swing
The Swing Era?
Peak popularity of jazz (mid-1930s to mid-1940s)
Musical Origins
Racial Dynamics
Hillbilly” shifts gradually to “Country & Western”
Geographic migration of music; WWII sparks growth
in popularity; radio and record labels propel
Western imagery/mythology
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
Hank Williams 1949
Mournful lament
• Traditional, simple, strophic
• twang and drawl of
vocals and guitar
• Modern instrumentation
• Direct, honest, vulnerable lyrics
• filled with nature/imagery
Ruth Brown (1928–2006)
“Miss Rhythm”
Signs in 1949 with Atlantic Records
(“The House That Ruth Built”)
Later helped to publicize how R&B artists
were denied profits
Rock and Roll
Can't pinpoint the beginning of rock and roll
Like trying to point out the first drop of rain in a hurricane
Varies depending on where you look:
• song titles
• musical elements
• #1 hits
Not one event, not one person
Not a brand new style, not a single style
Swing Origins?
•
Pioneered by black bandleaders (Henderson, Ellington)
• Later adopted by white bandleaders(Goodman, Miller)
• Uptempo, highly syncopated, riff-oriented dance music
• Propulsive Rhythm (“swing”)
Honky Tonk Music
Term derives from small town, working-class bars
around Texas and the Southwest (post-Prohibition)
Sometimes called
“
hard country
”
Harder-edged music
• Electric instruments, amplification
Harder-edged lyrical themes
• Instability, upheaval, urban migration
• Unpredictability of relat
Move it On Over
Hank Williams (1949)
comic narrative with bluesy feel
• Relationship problems
• Man sent to the doghouse
• Call-and-response
• Heavy backbeat ( 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 )
• Example of Country-Western influence on rock and roll
Louis Jordan (1908–1975)
Jump bluesman extraordinaire
Singer, saxophonist, showman
Interracial appeal, but often performed for segregated audiences
(Some) Rock and Roll Musical Influences
Rhythm and Blues
• Most Formative influences
• Early innovators
• African-American musical forms and techniques
Country and Western
• including backbeat, instrumentation, vocal inflections
Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Mexican music
Gospel Music
Big Band Swing / Jazz
Fletcher Henderson
(1897-1952)
• pianist, bandleader, arranger
• worked for W.C. Handy
Hank Thompson
Texan singer, guitarist, performer
Music adapted from Roy Acuff’s
“Great Speckled Bird” (religious theme)
3 Months at #1 on country charts
Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie
Louis Jordan and his Tympany 5 (1946)
Biggest hit - 3 months at No. 1 on R&B chart
Train motif
• Horns train-like whistle, and “shuffle” beat
Hybrid form
• 12-bar blues verses with 8-bar chorus
• Jazz/blues instrumental solos
Jump Blues
Commercially successful R&B subgenre
Hard-swinging dance band
Small combos (like a pared down swing band) Oriented around the blues and boogie-woogie style
Rock and Roll Overview
Mixture of Popular, Working-Class Musics
Urban music:
The sound of the city
• High concentration in South but hails from all over U.S.
Marginalized musics move into the mainstream
• Rise of independent labels
• Turns the music industry upside down
Pitched to the younger generation
"Wrappin’ It Up”
Fletcher Henderson (1934)
The Wild Side of Life
Hank Thompson- 1952
Good Rockin’ Tonight”
Wynonie Harris (1948)
Cover version (of another R&B artist’s song)
12-bar blues with boogie-woogie piano
Honking sax solo
Gospel hand-claps
Precursor to rock ‘n’ roll? Or an early rock ‘n’ roll tune?
boogie woogie
swinging, uptempo, blues-based piano style
Cultural Factors
Post-War Prosperity
Cultural Crossing of Racial and Class Lines during and after WW II
Radio
Teenager culture (although R&R is not strictly a teen phenomenon)
• use of term grows during WW II
• jobs, $, leisure time
• teenage fan culture
Swing Music Characteristics
Big Bands / Large ensembles (12-16 Members)
• Trumpets, Trombones, Saxophones/Clarinets• Rhythm section• Vocalist•
Written Arrangements with solo improvisation
• Call-response between Sections
• Steady Groove
• 4 Beats per measure (walking bass)
• Often dance-oriented (either fast or slow)
It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
Kitty Wells
Answer song
(released later in 1952)
• Plain, no-nonsense vocal approach
Proto-feminist message
• Places blame on married men
• 1st #1 song by country female singer
• Lyrics penned by male songwriter
(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean
Ruth Brown (1953)
Blends Blues and Tin Pan Alley
Gender politics addressed with
husky, aggressive vocal style
R & B audience widens in 1940s and 1950s
African-American migration to cities in North+ West
Growing presence of Black Music on the RadioJukebox
CultureIndependent Record Labels
• appeal to marginalized markets ignored by major labels
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Big Joe Turner (1954)
Big Joe Turner (1954)
Big band blues shouter (1911-1985)
12-Bar Blues form used
• for verse (AAB)
• and refrain
Shake, Rattle & Roll
Medium-tempo
Jump-blues ensemble (piano, sax solo)
Handclaps (backbeat)