Swing Music History

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Swing music is a style of music we can all recognize, based just off the way it makes us feel- uplifted, radiant, dancy, makes you want to ‘swing’ around, doesn’t it? Maybe dance with the girl/boy you were eyeing across the room? Worry not, none of us can help it. It is just what was intended, and we can only so much as help our human nature. Obviously, we all like to feel happy, but where did this wild music originate from that allowed for everyone to get down and not worry about a thing, and why does it still resonate to this day? Considering the fact that its origins took place in the Roaring 20s in the form of dixieland jazz- back when all things involving social restraint were being challenged by a young and rebellious generation that …show more content…
Going back in time, Slavery was abolished in the city in 1864, and africans, along with caribbean islanders, were settling among the already settled mixes of Europeans. In 1890, ragtime and blues had finally reached the city. Africans, at this time, were also learning the ropes of European-styled music, which involved horns, such as trumpets, trombones, and/or clarinets. Incorporating this with traditional african drumming styles already made an impact, but going even further and adding blues, and even gospel & folk, created this mixing pot of music, in an already mixing pot of society in New Orleans. The music itself was mainly focused on collective improvisation of multiple lead instruments that is free change how they wish to play mid-tune, thus, creating more of a chaotic ambience, rather than a tune and rhythm already set for a group to play, which is similar to the prefabricated military bands and blues music that helped originate dixieland in the first place. Singing was also welcome to be featured in this music. Many times, the lyrics would allude to short, sexual phrases, and other instances, would just go off on a tangent. Louis Armstrong, for example, was both a trumpeter and a singer three different dixieland bands, including the Red Onion Jazz Babies. Many people, in fact, still consider him to be the USA’s most influential music artist to this day. Self …show more content…
They were very displeased with the spike in northern immigration by African Americans, and the fact that white youth across America were embracing dixieland tunes from artists of that race. The KKK, at this time, were helping to finance a major record company, known as Gennett. Gennett was a major label that had one policy: record everyone. So they did. Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, both African Americans, would be amongst the list of recorded artists. Major record labels in New York, such as Victoria and Okeh would compete in African American, urban neighborhoods, whilst Gennett would monopolize the midwest, giving more exposure to almost all of
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