Week Six
Introduction to “The Swing
Era”
Early 1930’s through the mid 1940’s. Also called the “big band era”
Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Glen Miller were household names 1930’s-40’s.
Sweet verses Hot bands?
Swing verses early jazz (G,55,56):
.Attracted millions of dancers
.Played/performed in large concert halls/ballrooms
.Preference for large ensembles (big band) rather than combo
.Greater reliance on written arrangements (number of musicians)
.Saxophone emerges as the leading instrument
.String bass replaces tuba, guitar replaces banjo
.Hi-hat cymbals were used more as the “back-line” smoothed its feel for dancers
.Collective improvisation is rare. Premier soloists begin to arise
.Overall rhythmic feeling was smoother. (Rhythm section)
.Swing musicians usually showed a higher level of instrumental proficiency in terms of speed, agility, tone control, and playing in tune.
Big Band Instrumentation (G,56-57)
4 trumpets (Demonstration CD track 59)
4 Trombones (D,76)
5 saxophones
-Soprano saxophone (D,70)
-Alto saxophone (D,72)
-Tenor saxophone (D,73)
-Baritone saxophone (D,74)
4 rhythm = Rhythm section (G,59)
-Rhythm Guitar (D,88) (each beat)
-Piano (stride or chord on every beat or every other beat)
-Bass (two beat and walking style)
-Drum set
Basic big band arrangement (G, 58):
1. Melody-in played by the entire band in unison or in harmony
2. Jazz improvisation (solos) (accompanied by rhythm section and or background figures from other horns-riffs)
-Roles of brass and saxophones were compartmentalized in nature i.e.
.Melody passed around. Foreground roles (instruments) become backgound material (instruments) and visa versa (back and forth) (call and response)
3. Melody-out may be same as melody in or slightly different variation
4. Coda – short extended ending
Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra “Wrappin’ It Up” (1934)
3 tpts, 2tbns, 4saxes/cl, 4rhythm
32 measures ABAC = ABAC
8,8/8,8
16/16
1. Introduction – call-and response (brass/saxophones)
2. Opening chorus (32 measures) – saxophone/brass independently and together
3. Alto solo = foreground, muted brass = background accompaniment
4. Trumpet solo w/saxophones/brass
5. Climactic final chorus = exchanges between woodwinds and brass, finally everyone together
Prominent Swing Soloists:
Coleman Hawkins (tenor saxophone) (G, 61)
-Considered to be the first important jazz tenor saxophonist
-In the 1920’s saxophone was considered a novelty-Hawkins’ supercharged playing on it brought recognition to the horn.
-His command of the instrument and his deep, husky tone became the model
-tenor sax became one of the most popular instruments in jazz
His approach to improvisation:
-Harmonic improviser verses a melodic improviser
Meaning?:
.Vertical improviser verses horizontal improviser
(up and down) (across,
thematic oriented)
(arpeggios)
“Body and Soul”
Benny Goodman Trio (1935) featuring:
Goodman – Clarinet
Teddy Wilson – piano
“Body and Soul”
Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra (1939) featuring:
Coleman Hawkins – Tenor Saxophone
*Located on your Jazz Classics CD* (track 24)
-2-
Lester Young (tenor saxophone) (G,66-67)
-Nicknamed “Pres” or “Prez” short for president of tenor saxophonist
-His style served as a model for modern jazz saxophonists
-Inspired “cool jazz”
-His style influenced trumpeters and guitarist as well as saxophonists
Style characteristics:
-Horizontal lines
-His lines were fresher and more smoothly swinging than those of any previous improvisers
-Paved the way for modern saxophone tone color, vibrato, rhythmic conception, and phrasing
-He offered a clear alternative
to the heavy tone, fast vibrato, and complicated style of Coleman Hawkins
-His gift for inventing new,
easily singable melodies while he improvised is
unsurpassed in jazz history
Coleman Hawkins (vertical approach) Lester Young (horizontal approach)
Accented hard and often on main beats Tended to accent off-beats and lightly stress portions of beats that made his lines swing with ease.
Improvisations quite harmonically
sophisticated and intricate Not as intricate as Hawkins but his melodic ideas were certainly as advanced.
*Jazz Classics CD*
- Lester Young
“Taxi War Dance” (1939) Track 13
“Back in Your Own Back Yard” (1938) Track 20 (G, 70-71)
-3-
Roy Eldridge (trumpet) (G, 60)
-One of the most advanced improvisers of the swing era
-Often considered a link between swing and modern jazz
-Possessed fiery, aggressive style and unprecedented mastery over the trumpet
-His imaginative choice of notes an sax-like lines bridged the gap between the style of Louis Armstrong and the modern approach pioneered by Dizzy Gillespie
-He demonstrated that long seamless lines were possible on trumpet. These lines are fairly easy to execute on saxophone but typically do not lend themselves to the mechanics of the trumpet.
-He influenced modern trumpeters to cultimate greater instrumental facility and to improvise in more intricate and unpredictable ways than their early jazz counter parts
*Bristling high-register work
*Unorthodox choice of notes
*Saxophone style of phrasing.
Gene Krupa
and His Orchestra “Rockin’ Chair” (1941) featuring Roy
Eldridge
Art Tatum (pianist) (G, 74)
-Among the most widely admired pianists in jazz history
-Often employed stride-style in his left hand with horn-like lines in his right hand.
-Flowery, long, fast runs which sometimes overlapped each other.
-Master at spontaneously adding and changing chords during his performances of pop tunes (chord substitution)
-Extremely harmonically/rhythmically sophisticated. Able to manipulate harmony and rhythm at will “on a dime”.
-Influenced countless of jazz pianist. Transitional figure to BeBop
*Jazz Classics CD*
“Tiger Rag” (track 21)