Swing Music
The common individual in all probability thinks of Swing music if you say the phrase “jazz,” and for good purpose. Swing was very talked-about. Within the 1930s, it was the preferred music. Massive Bands, which have been massive orchestras with trumpets, saxophones, trombones, and a rhythm part, performed it more often than not (which consisted of the drums, bass, guitar and piano). They usually performed music for dancing. Swing music is dance music above all else, which suggests it was:
Simple to know, with clear melodies and a powerful beat.
This additionally meant that it was very talked-about.
Swing is between two crucial occasions in historical past. The Nice Despair, which started when the inventory market crashed in 1929, and World Warfare II, which lasted from 1939 to 1945. So, the Swing Period occurred through the Despair. It was a form of protest in opposition to the unemployment and distress that the Despair led to. It gave folks a break from the day by day grind of life.
Evolution: Swing got here from New Orleans jazz, and Bebop was the following step. So let’s look rapidly in any respect three sorts:
A part of New Orleans within the 1910s
Swing (1930’s)
Bebop (1940’s)
Dimension
Small quantity
Massive Band
Small quantity
Texture
Polyphonic
Homophonic
Homophonic sImprovisation
Collective Improvisation
Single Soloist
Single Soloist
Concord
Concord Made Simple
Easy concord or advanced concord? Rhythm with a two-beat really feel or a flat-four really feel?
Backbeat
Backbeat
Sound Chaotic Driving Rhythm
Complicated and angular
What makes up swing music?
Let’s look extra intently at these items that make swing music what it’s:
As I mentioned earlier than, Massive Bands play Swing music. Swing put extra emphasis on written-out compositions and preparations due to this. So band leaders used numerous association methods to maintain the track fascinating, reminiscent of:
Tutti (all horns enjoying a melodic line in concord) (all horns enjoying a melodic line in concord)
Soli (one part featured enjoying a melodic line in concord) (one part featured enjoying a melodic line in concord)
Yell Refrain (climatic tutti part on the finish of the association)
Riffs are quick melodic and/or rhythmic patterns which can be repeated.
Bluesy Riffs
Riffs that commute (usually between the horns and the rhythm part)
Solos (single individual improvising – often behind a comparatively easy harmonic background) (single individual improvising – often behind a comparatively easy harmonic background)
Swing Music was easy, easy-listening and easy Concord: Swing used easy chords and had a transparent homophonic texture
Melody: Swing had clear, lyrical and memorable melodies
Rhythm: Swing had a strong beat with a powerful dance groove. And, after all, it swung
Swing was virtually fully industrial and a part of the mass leisure trade. It was all about showmanship – which is epitomised by folks like Cab Calloway and Fat Waller.
Sizzling vs Candy
And there have been additionally 2 totally different kinds of Swing music.
”Candy” Swing (folks like Glenn Miller) – had much less improvisation, was a bit slower, restrained with a slight swing really feel, and was for the white higher class dinner events.
“Sizzling” Swing (folks like Duke Ellington) – was extra daring, experimental, quicker, with longer improvisations, stronger rhythmic drive, and a tough blues feeling.
Vertical Improvisation
One other fascinating and vital improvement occurred with Swing improvisation. Up till the Swing Period ‘improvisation’ was primarily simply enjoying the melody with some elaborations. The elaborations step by step turned extra adventurous, however they have been typically all the time performed with the melody in thoughts. Then, through the Swing Period, the sax participant Coleman Hawkins modified the best way jazz approached improvisation from melody to concord (horizontal to vertical). As a substitute of simply embellishing the melody, he created a complete new melody based mostly on the track’s concord by arpeggiating the chords and including additional chord alterations and substitutions to make his solo extra advanced. This method was then additional expanded upon by Bebop, which largely deserted the unique melody of the track to create model new melodies based mostly on a longtime chord development – this was referred to as a contrafact.
Swing Piano
Within the early years of Jazz, and up till the Swing Period, the piano was nonetheless very a lot rooted within the rhythm part of the band. So typically the pianist performed very rhythmically, and helped hold the beat. For that reason the pianist’s left hand typically simply performed chords on the beat; whereas his proper hand constructed rhythmic patterns round chords and chord tone, and particularly information tone – usually simply enjoying arpeggios or easy bluesy licks. A few of the Piano methods employed through the Swing Period have been:
Left Hand = regular on-the-beat rhythm (Pumping)
Stride Tenths & Tenth
Strolling basslines
Strolling 10ths
Three handed impact
Strumming
Rolling Bass
Damaged Tenths
Ostinato (Boogie-woogie)
Proper Hand = Chordal (Chords, Arpeggio)
Rhythmic chord based mostly patterns
Embellished arpeggios
Embellished melody
Easy riffs
Outlining chord development
A great instance of that is the Rely Basie track Kansas Metropolis Keys.
Swing Music
Kansas Metropolis Jazz
Because the title of that sound suggests, Rely Basie performed in Kansas Metropolis. They usually performed a specific kind of Swing in Kansas Metropolis referred to as: Kansas Metropolis Jazz. KC Jazz is characterised by:
Prolonged soloing
Heavy swing rhythm Bluesy really feel (usually utilizing a 12 Bar Blues construction)
Songs that have been based mostly and structured round riffs
As the point of interest of the track;
Performed behind soloists; or
Enjoying a number of riffs enjoying without delay as a form of name and response.
And since KC Jazz songs have been riff based mostly, they have been usually performed from reminiscence by the band (somewhat than from sheet music). And that is the place the time period ‘head’ comes from, that means the unique melody of the track – that’s, it’s all in your head, not written down on paper. This additionally contributed to the free and spontaneous really feel of KC Jazz. KC Jazz marked the transition from the closely structured, organized and written out Massive Band type of Swing to the extra fluid and improvisation type of Bebop.
Have a Take heed to
I’ve listed some Swing Period Jazz musicians under. Verify them out, although I’m certain you’ll already recognise a lot of them.
Fletcher Henderson Cab Calloway
Benny Goodman
Fletcher Henderson
Artie Shaw
Jimmie Lunceford Cab Calloway
Glenn Miller
Roy Eldridge
Coleman Hawkins Lester Younger
Ella Fitzgerald
Fat Waller
Teddy Wilson
Artwork Tatum
Nat “King” Cole
Erroll Garner
Rely Basie
Duke Ellington
