Swing - Best of The Big Bands (3/3)

The styles of jazz that were popular from the late teens through the late 1920s were usually played with rhythms with a two beat feel, and often attempted to reproduce the style of contrapuntal improvisation developed by the first generation of jazz musicians in New Orleans. In the late 1920s, however, larger ensembles using written arrangements became the norm, and a subtle stylistic shift took place in the rhythm, which developed a four beat feel with a smoothly syncopated style of playing the melody, while the rhythm section supported it with a steady four to the bar. Like jazz, swing was created by African Americans, and its impact on the overall American culture was such that it marked and named an entire era of the USA, the swing era - as the 1920s had been termed “The Jazz Age“.[1] Such an influence from the Black community was unprecedented in any western country.[1] Swing music abandoned the string orchestra and used simpler, “edgier“ arrangements that emphasized horns an