Maceo Webcast #11 - Big Band Jazz
"Sho 'nuff guaranteed to get your foot tappin'
and your fingers snappin'"
and your fingers snappin'"
BIG BAND
The big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz, a style of music which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. Big bands evolved with the times and continue to today. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and contains saxophones, trumpets, trombones, singers (or vocalists), and a rhythm section. The terms jazz band, jazz ensemble, stage band, jazz orchestra, society band and dance band may be used to describe a specific type of big band.
There was a considerable range of styles among the hundreds of popular bands. Many of the better known bands reflected the individuality of the bandleader, the lead arranger, and the personnel. Count Basie played a relaxed propulsive swing, Benny Goodman a hard driving swing, and Duke Ellington’s compositions were varied and sophisticated. Many bands featured strong instrumentalists, whose sounds dominated, such as the clarinets of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Woody Herman, the trombone of Jack Teagarden, the trumpet of Harry James, the drums of Gene Krupa, and the vibes of Lionel Hampton. The popularity of many of the major bands was amplified by star vocalists, such as Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey, Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb, Billie Holiday and Jimmy Rushing with Count Basie, Doris Day with Les Brown, and Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman.
SWING
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States. Swing uses a strong rhythm section of double bass and drums as the anchor for a lead section of brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones, woodwinds including saxophones and clarinets, and sometimes stringed instruments such as violin and guitar; medium to fast tempos; and a "lilting" swing time rhythm. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of bandleaders such as Benny Goodman and Count Basie was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1945.The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong rhythmic "groove" or drive.
Swing jazz began to be embraced by the public around 1935. Prior to that, it had had limited acceptance, mostly among African American audiences. Radio remotes increased interest in the music, and it grew in popularity throughout the States. As with many new popular musical styles, it met with some resistance from the public because of its improvisation, fast erratic tempos, lack of strings, occasionally risqué lyrics and other cultural associations, such as the sometimes frenetic swing dancing that accompanied performances. Audiences who had become used to the romantic arrangements (and what was perceived as classier and more refined music), were taken aback by the often erratic and edginess of swing music. (wiki)
Tracklist
1. April In Paris - Count Basie
Basie was a pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. He hit the pop charts with this now-famous 1955 performance, and kept the song in his repertoire for the rest of his career. Basie leads his band through fake endings (with his sly voice urging the band on "One more time") until finally bringing the song to its boisterous conclusion.
2. In the Mood - Glenn Miller
Miller - a trombone player, composer and bandleader- and his Orchestra were the kings of big band during the War time hey day of the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943. His other hits included Chattanooga Choo Choo, Tuxedo Junction, and Pennsylvania 6-5000. While he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Miller's plane disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. His body has never been found.
3. Sing Sing Sing - Benny Goodman
The "King of Swing" Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in the mid-1930s. His January 16, 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music. During an era of segregation, Goodman led one of the first racially-integrated musical groups (before Sly!). "Sing, Sing, Sing" is probably the most famous tune associated with Goodman, but the most recognizable part of the song is Gene Krupa's drumming, which exists as a motif throughout the song.
4. Blue Skies - Frank Sinatra (With Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra)
5. Come Fly With Me (Live) - Frank Sinatra with Count Basie & The Orchestra & Quincy Jones
Sinatra began his career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, before the bobby soxer idol, acting, great jazz albums and Vegas rat pack years. These two track are a 'then and now.' First, Sinatra as the featured singer with Dorsey on Irving Berlin's 'Blue Skies' (an outtake Version from the movie 'Ship Ahoy', 1942). This is followed with the Chairman of the Board at the peak of his Rat Pack years, recorded in 1966 at the Sands hotel in Las Vegas. The live album became the de facto standard for arranging big band brass, arranged and conducted by the then youthful-pre-MJ-but-already-accomplished Quincy Jones.
6. Four Brothers - Woody Herman & His Orchestra
Four saxophones!!! Herman was a clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist and singer, as well as a big band leader popular in the 1930's and 40's. "Four Brothers" is a jazz standard made famous by Herman's Orchestra. The song features four saxes (three tenors and one baritone) in an arrangement that gives each "brother" a solo and culminates in a hard-swinging sax section chorus. The title also became a play on the four musicians that performed in the original version: Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Herbie Steward, and Serge Chaloff.
7. Main Stem (Live)- Duke Ellington
"Duke" was a composer, pianist, and big band leader, and wrote over 1,000 compositions. In the words of Bob Blumenthal of The Boston Globe "In the century since his birth, there has been no greater composer, American or otherwise, than Edward Kennedy Ellington." This is from the "Private Collection" or Ellington's Vault in purple terminology. He kept recording his big band at his own expense during the 50's-70s when big band music was no longer popular. This is from Volume 2 (of 10) and is a live dance concert from 1958. As it was initially recorded not for release, you can hear all the banter between the musicians and Duke on stage as the concert progresses - they were having a blast! Duke is my favourite big band leader, btw.
8. Goody, Goody - Ella Fitzgerald with Quincy Jones and His Orchestra
9. Mack the Knife (Live) - Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was a vocalist also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," with a vocal range spanning three octaves (Db3 to Db6). she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. Once again with the 'then and now,' the first track is from 1952, and features a cool breakdown, with Quincy Jones and his Orchestra. The second features Ella live with Duke Ellington in 1966. After successfully improvising the lyrics for the song, "Mack the Knife" after forgetting them, it became a way for her to improvise when performing it live - free style rap ahead of its' time.
10. Swingin' the Blues - Count Basie
Basie favored blues, and he showcased some of the most notable blues singers of the era: Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, Helen Humes, and Joe Williams.
11. Let the Good Times Roll - Ray Charles
Ray Charles was a pioneer in fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings while he helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success. While with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be given artistic control by a mainstream record company.
So he mixed different genres and owned his master recordings...reminds me of somebody...anyway, Ray does the blues with a big band.
12. Boogie Woogie (I May Be Wrong) (Live) - Count Basie
Recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957 with Jimmy Rushing on vocals and Lester Young on tenor sax
13. Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue [Live] - Duke Ellington
Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue" is a big band jazz composition written in 1937 by Duke Ellington. In its early form, the two individual pieces, "Diminuendo in Blue" and "Crescendo in Blue." At the historic 1956 Newport Festival, Duke told tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves to blow as long as he wanted during the interlude, which Ellington later called "The Wailing Interval" or "Blow By Blow." In what has since become jazz folklore, Gonsalves almost created a riot as he played a tenor sax solo for 27 choruses that stirred up the normally staid crowd into a frenzy. A striking platinum blonde woman in a black evening dress, named Elaine Anderson, jumped from her box seat and started dancing.This helped serve as a catalyst for the crowd frenzy that grew as Gonsalves continued his forceful, energetic solo.
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