The History of Swing Music

What Makes a Song Swing?

We know it when we listen to it. Our feet tap along, our hips may move from side to side, and our fingers snap in sync with an unmistakable beat. It's easy to know what feels like swing music, but what is it that makes a song swing?

A typical swing song features a strong rhythm section supported by a more loose brass section, and later a string and/or vocal section. Improvisation is common in live swing performances, but depends on the song, band or the band-leader. As the song progresses, multiple soloists can pick up the baton and pass it on, but commonly there are two or three band members improvising. Swing bands tend to be bigger than other jazz bands, requiring a more organized and detailed composition, notation as well as more energetic arrangements. By having such a hierarchal structure, swing bands prevent chaos that may come from the improvisation of twelve to sixteen musicians.

History

Swing developed in the 1920s as a mixture of West African and Western European rhythms, and progressively evolved around America- from lively jazz experimentations in New Orleans to Kansas City and New York. While swing is a distinctly American style of music, the precursors to swing developed in places like Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Brazil by the slave populations, though they often receive no credit in the genre because of an inability to record music and historical racism.

Although swing finds its roots in the 1920s, swing is known as the music of the 1930s and 1940s. During the 1920s, swing was mostly played and enjoyed by African Americans. As the audience grew, musicians and band-leaders were under pressure to develop "softer" music for more conservative Anglo-American listeners. White listeners found African American swing to be vulgar and low class, though this was due to racism more so than legitimately offensive content. However, by 1939, the resistance against swing music in America had vanished, and America was a proudly swinging nation.

The Swing Kids (Swingjugend)

Similar conflicts arose when swing became more popular in other countries. In Germany, swing music often confronted and even mocked Nazi ideology, and was consequently forbidden or censored. Swing music in Germany was frequently performed by African immigrants as well as Jewish musicians. The Nazi party labeled swing as "Negermusik" (nigger music) and “entartete musik" (degenerate music).

Thus, the Swing Kids (German: Swingjugend) arrived. Mostly concentrated in large cities like Berlin, the Swing Kids used music as a political tool against the Nazi party. The name of the movement itself poked fun at Nazis. "Swing Kids" or "Swing Youth" was a parody on the numerous “youth groups” promoted by the Nazi government. They also used their greeting “Swing Heil," as a parody of “Sieg Heil,” the Nazi salute.

Perhaps the most surprising information about the Swing Kids is the fact that they were literally children. The Swing Kids were composed of 14 to 18-year olds that usually still attended school. They were mostly members of the upper-class because they needed to have access to records and music that was not played on German radio. They were against Nazism, especially the Hitler Youth and they found themselves longing for the American and British way of life, and thus defined themselves through swing music. They referred to themselves as “Swings”; members were also called “Swing-Boy”, “Swing-Girl” and “Old-Hot-Boy.” Swing kids used their appearance as a primary form of protest, with boys growing out long hair, girls wearing flashy make up and both genders wearing oddly patterned, flamboyant clothing.

While swing music was forbidden in Nazi Germany, the Swing Kids experienced no threatening government opposition until August 18, 1941. An unexpected and violent police raid resulted in the arrest of 300 Swing Kids. Punishment ranged from chopping off the kids' hair and sending them to special schools, to imprisoning more prominent Swing Kid figures in youth concentration camp. This raid created a battle between the Swing Kids and the Nazi government, which resulted in years of brutal raids of underground clubs, arrests and riots. Finally, in January 1943, the Swing Kid movement took a crippling blow, when leader Günter Discher was arrested and imprisoned in the concentration camp of Moringen.

Director Thomas Carter released a film in 1993 titled Swing Kids, and the film provides a relatively accurate historical look at the Swing Kids movement by Hollywood's standards. The film stars Robert Sean Leonard (Television show House, Film, Dead Poets Society) and Christian Bale (Film, The Dark Knight).

The Decline of Swing

Swing music become less popular during World War II because of two reasons. Firstly, and most importantly, it was very difficult to start a band since many musicians went to war and overseas. Secondly, big band touring became more expensive due to war economics. This made smaller ensembles, 3 to 5 musicians, more common, which changed the sound of swing and gave rise to rhythm 'n' blues, jump blues and bebop. The last true to the era swing records were released in the year 1947 and by 1949 swing metamorphosed into several different music genres, such as r'n'b, jump blues, bebop, rock 'n' roll, country, western, funk, etc.

Famous Swing Musicians

The most famous swing musician, as many consider him to be, is Benny Goodman, nicknamed “King of Swing” because of the role he played in evolving musicians from a jazz style into swing. Another famous musician is Artie Shaw, the only one to ever challenge Benny Goodman's crown. Other famous swing musicians are Glen Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington (famous for his piano playing) and Cab Calloway. Some of the most famous female swing and jazz singers are Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday as well as Diane Shuur, Ivie Anderson, The Boswell Sisters and others.

Swing Dance

The traditional swing dance we think of when watching classic films developed well after swing music itself developed, several years later. Strong rhythms and loud, insistent tunes led to a new creation in the black community; an energetic, vibrant and improvised dance better known as swing dance. These swing dances originated in, and became popular in New York City, Kansas City and Chicago.

Charleston

While the Charleston did not originate as a swing dance (but instead as a flapper dance during the early 1920s), it was very popular in the swing music scene of the 1930s, and easily recognized today. The Swinging-Charleston, a modified partner form of the dance, was especially popular during the 1930s. The dance involved eight counts, and centered around the alteration of arm and leg movements to produce an almost "hop" like step in the middle.

Lindy Hop

The Lindy Hop started in Harlem, late in the 1920s and the early 1930s. It's characterized by improvisation and dancing both with and without a partner. Most people recognize the classic "swing-out" movement of the Lindy Hop Dance, where dancers hold hands and extend arms and come back together in an embrace. Famous poet Langston Hughes often frequented Harlem night clubs, where he observed and subsequently wrote about the Lindy Hop.

Saint Louis Shag

The St. Louis shag is a modified Charleston style swing dance. Unlike most swing dances, the St. Louis shag is oddly structured, with a pattern of movements: rock step, kick forward, step down, kick forward (other leg), stag, step, and stomp (repeat). The St. Louis shag is typically done to very fast swing music, with a partner kept in close contact.

East Coast Swing

East Coast Swing (know by many other names including Single-Time Swing, Triple-Step Swing, 6-Count Swing,) was a popular form of swing dancing because it used very simple footwork and could be adapted to any style of swing or jazz music. A dancer, with their partner must first rock back on one foot, forward on the other, and then step with each one, producing a "rock, step, step step" four count pattern. The single rock movement made this dance simpler than most, and was enjoyed by even the clumsiest of dancers.

Swing Revival

Even though ensembles such as the Count Basie Orchestra and the Stan Kenton Orchestra survived for decades, a new wave of swing music appeared (though lasted shortly) in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Swing music as well as swing dancing (which has always been and still is popular, unlike swing music) was brought back to life by various films (Swingers, Swing Kids & Blast from the Past) as well as commercials (Gap's advertising campaign that featured Louis Prima's song Jump, Jive and Wail). Bands of the neo-swing period base their music on the rock instrumentation of bass, guitar and drums, but with addition of a few horn instruments, and tend to be more rehearsed than the traditional "hot" improvised swing of the past.