swing

Swing music is a form of jazz that developed in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. The name came from the emphasis on the off–beat, or weaker pulse. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Notable musicians of the swing era include Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Harry James, Louis Jordan, Glenn Miller, Louis Prima, and Artie Shaw.
Swing has its roots in 1920s dance music ensembles which began using new styles of written arrangements, incorporating rhythmic innovations pioneered by Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines. A typical song played in swing style would feature a strong, anchoring rhythm section in support of more loosely tied wind and brass. The most common style consisted of theme choruses and choruses with improvised solos within the framework of bandmates playing support. Swing began to decline in popularity in World War II, but influenced jump blues and bebop, and saw a revival in the late 1950s and 1960s with the resurgent Count Basie and Duke Ellington orchestras, and pop vocalists such as Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole.
Swing blended with other genres to create new musical styles. In country music, artists such as Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican and Bob Wills introduced elements of swing along with blues to create a genre called western swing. Gypsy swing is an outgrowth of Venuti and Lang's jazz violin swing. In the late 1980s to early 1990s, a trendier, more urban-styled swing-beat emerged called new jack swing, spearheaded by Teddy Riley. In the late 1990s and into the 2000s, there was a swing revival, led by Squirrel Nut Zippers, Brian Setzer, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and Lavay Smith. In Canada, some of the early 2000s records by The JW-Jones Blues Band included swing revival elements.

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