Week 4 Swing, Crooners, and Cowboys

Question 1

The Swing Era 1935-1945

Swing’s origins, Aesthetics

Answer 1

• Developed in 1920s by black dance bands in NY, Chicago, and Kansas City
• 1935 music industry uses the term to define a genre
• Energetic, optimistic, forward-looking music
  = Aesthetically slick; large chrome and glass dance halls, bands wore uniforms, looked sophisticated
  Illusion of affluent lifestyle at a time where few were actually affluent; form of escapism

Question 2

Swing Music and American Culture

Duke Ellington

Answer 2

• Started in the early jazz era
• 1927: 10 piece band
• 1941: fuller, 15 piece band
• By the swing era he was already losing out to newer bands with the young crows
• Continued exploring “sonic textures, colors, and moods and absorbing and extending the creative gifts of his talented musicians” which limited his appeal

Question 3

Swing Music and American Culture

Benny Goodman

Answer 3

• Was from a working class jewish immigrant family
• Early popularizer of swing radio appearances
• Used fletcher henderson’s arrangements, but played with neatness, smoothness, and self control
• Appealed to white, middle class audience , the target of record companies and sponsors (cultural translator)

Question 4

Swing Music and American Culture

moral panic, White access

Answer 4

Moral panic about ‘jitterbugging’ echoes ragtime dance panic of 1910s