Swing (genre)

From ArticleWorld

Swing Music, sometimes referred to as swing jazz, is a type of jazz music that appeared around 1920 and established itself as a musical genre in the thirties in USA. The main characteristics the style has stands in:

• strong rhythm
• double bass or/and drums
• fast or medium tempo
• swing time rhythm

History

The first records (considered swing music material) appeared in 1920. They were originally from both the USA and the UK and were characterized by the swing rhythm. Time passed and swing bands became bigger, with more players and instruments than jazz bands displayed. As improvisation was a big part of jazz it also became one in swing. Problems quickly appeared for band-leaders as it was difficult to arrange so many musicians, especially in a jam session. Levels of improvisation started to vary and usually behind it stood an agreement of how much or when an instrument would start improvising. Two to four members of a band could improvise at the same time but when the number rose to seven or eight problems usually appeared. Until 1930 swing music changed and resulted in a different style from what was known around 1920. Characteristics that were showed exhibited stronger rhythms, dancing oriented style, loud tunes and many more. The result was swing dancing, which accompanied swing music in several concerts. Problems started to appear in Germany (swing was forbidden) and jazz was also banned in USSR. Swing dancing developed around youngsters that created it because of the fast paced and energy filled swing music songs. Nowadays swing is not as appreciated as it was in the past and only a few bands still exist when compared to other styles of music.