Feature: Swing Special
This edition, The Gig Guide is looking at the Swing scene (the
music that is!), from it’s roots to how it fits in alongside today’s
greats.
History of Swing
Back in the 1920’s & 30’s, the dance form of Jazz was
very popular and focussed on sweet melodies
accompanied by romantic string orchestra
arrangements. During the
early 30’s, artists started
appearing who wanted to
change the style and
break-out with more livelier
styles. They experimented
with smaller orchestra’s,
cutting out the slower string
sections and began to
improvise more with the Glenn Miller
music, creating a distinctively different sound that was ‘edgier’ with
strong horn and wind sections dominating through the music. This
new style of arrangement was given a
Bing Crosby name and thus, ‘Swing Rhythm’ was
born. It is this rhythm with it’s shift from a two-beat, towards a
four-beat feel that developed into what was defined as ‘Swing
music’, popular between the late 30’s and 40’s. Swing music itself
died away by the end of the 1940’s, but gave way to artists who
incorporated it’s style into others, creating their own blend but
keeping the feel of Swing alive. Crooners such as Bing Crosby &
Frank Sinatra grew from the basics of swing and Sinatra kept the
swing-band feel through-out his career, being possibly the first
name people will think of today if asked about the origins of the
music. Other notable artists who incorporated the feel into the
popular Rock ‘n’ Roll Style of music include Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck
Berry and Elvis Presley.
Nat King Cole
Tommy Dorsey Louis Armstrong Frank Sinatra
The late 1990’s saw a comeback for the style with a swing revival, which is still growing
today and the early 2000’s saw Michael Bublé reignite the public’s admiration of the smartly
dressed crooner, with his own uniquely modern style.
Artist profiles overleaf...
The Gig Guide | September/October | p9
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