PAH-oom-PAH) and melodic accents anywhere BUT on '1.' RagtimeThe first popular musical trend in the United States produced by this African-European synthesis was Ragtime which first achieved popularity in the late 19th century. Ragtime musicians often used what are called 'ragged' rhythms.Ragged rhythms were African-influenced rhythms, syncopatedso that the accent was 'off' the beat (the first beat is 'on' or'down').
Ragtime musicians also occasionally used what werecalled 'blue' harmonies and notes. Blue harmonies and notesused notes that didn't fit into the European concept of melodyor harmony. Some of the notes don't even exist in Europeanmusical scales - these notes fit 'between the cracks,' aspeople sometimes said.New Orleans and Jazz OriginsThe New Orleans bands of the late 19th century from whichBig Bands evolved were varied. Some were social bands thatplayed popular songs and music for dancing; some played marchesand rags for weekend picnics and parties. Others specialized intheir own variations on work and blues songs.Big Band Jazz, according to one historian, had its start in New Orleans in 1898 at the end of the Spanish-American war.
Military bands returned to the port to decommission, flooding the city with used band instruments. And African-Americans interested in music quickly bought up hundreds of these instruments and quickly began to form bands. Starting from square one, aspiring African-American musicians taught themselves to play.This had two results: unconventional playing techniques andunconventional rendering of popular musical tunes. The playingtechniques led to new and interesting sounds entering musicians'vocabulary: trumpet and trombone growling sounds, wah-wahsounds, the use of odd household objects as mutes, and others.The unconventional rendering of popular musical tunes led toJazz. An African-American playing a popular tune would play itadding some African musical traditions: different musical scales(which became traditional in nineteenth century African-American'blues' music) and different and complex rhythms.Not bound by European traditions of form, these early Jazzbands played music that was, to put it mildly, looselystructured. A soloist or an instrumental section of the bandplayed the melody (as they interpreted it) and the remainingmusicians improvised the harmony and rhythmic embellishments.Many Jazz bands 'arranged' their music by rehearsing it by 'ear'many times until all the musicians were in agreement about whatwent where, when. These Jazz bands often changed personnel,sometimes on a weekly basis.
This frequent changing also helpedthe evolution of Jazz, preventing bands from becoming hideboundand determined to have a particular style or sound. On into the1930's change was the watchword of Jazz.Jazz Enters the MainstreamAs New Orleans progressed into the 20th century,traditional band music gradually changed, so that marchessometimes contained improvised sections, and solos andaccompaniments sometimes sported occasional blue notes.Elsewhere in society it was not even unusual for conventionalpopular songs to display a few ragged 'Jazz' rhythms!But not for the first time, these musicians dreamed of fame and fortune. Fame and fortune was something which eluded many African-American musicians and bands due to institutionalized racism in the music industry and society at large.
It was not uncommon for a African-American Jazz band to record a tune to no acclaim, have a record promoter pay little or no money for rights to the tune, and then for that tune to be issued by a White band to national promotion and great acclaim. Enter radio and the recording industry into the world of Jazz.The First 'Jazz' RecordingsThe first 'Jazz' record, coupled with was made in 1917 by a White bandfrom New Orleans called. The band was one of the first to bring the New Orleans style of Jazz to New York. After a music agent heard them in Chicago he brought them to New York, where, within weeks, they were a sensation. Soon after their first recording Victor records signed them for several more. The music recorded by the band was nearly conventional with no blue notes and only a smattering of ragged rhythms. Nonetheless, the record sold over one million copies and had a profound effect on musicians and the public all over the U.S.The First African American Jazz RecordingAs Jazz proliferated, many New Orleans-based bands beganspreading out across the country, playing in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or hitting the smaller towns on the T.O.B.A.
Big Band Orchestration
Vaudeville curcuit. The first Jazz record by an African Americans, was byband recording under the name of. The songs ' and ' were recorded in Los Angeles in 1922. After 1923 the flood gates were open and African-American Jazz became widely recorded. Early stars included other New Orleans musicians likeand,a Creole musician who, in the early 1920's,recorded over a hundred of his own and other's Jazz tunes. Some of the records are solo piano,but many are of with his band the.These early releases were great hits and record companiesbegan recording nearly anyone who even claimed to be a Jazzmusician.
With records coming out by the hundreds, thousands ofyoung people across the U.S. Decided they wanted to be 'Jazz'musicians. The Jazz music boom had begun.But the enthusiasm for Jazz was not shared by everyone.
Many in White middle America were concerned, and magazine and newspaper articles decrying the influence of African-American music on society and the scandalous behavior, including dancing, it supposedly led to were not uncommon. But the social outcry had little effect. Jazz had arrived and it was going nowhere but up!The Roaring 20's andAs a decade of rebellion the Roaring 20's was made forJazz. The young and the hip delighted in anything that was newand exciting. The more staid and uptight members of societythought Jazz decadent and amoral which gave Jazz, for some,extra appeal. But the exciting new rhythms and harmonies wereultimately the irresistible force behind society's acceptance ofJazz.The first bandleader to achieve national notoriety waswho formed a band in the early 1920's.Originally his band was a dance band, playing waltzes andfoxtrots. Over the course of a few years Jazz rhythms and bluenotes became more and more prominent in the band's music.
Big Band Era
Bythe time the band took over at Roseland Ballroom and featuredon trumpet, it had become a Jazz band.In 1928 lost his arranger and he tried his ownhand at creating the band's charts. It turned out thatwas not only an excellent arranger, but he was essentially thefirst to arrange music in the style we now describe as 'bigband.' , a formally trained musician, also formedhis band in the 1920's, again as a dance band. The arrival ofan innovative trumpeter named and a talentedsaxophonist named exerted a profound influence onthe, gradually helping to change the band intoa remarkably creative Jazz big band.developed a style that included a lot of bluenotes, growling sounds and effects that attracted a lot ofattention to the band. Only stayed with the band for ashort time, but he had a strong feeling for Jazz, giving theband not only a sense for the mechanics but also for Jazzphrasing. Described as the 'epitome of Jazz.' One other well-known and well-loved band in NYC at thistime was Chick Webb's.
History Of The Big Band Era 2017
The band started in the mid-1920's andbecame a regular band at the Savoy, which opened in 1926. Itwas Chick Webb's band at the Savoy that won several famous'battles of the bands', most notably with Count Basie and BennyGoodman. (And, in 1934, it was Webb that gave Ella Fitzgeraldher start in the music business.)Most of New York's Jazz clubs were in Harlem, and in1925-26 there appeared several popular plays and a book whichportrayed Harlem as the happening place in NYC. As a result,downtowners and tourists streamed into Harlem to see thiscolorful neighborhood, and the nightlife took off.It was at this time that a great number of now-famousclubs opened. The Savoy (Chick Webb's regular gig) and theCotton Club ( regular gig) were two of these clubs.
The good thing about the many new clubs was it gave employment to many African-American musicians and variety artists. Although the Savoy was integrated, it was nearly alone in that respect; most other clubs were segregated.
The End of the Swing Era The swing era was killed by a number of factors, World War 2 being one of them.Although swing music was popular among the sailors and soldiers off at war,the war drafted many of the band members forcing the remainder of the band to hire unskilled performers.Glenn Miller broke up his band and joined the Army Air Corpse(which later split from the Army to become the Air Force)where Glenn Miller was lost.