Swing bands have how many players

Swing grew out of New Orleans Jazz and the evolved into Bebop. So lets quickly take a look at all three genres:. Another interesting and important development happened with Swing improvisation. The embellishments gradually became more adventurous, but they were generally always played with the melody in mind. Then, during the Swing Era, the sax player Coleman Hawkins changed the way jazz approached improvisation from melody to harmony horizontal to vertical. This approach was then further expanded upon by Bebop, which largely abandoned the original melody of the song to create brand new melodies based on an established chord progression — this was known as a contrafact.

In the early years of Jazz, and up until the Swing Era, the piano was still very much rooted in the rhythm section of the band. So generally the pianist played very rhythmically, and helped keep the beat. Some of the Piano techniques employed during the Swing Era were:. As the name of that sound suggests, Count Basie played in Kansas City.

Exposure to the music made it more desirable and record sales increased. Swing was everywhere. By the number of radio stations had grown faster than the availability of live variety acts.

The result was a greater need for recorded content. Radio stations responded with music programs based entirely on playing prerecorded discs with introductions and follow-up trivia to support the music and artists of the day. The role of the Disc Jockey was born, though the term would not be coined until around During the early s radio stations had sternly held to a policy discouraging the use of recordings in network broadcasts.

Priorities evolve with the reality of need and the marketplace. The trial was broadcast on network radio and the new format found an eager and appreciative audience. These record jockeys, as they were called, were soon entertaining listeners with discs all over the country.

The stations had engineered a way to profit from advertising, but not much, if any, or the revenue was getting back to the musicians. These questions and disagreements would fester and grow over the next 10 years.

Swing jazz in the big band format was growing in popularity with college kids. The Casa Loma Orchestra was a favorite at Yale. Kids were searching for an identity and excitement. Swing jazz felt like it belonged to them. His was the final of several music features of each night making it a late broadcast on the East Coast. They were too late for most high school and college students who needed to be up early for school. The U. It was not terribly successful until he hit the West Coast.

The 3-hour time difference of his live broadcasts, between New York and Los Angeles, had enabled school-aged kids out West to hear the nightly broadcasts. They were familiar with the music and eager to meet the band bringing them this new music.

Although Oakland turnouts were good and the crowds enthusiastic, the band was not expecting what they found at the Palomar. What appeared to be the end of the tour for the Benny Goodman Big Band suddenly changed with the kids that night.

When the kids heard the band launch into a hot swing number, they surged forward, crowding the bandstand and cheering. Magazines like Down Beat and Metronome printed more articles about their swing music. Jazz in the form of big band swing was now beginning to sweep the nation. Jukeboxes were everywhere, kids were dancing, record jockeys were spinning discs and talking them up and the public appetite seemed inexhaustible.

By , the tension between the radio industry and the musicians union had increased to the breaking point. The recording and radio industry were showing signs of extravagant wealth but the musicians were not. The musicians, authors and composers felt that they had created the wealth for the radio and recording industries and deserved a piece of the action. By Mike Levin.

Prexy Petrillo has not backed down by his claim that recording was ruining the jobs of 60 percent of the AFM membership and that he meant to do something about it. Petrillo has shifted his position as to the sale of records.

He had previously told the companies that they could record for home and Army use, but when it was pointed out to him that the companies would be violating the law if they tried to regulate who bought their records, Petrillo made the edict a complete stoppage. The country was at war and needed the upbeat sounds of the big bands. Times were hard: there was a scarcity of shellac making it difficult to manufacture the discs.

Rubber and gasoline rationing made it difficult for bands to travel. Records were more important to a music-loving public than ever.

Petrillo and the AFM were unprepared to articulate their rationale for why, especially at this particular point in time, they wanted more money. It was poor political timing. This would go back and forth a number of times. The Swing Era. Cultural Implications of Swing. Student Handout. Test Bank. Answer Key.