Editing Big band (section)

===The swing era===
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2021}}
{{Main|Swing music}}
{{stack|
[[Image:BennyGoodmanandBandStageDoorCanteen.jpg|thumb|240px|[[Benny Goodman]] (age 34) and [[Peggy Lee]] (age 23) from the film ''[[Stage Door Canteen]]'' (1943).]]
[[Image:Glen miller.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Glenn Miller]], a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces during [[World War II]], led a 50-piece military band that specialized in swing music.]]
[[Image:Grand Central Big Band.jpg|thumb|The Grand Central Big Band (2005).]]
}}
[[Swing music]] began appearing in the early 1930s and was distinguished by a more supple feel than the more literal [[4/4 time|{{music|time|4|4}}]] of early jazz. [[Walter Page]] is often credited with developing the [[walking bass]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Schuller |first=Gunther |title=The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press (print) |date=1991 |page=226 }}</ref> although earlier examples exist, such as [[Wellman Braud]] on Ellington's ''[[Duke Ellington|Washington Wabble]]'' (1927).{{fact|date=July 2024}}

This type of music flourished through the early 1930s, although there was little mass audience for it until around 1936. Up until that time, it was viewed with ridicule and sometimes looked upon as a menace.<ref name="Kenneth J. Bindas">{{cite book |last1=Bindas |first1=Kenneth J. |title=Swing, that Modern Sound |date=2001 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson |isbn=978-1-57806-382-6 |pages=10–11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTnEl-Rym44C |access-date=2023-06-11 }}</ref> After 1935, big bands rose to prominence playing swing music and held a major role in defining swing as a distinctive style. [[Western swing]] musicians also formed popular big bands during the same period.{{fact|date=July 2024}}

A considerable range of styles evolved 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, [[Bob Crosby]] (brother of [[Bing Crosby|Bing]]), more of a dixieland style,<ref name="jeremy wilson bob crosby">{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Jeremy |title=George Robert Crosby Bandleader, Vocalist, Actor, Radio/TV Host |url=https://www.jazzstandards.com/biographies/biography_145.htm |website=JazzStandards.com |access-date=2021-11-28}}</ref> [[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 and [[Artie Shaw]], the trombone of [[Jack Teagarden]], the trumpet of [[Harry James]], the drums of [[Gene Krupa]], and the vibes of [[Lionel Hampton]].{{fact|date=July 2024}}

The popularity of many of the major bands was amplified by star vocalists, such as [[Frank Sinatra]] and [[Connie Haines]] with [[Tommy Dorsey]], [[Helen O'Connell]] and [[Bob Eberly]] with [[Jimmy Dorsey]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]] with [[Chick Webb]], [[Billie Holiday]] and [[Jimmy Rushing]] with [[Count Basie]], [[Kay Starr]] with [[Charlie Barnet]], [[Bea Wain]] with [[Larry Clinton]], [[Dick Haymes]], [[Kitty Kallen]] and [[Helen Forrest]] with [[Harry James]], [[Fran Warren]] with [[Claude Thornhill]], [[Doris Day]] with [[Les Brown (bandleader)|Les Brown]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Yanow|first1=Scott|title=Les Brown|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/les-brown-mn0000511773/biography|website=AllMusic| access-date=2021-12-30 }}</ref> and [[Peggy Lee]] and [[Martha Tilton]] with [[Benny Goodman]]. Some bands were "society bands" which relied on strong ensembles,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shaw |first=Arnold |title=The Jazz Age: Popular Music in the 1920s |date=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press, Incorporated |isbn=978-0-19-506082-9 |location=New York |pages=103}}</ref> such as the bands of [[Guy Lombardo]] and Paul Whiteman.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Acosta |first=Leonardo |title=Cubano Be, Cubano Bop: One Hundred Years of Jazz in Cuba |date=2016 |publisher=Smithsonian |others=Daniel Whitesell, Paquito D'Rivera |isbn=978-1-58834-547-9 |location=Herndon |pages=18}}</ref>

A distinction is often made between so-called "hard bands", such as those of Count Basie and Tommy Dorsey, which emphasized quick hard-driving jump tunes, and  "sweet bands", such as the [[Glenn Miller Orchestra]] and the [[Shep Fields]] Rippling Rhythm Orchestra<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4NO26n13V2YC&dq=Sweet+Bands+Shep+Fields&pg=PA120 |title=Music of the Great Depression |last=Young |first=William H. |date=2005 |page=120 |work=Shep Fields' Sweet Band on Google Books }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BIEccuYpSL0C&dq=Sweet+Bands+Shep+Fields&pg=PA23 |title=Big Bands and Great Ballrooms |last=Behrens |first=Jack |date=2006 |page=23 |work=Shep Fields' Sweet Band on Google Books }}</ref> who specialized in less improvised tunes with more emphasis on sentimentality, featuring somewhat slower-paced, often heart-felt songs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jazz Music: The Swing Era |url=https://sites.google.com/a/colorado.edu/history-of-jazz-swing-era/competency-1 |website=University of Colorado Boulder |access-date=2021-12-23}}</ref>

By this time the big band was such a dominant force in jazz that the older generation found they either had to adapt to it or simply retire. With no market for small-group recordings (made worse by a Depression-era industry reluctant to take risks), musicians such as Louis Armstrong and [[Earl Hines]] led their own bands, while others, like Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver, lapsed into obscurity.<ref name="David Dicaire">{{cite book |last1=Dicaire |first1=David |title=Jazz Musicians of the Early Years, to 1945 |date=2010 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson NC |isbn=978-0-7864-8556-7 |pages=18, 35 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ug9FPHAvcbcC |access-date=2023-06-11 }}</ref> Even so, many of the most popular big bands of the swing era cultivated small groups within the larger ensemble: e.g. Benny Goodman developed both a trio and a quartet, Artie Shaw formed the Gramercy Five, Count Basie developed the Kansas City Six and Tommy Dorsey the Clambake Seven.<ref name="Alex Stewart">{{cite book |last1=Stewart |first1=Alex |title=Making the Scene: Contemporary New York City Big Band Jazz |date=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-520-24953-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oab9cmHKvWIC |access-date=2023-06-11 }}</ref>

The major "black" bands of the 1930s included, apart from Ellington's, Hines's, and Calloway's, those of [[Jimmie Lunceford]], [[Chick Webb]], and Count Basie. The "white" bands of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, [[Shep Fields]] and, later, [[Glenn Miller]] were more popular than their "black" counterparts from the middle of the decade. Bridging the gap to white audiences in the mid-1930s was the [[Casa Loma Orchestra]] and Benny Goodman's early band. The contrast in commercial popularity between "black" and "white" bands was striking: between 1935 and 1945 the top four "white" bands had 292 top ten records, of which 65 were number one hits, while the top four "black" bands had only 32 top ten hits, with only three reaching number one.<ref name="Starr">{{cite book |last1=Starr |first1=Larry |last2=Waterman |first2=Christopher Alan |title=American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3. |date=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-985911-5}}</ref>

White teenagers and young adults were the principal fans of the big bands in the late 1930s and early 1940s.<ref name="Kenneth J. Bindas" /> They danced to recordings and the radio and attended live concerts. They were knowledgeable and often biased toward their favorite bands and songs, and sometimes worshipful of famous soloists and vocalists. Many bands toured the country in grueling one-night stands. Traveling conditions and lodging were difficult, in part due to segregation in most parts of the United States, and the personnel often had to perform having had little sleep and food. Apart from the star soloists, many musicians received low wages and would abandon the tour if bookings disappeared. Sometimes bandstands were too small, public address systems inadequate, pianos out of tune. Bandleaders dealt with these obstacles through rigid discipline (Glenn Miller) and canny psychology ([[Duke Ellington]]).{{fact|date=July 2024}}

Big bands raised morale during [[World War II]].<ref name="Alan Matheson">{{cite news |title=B.C. music instructor says touring swing bands lifted military spirits during WW II |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/swing-bands-lifted-military-spirits-during-wwii-1.4399192 |access-date=2023-06-11 |agency=CBC News |date=2017-11-11}}</ref> Many musicians served in the military and toured with [[USO]] troupes at the front, with Glenn Miller losing his life while traveling between shows. Many bands suffered from loss of personnel during the war years, and, as a result, women replaced men who had been inducted, while all-female bands began to appear.<ref name="Alan Matheson" />  The [[1942–44 musicians' strike]] worsened the situation. Vocalists began to strike out on their own. By the end of the war, swing was giving way to less danceable music, such as [[bebop]]. Many of the great swing bands broke up, as the times and tastes changed.{{fact|date=July 2024}}

Many bands from the swing era continued for decades after the death or departure of their founders and namesakes, and some are still active in the 21st century, often referred to as "[[ghost band]]s", a term attributed to Woody Herman, referring to orchestras that persist in the absence of their original leaders.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Epstein |first1=Benjamin |title=Sounds of Hot Jazz Stay Warm : Harry James Band to Play at the Mission |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-18-ca-25515-story.html |access-date=2021-12-13 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=1986-07-18}}</ref>