Name	Swing
Bgcolor	pink
Color	black
Stylistic origins	JazzRagtimeClassical
Cultural origins	1930s United States
Instruments	Clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, piano, double bass, drums, keyboards, electric guitars, acoustic guitars
Popularity	1930s to 1950s; 1990s
Subgenrelist	Subgenre
Subgenres	Swing revival
Regional scenes	Western 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.

History

1920s: Origins

The styles of jazz that were popular from the late teens through the late 1920s were usually played with rhythms with a two beat feel, and often attempted to reproduce the style of contrapuntal improvisation developed by the first generation of jazz musicians in New Orleans. In the late 1920s, however, larger ensembles using written arrangements became the norm, and a subtle stylistic shift took place in the rhythm, which developed a four beat feel with a smoothly syncopated style of playing the melody, while the rhythm section supported it with a steady four to the bar.

Like jazz, swing was created by African Americans, and its impact on the overall American culture was such that it marked and named an entire era of the USA, the swing era - as the 1920s had been termed "The Jazz Age". Such an influence from the Black community was unprecedented in any western country. Crosby said, "We have as our guest the master of swing and I'm going to get him to tell you what swing music is." He asked Louis to explain it. Louis said, "Ah, swing, well, we used to call it ragtime, then blues–then jazz. Now, it's swing. White folks yo'all sho is a mess. Swing!"

1930: Birth of swing

Compared to the styles of the 1920s, the overall effect was a more sophisticated sound, but with an exciting feel of its own. Most jazz bands adopted this style by the early 1930s, but "sweet" bands remained the most popular for white dancers until Benny Goodman's appearance at the Palomar Ballroom in August 1935. Swing's birth has been traced by some jazz historians to Chick Webb's stand in Harlem in 1931, but they noted the music failed to take off because the onset of the Depression in earnest that year killed the nightclub business, particularly in poor black areas like Harlem. Fletcher Henderson, another bandleader from this period who needed work, lent his arrangement talent to Goodman. Goodman had auditioned and won a spot on a radio show, "Let's Dance," but only had a few songs; he needed more. Henderson's arrangements are what gave him his bigger repertoire and distinctive sound. The show was on after midnight in the East and few people heard it, but unknown to them, it was on earlier on the West Coast and developed the audience that later led to his Palomar Ballroom triumph. The audience of young white dancers favored Goodman's "hot" rhythms and daring swing arrangements. "Hot Swing" and Boogie Woogie remained the dominant form of American popular music for the next ten years.

With the wider acceptance of swing music around 1935, larger mainstream bands began to embrace this style of music. Up until the swing era, Jazz had been taken in high regard by the most serious musicians around the world, including classical composers like Stravinsky; swing on the contrary, with its "dance craze", ended being regarded as a degeneration towards light entertainment, more of an industry to sell records to the masses than a form of art. Many musicians after failing at serious music switched to swing.

Large orchestras had to reorganize themselves in order to achieve the new sound. These bands dropped their string instruments, which were now felt to hamper the improvised style necessary for swing music. This necessitated a slightly more detailed and organized type of composition and notation than was then the norm. Band leaders put more energy into developing arrangements, perhaps reducing the chaos that might result from as many as 12 or 16 musicians spontaneously improvising. But the best swing bands at the height of the era explored the full gamut of possibilities from spontaneous ensemble playing to highly orchestrated music in the vein of European art music.

A typical song played in swing style would feature a strong, anchoring rhythm section in support of more loosely tied wind, brass, and later, in the 1940s, string and/or vocals sections. The level of improvisation that the audience might expect at any one time varied depending on the arrangement, the band, the song, and the band-leader.

The most common style consisted of having a soloist take center stage, and improvise a solo within the framework of her or his bandmates playing support. As a song progressed, multiple soloists would be expected to take over and individually improvise their own part; however, it was not unusual to have two or three band members improvising at any one time.

Peak and decline

Swing jazz began to be embraced by the public around 1935. Prior to that, it had had limited acceptance, mostly among black 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.

German swing bands, virtually unknown to British and American swing band followers, thrived in the early 1940s in spite of an official Nazi campaign against "decadent Western music". German authorities in fact created a Swing band called "Charlie and His Orchestra" to record hot Swing and dance music. Some songs included lyrics ridiculing and abusing the leaders and people of Allied nations. Records were dropped over "enemy" lines by parachute.

In the US, by the late 1930s and early 1940s, swing had become the most popular musical style and remained so for several years, until it was supplanted in the late 1940s by the pop standards sung by the crooners who grew out of the Big Band tradition that swing began. Bandleaders such as the Dorsey Brothers often helped launch the careers of vocalists who went on to popularity as solo artists, such as Frank Sinatra.

Swing music began to decline in popularity during World War II because of several factors. Most importantly it became difficult to staff a "big band" because many musicians were overseas fighting in the war. Also, the cost of touring with a large ensemble became encumbersome because of wartime economics. These two factors made smaller three- to five-piece combos more profitable and manageable. A third reason is the recording bans of 1942 and 1948 because of musicians' union strikes. In 1948, there were no records legally made at all, although independent labels continued to bootleg records in small numbers. When the ban was over in January 1949, swing had evolved into new styles such as jump blues and bebop.

Cross-genre swing

Many of the crooners who came to the fore after the swing era had their origins in swing bands. Frank Sinatra used the swing-band approach to great effect in almost all of his recordings and kept this style of music popular well into the rock 'n' roll era.

In country music, artists such as Jimmie Rodgers, Moon Mullican and Bob Wills introduced many elements of swing along with blues to create a genre called western swing. Like Sinatra did, Mullican went solo from the Cliff Bruner band and had a successful solo career that included many songs that maintained a swing structure. Artists like Willie Nelson have kept the swing elements of country music present into the rock 'n' roll era. Nat King Cole followed Sinatra into the pop music world bringing with him a similar combination of swing bands and ballads. Like Mullican, he was important in bringing piano to the fore of popular music.

Gypsy swing is an outgrowth of Venuti and Lang's jazz violin swing, the style emerging in its own right in Europe with Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. The repertoire overlaps that of 1930s swing, including French popular music, gypsy songs, and compositions by Reinhardt, but gypsy swing bands are formulated differently. There is no brass or percussion; guitars and bass form the backbone, with violin, accordion, clarinet or guitar taking the lead. Gypsy swing groups generally have no more than five players. Although they originated in different continents, similarities have often been noted between gypsy swing and western swing, leading to various fusions.

Rock 'n' roll era hitmakers like Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley also found time to include many swing-era standards into their repertoire. Presley's hit "Are You Lonesome Tonight" is an old swing standard and Lewis' "To Make Love Sweeter For You" is a new song but in the old style. Domino made the swing standard "My Blue Heaven" a rock 'n' roll hit. Among the critically acclaimed band leaders of the 1930s and 1940s whose performances included elements of both "Sweet Band" music and traditional swing music was Shep Fields.

Late 1990s: Swing revival

Although ensembles like the Count Basie Orchestra and the Stan Kenton Orchestra survived into the 1950s by incorporating new musical styles into their repertoire, they were no longer the hallmark of American popular music. In the late 1990s (1998 until about 2000) there was a short-lived "Swing revival" movement, led by bands such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Royal Crown Revue, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, the Lucky Strikes, Hipster Daddy-O and the Handgrenades, Speakeasies' Swing Band!, and Brian Setzer. Many of the new bands of this period played a style of music — oftentimes referred to as neo-swing — that combined swing jazz with contemporary styles of music such as Rockabilly, Ska, and Rock music. The style also accelerated the revival of swing dancing, both in a traditional style, and in hybrid approaches which blended 1930s dancing with 2000-era dance styles. A similarly hybrid approach to musical genre can be seen with superswing music, a style that can be seen to have its origin in The Fabrics' 2002 classic 12" single on Switch Music, Cassawanka.

In 2001 Robbie Williams released his fifth studio album consisting mainly of popular swing covers titled "Swing When You're Winning" which proved to be popular in many countries selling more than 7 million copies worldwide.

In 2006, the singer Christina Aguilera released her studio album "Back to Basics" when she mixed several different styles including swing, jazz and blues. The album was another commercial success for Aguilera's career.

In recent years Swing music has become fairly popular in Germany. Singers Roger Cicero, Tom Gaebel, and Thomas Anders have attained large followings both in their native country and world wide. Cicero’s style is predominantly that of 1940s and 1950s swing music, combined with German lyrics; he became Germany's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007.

Electroswing is a new genre fusing swing (original, or remixes of classics) with hip hop and house techniques. Leading artists include Caravan Palace and Parov Stelar. It is mainly popular in Europe.

Notable musicians

Band leaders: Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Chick Webb, The Dorsey Brothers, Duke Ellington, Glenn Gray, Erskine Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, Tiny Hill, Earl Hines, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller, Gloria Parker, Harry James, Louis Prima, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Jordan, Hal Kemp, Kay Kyser, Buddy Rich, Fred Rich, Jack Teagarden, Les Brown, Charlie Barnet, Fats Waller, Art Tatum.

Clarinet: Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Peanuts Hucko

Saxophone: Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Lester Young, Johnny Hodges, Charlie Parker, Sam Butera, Charlie Barnet, Jimmy Dorsey, Glen Gray.

Trumpet: Louis Armstrong, Harry James, Cootie Williams, Roy Eldridge, Harry Edison, Louis Prima, Hot Lips Page

Trombone: Tommy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden, Glenn Miller, Fred Rich

Bass: Jimmy Blanton, Milt Hinton, John Kirby, Walter Page, Slam Stewart

Vibraphone: Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo

Marimba: Gloria Parker

Piano: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Earl Hines, Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller, Jess Stacy, Nat Jaffe

Drums: Sonny Greer, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Chick Webb

Guitar: Charlie Christian, Freddie Green, Oscar Aleman, Django Reinhardt

Violin: Joe Venuti, Eddie South, Ray Nance, Stephane Grapelli, Svend Asmussen

Accordion: Art Van Damme, John Serry Sr.

See also

List of musical genres

Swing Revival

Swing (dance)

Swing (jazz performance style), a term of praise for playing that has a strong rhythmic "groove" or drive

Big band

Gypsy Jazz

Continental Jazz, swing of continental Europe

:Category:Swing musicians

:Category:Retro-swing musicians

Notes

References

Scaruffi, Piero. [2003] A History of Jazz Music, 1900-2000, chapter on Bebop (2007) ISBN 978-0-9765531-3-7

Further reading

Erenberg, Lewis A. Swingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture (1998), a history of big-band jazz and its fans.

Gitler, Ira. Swing to Bop: An Oral History of the Transition in Jazz in the 1940s (1987), on the emergence of bop from big-band swing.

Hennessey, Thomas J. From Jazz to Swing: African-Americans and Their Music, 1890-1935 (1994).

Schuller, Gunther. The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945 (1991), a musicological study.

Stowe, David. Swing Changes: Big-Band Jazz in New Deal America (1996), a musicological study.

Tucker, Sherrie. Swing Shift: 'All-Girl' Bands of the 1940s (2000)

External links

Swing era entry at the University of Virginia's Jazz history site.

SwingMusic.net forum with big band and mainstream jazz discussions.

Swing & Big Band Internet Broadcast Schedules

Swing: Last.FM Group

Category:African American music Category:African-American culture Category:African American history Category:American styles of music Category:Jazz genres

Name	Shinichi Osawa
Landscape	yes
Background	solo_singer
Origin	Japan
Genre	Acid jazzHouseElectro house|
Years active	1989–present
Label	For Life Records, Avex Trax, Sony Music Japan, Southern Fried, Data, Dim Mak
Associated acts	Mondo Grosso, Africanism, Ravex
Website	http://www.shinichi-osawa.com

Shinichi Osawa (大沢 伸一 Ōsawa Shin'ichi), also known as Mondo Grosso, is an artist currently signed onto Avex Trax's "Rhythm Zone" label. Previously he was signed to Sony Music Japan's FEARLESS RECORDS division and released albums under the title of 'Mondo Grosso', which is Italian for "big world". He was born on February 7, 1967. Over the course of his career he has worked in genres from acid jazz to house, with strong influences of underground club music, though his recent work has been in the genre of electro house. HMV Japan rated Mondo Grosso at #95 on their "Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists".

Background

Osawa was originally the leader and bassist for the popular Japanese musical group Mondo Grosso, which formed in Kyoto in 1991 on the For Life Records label. However, in 1995, the group was disbanded, and Osawa worked more on his own, collaborating with many artists such as Monday Michiru, Amel Larrieux, UA, Chara, Dragon Ash and even Ayumi Hamasaki. In the midst of his collaborative work in 1997, he became a solo producer, releasing the R&B; infused acid jazz and house album Closer.

He made a move from For Life Records to Sony Music Associated Records in 1999, where he began his own label. Throughout the years, Osawa acted as a producer for artists such as Bird and Eri Nobuchika. His 2000 album MG4 displayed the diversity of his production, fusing jazz and house. It featured the hit song 'Life', featuring Bird. In 2003 he released Next Wave, a more traditional house album.

Osawa provided the hypnotic array of techno music on the popular PlayStation Portable game Lumines in 2005. He did not reappear as a composer for its sequel.

In 2007 Osawa moved to avex trax. Feeling that, in comparison to his previous albums, the sound reflected more closely his DJ sets and performances (performed under his real name), Osawa released his electro house album The One under the moniker of 'Shinichi Osawa' rather than 'Mondo Grosso'. "Our Song" was the initial single released in Japan, followed by the Chemical Brothers cover Star Guitar. Under his real name, Osawa has received more international attention, creating acclaimed remixes of Felix da Housecat's "Radio" and Digitalism's "Pogo". He also performed at Electric Daisy Carnival, which was his first performance in America. He is also featured in Clazziquai's Robotica album in a remix for Prayers by Christina Chu.

In 2008, he remixed #1-hit song Startin' by Japanese pop sensation Ayumi Hamasaki. The mix appeared on the album Ayu-mi-x 6 -GOLD-.

In October 2008, following a release of Star Guitar as a single by Data Records, Southern Fried Records made a digital release of The One in the UK. A physical release is scheduled for January 2009.

In November 2008, "Our Song" appeared on of Konami's DJ simulation series Beatmania IIDX, alongside several other songs by Avex's House Nation group.

Osawa is currently involved in Ravex, a collaboration with fellow Avex DJs Tomoyuki Tanaka and Taku Takahashi established to mark 20 years of Avex. Their debut album Trax was released on April 8, 2009, and follows the release of the singles I Rave U and Believe in LOVE - feat BoA.

Osawa released SO2, the second album under his given name, on June 16, 2010 digitally and June 30 on CD/DVD.

In 2009, Osawa collaborated with Takeshi Kobayashi to form the duo Bradberry Orchestra. With the lead single "LOVE CHECK," Bradberry Orchestra released their first album "Vol.0" on March 16, 2011 in Japan through avex. Songs from the album have been used to promote Sony's Xperia phone as well as SEGA's Yakuza Of the End.

Discography

Mini albums

{|class="wikitable" |- | 1993 || Marble |- | 1994 || Invisible Man |- | 1995 || Pieces From the Editing Floor |}

Albums as head of Mondo Grosso

{|class="wikitable" |- | 1993 || Mondo Grosso Etc. |- | 1995 || Born Free |}

Solo albums

{|class="wikitable" |- | 1998 || Closer |- | 2000 || MG4 |- | 2003 || Next Wave |- | 2007 || The One |- | 2010 || SO2 |}

Live albums

{|class="wikitable" |- | 1995 || The European Expedition |- | 2004 || "Live on the Next Wave (1 and 2)" |}

Remix albums

{|class="wikitable" |- | 1996 || Diggin' Into The Real |- | 1998 || The Man From The Sakura Hills |- | 2000 || Mondo Grosso Best Remixes |- | 2001 || MG4R |- | 2003 || Henshin |- | 2008 || The One+ |- | 2009 || TEPPAN-YAKI - A Collection of Remixes |}

Singles

{|class="wikitable" |- | 1995 || "Oh Lord, Let Me do No Wrong" |- | 1995 || "Family" |- | 1997 || "Laughter in The Rain" |- | 1997 || "Everyday Life/Thing Keep Changin"' |- | 2000 || "Life" (feat. Bird) |- | 2000 || "Butterfly" |- | 2000 || "Now You Know Better" |- | 2001 || "Don't Let Go" |- | 2002 || "Blz" |- | 2002 || "Everything Needs Love" (feat. BoA) |- | 2003 || "Shinin'" |- | 2003 || |- | 2007 || "Our Song" |- | 2008 || "Star Guitar" (cover version of The Chemical Brothers track) |- | 2008 || "Push" |- | 2008 || "Main Street Electrical Parade" |- |2009 || "EEAA" |- |2009 || "Love Will Guide You" |}

Compilations

{|class="wikitable" | 2000 || Sakurahills Disco 3000 |- | 2004 || Make the Style 'drivin' slow' |- | 2009 || Teppan Yaki |}

Mixes

{|class="wikitable" | 2003 || Fearless"THE HOUSE" |- | 2004 || Mix the Vibe～STREET KING～ |- | 2005 || Fearless 4/4 Rockers |- | 2006 || Kitsune Udon |}

Remixes

{|class="wikitable" | 2000 || Jackson 5 - "Never Can Say Goodbye" |- | 2006 || Christopher & Raphael Just - "Popper" |- | 2006 || Anna Tsuchiya - "Ah Ah" |- | 2007 || Boys Noize - "Feel Good (TV = OFF)" |- | 2007 || Mighty Dub Kats - "Magic Carpet Ride 07'" |- | 2007 || 鉄コン筋クリート - "White's Dream" |- | 2007 || Digitalism - "Pogo" |- | 2007 || Clazziquai Project - "Prayers" |- | 2007 || Bunny Lake - "Strobe Love" |- | 2007 || Kap10Kurt - "Dangerseekers" |- | 2007 || Thomas Anderson - "Washing Up" |- | 2008 || Ayumi Hamasaki - "Startin" |- | 2008 || Felix Da Housecat - "Radio" |- | 2008 || Rubies - "Stand In A Line" |- | 2008 || TVMR - "Bowie In The Bronx" |- | 2008 || De De Mouse - "Light Night Dance" |- | 2008 || The Subs - "Papillon" |- | 2008 || MINMI - "Perfect Vision" |- | 2008 || Popular Computer - "Lost & Found" |- | 2008 || The Whip - "Blackout" |- | 2008 || Cazals - "Poor Innocent Boys" |- | 2008 || Alex Gopher - "Aurora" |- | 2009 || Bag Raiders - "Turbo Love" |- | 2009 || Van She - "Kelly" |- | 2009 || Girl Next Door - "情熱の代償" |- | 2009 || DJ Ozma - "Masurao" |- | 2009 || Lost Valentinos - "Thief" |- | 2009 || The Young Punx - "Rock Star" |- | 2009 || Hac Mac - "B B Girls B B Boys" |- | 2009 || Benny Benassi vs. Iggy Pop - "Electro Sixteen" |- | 2011 || Vandroid - "We Exist" |- | 2011 || Ayumi Hamasaki - "Appears" |}

Works as producer and composer

{|class="wikitable" | 1999 || Bird (for Bird) |- | 2000 || Mindtravel (for Bird) |- | 2005 || nobuchikaeri (for Eri Nobuchika) |}

External links

Official website.

FEARLESS RECORDS official site.

Shinichi Osawa discography at Discogs.

Mondo Grosso discography at Discogs.

HMV Japan Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists.

Category:Living people Category:Japanese musicians Category:Japanese electronic musicians Category:Sony Music Japan artists Category:Ableton Live users