Chapter 6
“In the Mood” :
The Swing Era, 1935-1945
Chapter 6 (outline)
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Swing Music and American Culture
Benny Goodman: “The King of Swing”
Duke Ellington in the Swing Era
Kansas City Swing: Count Basie
Superstar of Swing: Glenn Miller
Country Music in the Swing Era: Roy Acuff,
Singing Cowboys, and Western Swing
• Latin Music in the Swing Era
• ASCAP, the AFM, and the Decline of the Big
Bands
Fletcher Henderson
(1898-1952)
• 1st important arranger
• Use of instrumental groups
(“sections”)
• Call and response
• “Riffing”
• Limited solos
• EX.
- Fletcher Henderson Wrappin' It Up
(Textbook LG, p 161-3)
Benny Goodman (1909-1986)
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Chicago, Russian immigrant family
To NYC (freelance)
“Let’s Dance” (Nabisco, 1934)
Henderson Arrangements
1935 National Tour (a bust?)
Palomar Ballroom (LA)!
“The King of Swing”
Carnegie Hall 1938
•Exs. YouTube
- Benny Goodman - Wrappin' It
Up - YouTube
- Benny Goodman - King Porter
Stomp - YouTube
- Don't Be That Way-by Benny
Goodman - YouTube
- Sing Sing Sing - Carnegie Hall
1938
- "Taking a Chance on Love"
Benny Goodman and Helen
Forrest – YouTube
(Textbook LG, p. 166-7)
Chick Webb (1905-1939)
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Born Baltimore
To NYC 1922
House band at Savoy
“Battle of the Bands”
(“Cutting Contests”)
• Defeats Goodman (1937),
“ties” Basie (1938)
• “THE (real) King of Swing”
• Exs.
- Chick Webb - STOMPIN' AT THE
SAVOY – YouTube
- Chick Webb and His Orchestra /
Harlem Congo – YouTube
- St. Louis Blues - Ella Fitzgerald &
Chick Webb at the Savoy Ballroom. YouTube
Big Bands & the Blues
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12-Bar Blues (3 4-measure phrases)
“riffing”
“head charts”
Emphasis on rhythmic drive (4 strong beats)
Influenced by “Boogie Woogie” piano
Most prominent in Kansas City and
Southwest “Territories”
“Boogie Woogie”
• Piano Blues – as early as 1870s (?), emerged in 1920s
• Rural South and especially the Southwest
(Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri)
• Barrelhouses, “Juke Joints” (Af-Am, very rowdy, etc.)
“…like the left hand of God…”
• Riffing (short, repeated patterns)
• Clarence “Pine Top” Smith (1904-1929)
“Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie” (1928) [1st published use of term]
Ex. pinetop's boogie woogie 1928 - YouTube
• Albert Ammons (1907-1949), Chicago
“Boogie Woogie Stomp”
Ex. Boogie Woogie Stomp - Albert Ammons - YouTube
• Meade “Lux” Lewis (1905-1964), Chicago
“Honky Tonk Train Blues”
Exs. HONKY TONK TRAIN BLUES - Meade Lux Lewis – YouTube
- Keith Emerson & Oscar Peterson - Honky Tonky Train Blues - YouTube
• Pete Johnson (1904-1967), Kansas City
“Roll ‘em Pete” (w/ Big Joe Turner) (1938)
Ex. Joe Turner and Pete Johnson - Roll 'Em Pete
“Territory Bands”
• Kansas City and the Southwest
• 12-bar Blues forms, 4 strong beats, faster tempo
• Walter Page and Blue Devils (Oklahoma City-Wichita)
“Squabblin’” (1930?)
Ex. Squabblin’
• Bennie Moten (Kansas City)
“Moten Swing” (1933)
Ex. Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra - Moten's Swing (Moten Swing)
Victor 23384 1933 - YouTube
• Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy
(Dallas, then Kansas City)
“Take It and Git” (First # 1 on Harlem Hit Parade, 1942)
Ex. Andy Kirk And His Twelve Clouds Of Joy-Take It And Git (Decca 4366) YouTube
William “Count” Basie (1904-84)
Exs
Shoe Shine Boy (w/ Lester Young)
JONES-SMITH INC. (COUNT
BASIE) SHOE SHINE BOY
78RPM - YouTube
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Local NJ piano, organ player
Harlem “stride” piano
Touring (stuck in KC)
Bennie Moten’s Band (1929-35)
Forms own band (1935-36)
Heard by John Hammond
Brought to NYC
Battles Chick Webb’s band to “tie”
House Band at Famous Door
The leading “swing band” after 1938
(Textbook LG, p. 172-3)
One O’Clock Jump (“Blue Balls”)
One O'Clock Jump - Count Basie – YouTube
Glenn Miller
(1904-1944?)
• Most successful band
(commercial, 1939-44)
• Disciplined arrangements
• Lost in WW II
• Exs.
- Glenn Miller & His Orchestra Moonlight Serenade
(GM’s theme song)
- Glenn Miller - Chattanooga Choo
Choo - Sun Valley Serenade (1941)
HQ – YouTube
- Glenn Miller - In The Mood [HQ] –
YouTube (textbook, p. 173-4)