The History Book Club discussion

This is the thread that we are setting up for the musical genre: Swing.

Swing is still alive, if not in the limelinght.

For some great swing and great swing vocals check out the singer Rebecca Kilgore.

http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...

http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/...

http://www.artsjournal.com/rifftides/...

http://www.google.com/search?q=rebecc...

I want to be Happy Newport All Stars 1989

George Wein - Piano
Eddie Jones - Bass
Grey Seargent - Guitar
Oliver Jackson - Drums
Norris Turney - Alto Sax
Rickey Ford - Tenor Sax
Scott Hamilton - Tenor Sax
Warren Vaché - Cornet

What is this Thing called Love Warren Vache 2001

Things are swingin' at Rifftides with Brown, Green. and Hamilton

Swing in the 21st century by the incomparable Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. I really like this group and their take on the swing music of the 1940s.

Mr. Pinstripe Suit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6ICYb...

The Squirrel Nut Zippers

The Squirrel Nut Zippers are a band formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina by James "Jimbo" Mathus (vocals and guitar), Katharine Whalen (vocals, banjo, and ukulele), Chris Phillips on drums, Don Raleigh on bass and sideman Ken Mosher.

While the band's eclectic fusion of Delta blues, gypsy jazz, 1930s-era swing, klezmer, and other styles makes them hard to categorize, their unique music found a niche in the late 1990s, when the band met with national recognition and commercial success, sometimes associated with the Swing Revival of the same period. They found their greatest success with the 1996 single "Hell", penned by Tom Maxwell.

After a hiatus of several years, the original band members reunited and took to the stage again in 2007, playing select dates around the United States and Canada through 2008.

Put a Lid On It by the Squirrel Nut Zippers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdAt4q...

Swing is sometimes hard to pinpoint. It started out as "swing jazz", then became "swing", although a lot of it is just known as "big band music". Below is a link to a compilation of artists and their interpretation of swing. Call it whatever you want, it will get your feet dancing!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGq-eC...

Cherry Poppin' Daddies

The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are an American band established in Eugene, Oregon in 1989. Formed by singer Steve Perry and bassist Dan Schmid, the band has experienced many membership changes over the years, with only Perry, Schmid and trumpeter Dana Heitman currently remaining from the founding line-up.

The Daddies' music is primarily a mix of swing and ska with modern rock and pop influences, characterized by a prominent horn section and Perry's darkly mordant lyricism. While the band's earliest releases were rooted mostly in funk and punk rock, their subsequent studio albums have since incorporated elements from many diverse genres of popular music and Americana into their sound, including rockabilly, rhythm and blues, soul and world music.

Zoot Suit Riot (live on the Letterman show)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkCun-...

Hi-de-ho!!!

Swing: Third Ear - The Essential Listening Companion

by Scott Yanow (no photo)

Synopsis:

This is a reference book on the heyday of swing music......the big bands and the singers that fronted them. The chapters are divided by bands, singers, arrangers/composers, side men, and the new retro-swing of groups like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. There is a biography and a discography for each entry, as well as listings of movie or soundie appearances. This book is for the swing era fan only since many of the names will be unfamiliar to the non-fan and is not a book to be read at one sitting but rather as a complement to whatever else you are reading at the time. Interesting information and some great pictures. If you love Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, or Cab Calloway, this is the book for you

Thanks for the adds Jill

Swing makes me want to get up and dance!!!

Well let us wait on that until at least the velcro shoe (smile).

The first noted Gypsy Jazz artist is Django Reinhardt and his music is an acquired taste. But if you like it, then this book which goes beyond Reinhardt to new artists and the influence of this different type of music, is for you.

Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Sould of Gypsy Jazz

Michael Dregni (no photo)

Synopsis:

Of all the styles of jazz to emerge in the twentieth century, none is more passionate, more exhilaratingly up-tempo, or more steeped in an outsider tradition than Gypsy Jazz. And there is no one more qualified to write about Gypsy Jazz than Michael Dregni, author of the acclaimed biography, Django.
A vagabond music, Gypsy Jazz is played today in French Gypsy bars, Romany encampments, on religious pilgrimages--and increasingly on the world's greatest concert stages. Yet its story has never been told, in part because much of its history is undocumented, either in written form or often even in recorded music. Beginning with Django Reinhardt, whose dazzling Gypsy Jazz became the toast of 1930s Paris in the heady days of Josephine Baker, Picasso, and Hemingway, Dregni follows the music as it courses through caravans on the edge of Paris, where today's young French Gypsies learn Gypsy Jazz as a rite of passage, along the Gypsy pilgrimage route to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer where the Romany play around their campfires, and finally to the new era of international Gypsy stars such as Bireli Lagrene, Boulou Ferre, Dorado Schmitt, and Django's own grandchildren, David Reinhardt and Dallas Baumgartner. Interspersed with Dregni's vivid narrative are the words of the musicians themselves, many of whom have never been interviewed for the American press before, as they describe what the music means to them. Gypsy Jazz also includes a chapter devoted entirely to American Gypsy musicians who remain largely unknown outside their hidden community.
Blending travelogue, detective story, and personal narrative, Gypsy Jazz is music history at its best, capturing the history and culture of this elusive music--and the soul that makes it swing.

An interesting look at how swing music reflected what was going on in America during the time of the New Deal.

Swing Changes

by David W. Stowe (no photo)

Synopsis:

Bands were playing, people were dancing, the music business was booming. It was the big-band era, and swing was giving a new shape and sound to American culture. Swing Changes looks at New Deal America through its music and shows us how the contradictions and tensions within swing - over race, politics, its own cultural status, the role of women - mirrored those played out in the larger society. Drawing on memoirs, oral histories, newspapers, magazines, recordings, photographs, literature and films, Swing Changes offers a picture of American society at a pivotal time, and a perspective on music as a cultural force.

One of the most famous bandleaders of the swing era.

Benny Goodman and the Swing Era

by James Lincoln Collier

Synopsis:

This biography of Benny Goodman's music and times attempts to recreate the colourful music world of the 1920s and 1930s, when Goodman was hailed the King of Swing. The author offers insights into the character and music of a man who helped transform the Depression years into the Swing Era.

Thanks Jill

I don't know exactly where to put Cab Calloway since his was a style all his own. What an exciting performer.

Hi-de-Ho: The Life of Cab Calloway

by Alyn Shipton(no photo)

Synopsis:

Clad in white tie and tails, dancing and scatting his way through the "Hi-de-ho" chorus of "Minnie the Moocher," Cab Calloway exuded a sly charm and sophistication that endeared him to legions of fans.
In Hi-de-ho, author Alyn Shipton offers the first full-length biography of Cab Calloway, whose vocal theatrics and flamboyant stage presence made him one of the highest-earning African American bandleaders. Shipton sheds new light on Calloway's life and career, explaining how he traversed racial and social boundaries to become one of the country's most beloved entertainers. Drawing on first-hand accounts from Calloway's family, friends, and fellow musicians, the book traces the roots of this music icon, from his childhood in Rochester, New York, to his life of hustling on the streets of Baltimore. Shipton highlights how Calloway's desire to earn money to support his infant daughter prompted his first break into show business, when he joined his sister Blanche in a traveling revue. Beginning in obscure Baltimore nightclubs and culminating in his replacement of Duke Ellington at New York's famed Cotton Club, Calloway honed his gifts of scat singing and call-and-response routines. His career as a bandleader was matched by his genius as a talent-spotter, evidenced by his hiring of such jazz luminaries as Ben Webster, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jonah Jones. As the swing era waned, Calloway reinvented himself as a musical theatre star, appearing as Sportin' Life in "Porgy and Bess" in the early 1950s; in later years, Calloway cemented his status as a living legend through cameos on "Sesame Street" and his show-stopping appearance in the wildly popular "The Blues Brothers" movie, bringing his trademark "hi-de-ho" refrain to a new generation of audiences.
More than any other source, Hi-de-ho stands as an entertaining, not-to-be-missed portrait of Cab Calloway--one that expertly frames his enduring significance as a pioneering artist and entertainer.

Not sure if this goes here, but I love this old song. I often sing it to my hubby.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HXYwP6PNYRA

He is a tough man to categorize since he was really a scat singer......but this will work for our purposes!!!!

This book tells the reader about the time when swing was at its height.

Music of the World War II Era

by William H. Young(no photo)

Synopsis:

In the World War II era, big bands and swing music reached the heights of popularity with soldiers as well as friends and loved ones back home. Many entertainers such as Glenn Miller also served in the military, or supported the war effort with bond drives and entertaining the troops at home and abroad. In addition to big band and swing music, musicals, jazz, blues, gospel and country music were also popular. Chapters on each, along with an analysis of the evolution of record companies, records, radios, and television are included here, for students, historians, and fans of the era.

Includes a timeline of the music of the era, an appendix of the Broadway and Hollywood Musicals, 1939-1945, and an appendix of Songs, Composers, and lyricists, 1939-1945. An extensive discography and bibliography, along with approximately 35 black and white photos, complete the volume.

Born to Swing: The Story of the Big Bands

(no image)Born to Swing: The Story of the Big Bands by Ean Wood (no photo)

Synopsis:

Nothing brings back the magic & romance of an era like the American swing bands of the thirties & forties, Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey. This book tells the stories of the most famous bands & of the bands that never became so famous. It captures the glamour & excitement of their music, & chronicles the trials & difficulties of the musicians lives on the road, traveling all over America. It brings alive those years when band leaders & featured soloists were the idols of their day, playing rich & powerful sounds that are as inspiring on record today as when they brought audiences to their feet in live performance. Photos.

Another genre within swing is "western swing". Spade Cooley was the biggest star there was but his life took a tragic turn as he killed his wife and was sent to life in prison. Read all about it here.

Shame! Shame! A Saga of Spade Cooley: The King of Western Swing

by Robert J. Joling J. D.(no photo)

Synopsis

A true story of a gifted musician who rose from abstract poverty to fame and fortune who abused himself as well as those he loved. He beat up his first wife and killed his second. He squandered his fortune; was sentenced to prison; was pardoned by Gov. Reagan; and died before realizing he again was a free man.

From Jazz to Swing: African-American Jazz Musicians and Their Music

by Thomas J. Hennessey(no photo)

Synopsis:

In the 1920s, many black regional jazz bands were recorded and became products of the entertainment industry, which was altering the face of America from the handmade, homemade, homemade society of the ninteenth century to the mass-produced, mass-consumed technological culture of the twentieth century.

Making use of the files of African American newspapers, such as the "Chicago Defender," as well as published and archival oral history interviews, Hennessey explores the contradictions that musicians often faced as African Americans, as trained professional musicians, and as the products of differing regional experiences. From Jazz to Swing follows jazz from its beginnings in the regional black musics of the turn of the century in New Orleans, Chicago, New York, and the territories that make up the rest of the country.

Thank you Jill and Francie.

If you know your big/swing bands of the 30s and 40s, then you know Jimmie Lunceford



Jimmie Lunceford will long be remembered as the leader of a swinging big band that rivaled on record, and exceeded in person, the orchestras of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Count Basie. His band differed from many of the other big bands of the 1930s and 1940s in that Lunceford's group was noted less for its soloists than for its ensemble work. Furthermore, most bands of the period used a four-beat rhythm while the Lunceford Ork developed a distinctive two-beat swing often played at medium tempo. The unique sound became known during the Swing era as the Lunceford two-beat.

Jimmie Lunceford’s music education included studying under Wilberforce J. Whiteman, the father of Paul Whiteman. His scholastic education included receiving a BA from Fisk University and later attending New York City College. Although Lunceford became proficient on all reed instruments he preferred the alto saxophone.

Jimmie Lunceford recruited the nucleus of his band while an athletic instructor at Manassas High School in Memphis, Tennessee. It was here, in 1927, that he organized a student jazz band called the Chicksaw Syncopators. The personnel of this band included Moses Allen (bass) and Jimmy Crawford (drums). Later, Willie Smith (alto) and Eddie Wilcox (piano) were added. The group turned professional in 1929, waxing its first recordings for RCA in 1930. After playing for several years in Cleveland and Buffalo, in 1934, the band began a high profile engagement at the famed Cotton Club in Harlem. At first the band played flashy, stiff instrumentals in the early Casa Loma orchestra manner such as two hot recordings made the same year, Jazznocracy and White Heat, with arrangements by Will Hudson.

While Wilcox and Smith both contributed early arrangements, it was the addition of ace arranger and trumpet man Sy Oliver that gave the Lunceford band its distinguished two-beat sound. Paul Webster on trumpet, Eddie Durham and later Trummy Young on trombone, and vocalist Dan Grissom were also important mid 1930s additions to the Lunceford band. By 1935 the group, then called Jimmie Lunceford's Orchestra, had achieved a national reputation as one of the top black swing bands.

The Jimmie Lunceford big band during the Swing era was widely known and other bands often imitated its showmanship and appearance. Lunceford rehearsed his outfit endlessly. The polish of the band is evident on record by its flawless ensemble work. Further adding to the appeal of the band were the vocals by several of Lunceford's men. Jimmie's boys whispered, wheedled, cozened, rather than sang. Oliver and Smith, Joe Thomas and later Trummy Young all sang with the band often in trio unison. Unseen, is the choreography of the group's musicians in performance. Of particular delight to fans who saw the band in person was the spectacle of members of the trumpet section tossing their horns high into the air and catching them on the beat. In 1935 a long list of superb Decca two-beat recordings associated with Lunceford's name but written by Sy Oliver began; For Dancers Only, Margie, ‘Posin, Slumming On Park Avenue, My Blue Heaven, Organ Grinders Swing etc. are still great listens today. Unfortunately, based on the merits of his band's recordings, Lunceford may never receive his just due as a leader simply because his group's superb showmanship is lost on record.

Although his orchestra-leading career nowhere near paralleled in longevity that of Basie or Ellington, for a time from 1935 until Sy Oliver left his band to work for Tommy Dorsey in 1939, the Lunceford band was one of the most popular in the land. The distinctive Lunceford style, generally identified with Sy Oliver although many other arrangers contributed to the bands vast book, influenced many bandleaders and arrangers right up to the 1950’s. Glenn Miller was influenced by the Lunceford unit's showmanship and Tommy Dorsey, after Sy Oliver joined his band, borrowed much from the Lunceford tradition. Many albums described as tributes to Lunceford have been recorded including those by Sy Oliver, George Williams, Billy May and others.

When Sy Oliver left the band in 1939, Bill Moore Jr. showed up and left a vital impression on the band's books with his Belgium Stomp, Monotony In Four Flats, and I Got It. In 1941 the addition of trumpet man Snooky Young and some fine arrangements by Gerald Wilson further heightened the band's recorded output.

In 1942 Tadd Dameron arranged for the orchestra but the band began to have internal problems. The issues of the band were mainly monetary, precipitated by Lunceford's refusal to pay his players a wage on par with that of other successful bands. Lunceford himself wanted for nothing and was reputed to have a lavish lifestyle which was readily apparent to all of his sidemen. In May of 1942 Lunceford fired many of his key musicians and alto man Willie Smith soon left as well, leaving a huge void in the band.

By the time the recording ban ended a mass exodus from the group had occurred. Nevertheless, Jimmie Lunceford was still a popular bandleader in 1947 when he suddenly collapsed and died while signing autographs after an engagement in Oregon. Rumors soon surfaced (including those printed in DownBeat magazine) that a racist restaurant owner, who had a strong aversion about feeding the Lunceford band, actually poisoned the bandleader.

After Lunceford's death, pianist/arranger Ed Wilcox and Joe Thomas tried to keep the orchestra together but in 1949 the band permanently broke up.

(Source: Swingmusic.net)

THE Brian Setzer Orchestra is another modern day band that brought swing music into the 21st century. This video has great original film from the 1940s.

Jump, Jive an' Wail by Bryan Setzer Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIeHi...

Love the Squirrel Nut Zippers! Another favorite neo-swing band is Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Try this site for a complete list of neo-swing.

http://www.last.fm/tag/neo-swing/artists

Thanks Pamela and Jill for the adds.

The great Satchmo.......was it swing or was it jazz? The terms seemed to be interchangeable in the 1940s.

Swing That Music

by Louis Armstrong

Synopsis:

The first autobiography of a jazz musician, Louis Armstrong’s Swing That Music is a milestone in jazz literature. Armstrong wrote most of the biographical material, which is of a different nature and scope than that of his other, later autobiography, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans (also published by Da Capo/Perseus Books Group). Satchmo covers in intimate detail Armstrong’s life until his 1922 move to Chicago; but Swing That Music also covers his days on Chicago’s South Side with ”King” Oliver, his courtship and marriage to Lil Hardin, his 1929 move to New York, the formation of his own band, his European tours, and his international success. One of the most earnest justifications ever written for the new style of music then called ”swing” but more broadly referred to as ”Jazz,” Swing That Music is a biography, a history, and an entertainment that really ”swings.”

by Louis Armstrong

Here is an interesting video from YouTube featuring the Chick Webb Orchestra performing: Stompin' At The Savoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgX5_...

When Swing Was the Thing: Personality Profiles of the Big Band Era

by John R. Tumpak (no photo)

Synopsis:

Over the years John Tumpak developed personal associations with many bandleaders, musicians, vocalists, arrangers, and contributors who participated in the Big Band Era. The unique stories of these and other Era personalities are told in his book, When Swing Was the Thing: Personality Profiles of the Big Band Era, which provides detailed insight into their personal and professional lives and the cultural history of the time. Forty of the publications forty-seven chapters are based on interviews Tumpak conducted with the key players or their immediate family members. Major historic events in the careers of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller are also included. There are 114 vintage photos, many of which were provided by individuals featured in the book and appear in print for the first time. When Swing Was the Thing provides a descriptive and visual return to the days of that unique period from the mid 1930s to the mid 1940s when fifteen piece swing bands dominated American entertainment, filling ballrooms to capacity, broadcasting on the radio, appearing in the movies, and bringing international fame to the high profile bandleaders.

Follow Your Heart: Moving with the Giants of Jazz, Swing, and Rhythm and Blues

by Joe Evans (no photo)

Synopsis:

Detailing the career of Joe Evans, Follow Your Heart chronicles the career of Joe Evans, an alto saxophonist who between 1939 and 1965 performed with some of America's greatest musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Charlie Parker, Jay McShann, Andy Kirk, Billie Holiday, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Lionel Hampton, and Ivory Joe Hunter. Evans warmly recounts his wide range of experience in the music industry and comments on popular New York City venues used for shaping and producing black music, such as the Apollo Theater, the Savoy, Minton's Playhouse, and the Rhythm Club. Revealing Evans as a master storyteller, Follow Your Heart describes his stints as a music executive, entrepreneur, and musician. Evans offers invaluable insight into race relations within the industry and the development of African American music and society from the 1920s to 1970s.

The new Jazz Age is upon us
Electro-swing’s infectious fun has taken the club scene by storm, says Thomas H Green

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...

Source: The Telegraph