The big bands ruled popular music for much of the 1930s and 1940s. Big bands generally consisted of ten or more musicians, usually with at least three trumpets, two trombones and four saxophones, and a rhythm section featuring some combination of piano, guitar, bass and drums. Although jazz-oriented big bands existed prior to the advent of swing music in the ’30s, it wasn’t until the swing explosion that big bands became a dominant cultural force.
Swing was born when big bands began playing in an upbeat, danceable “hot” style that incorporated the driving rhythms and solo improvisations pioneered by African-American jazz musicians, while still employing written arrangements. Many historians point to Louis Armstrong joining the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in 1924 as a key milestone in the foundation of swing. But it was the commercial breakthrough of Benny Goodman’s Orchestra in the mid-’30s that established swing as a national phenomenon. Goodman’s massive success opened the door for the success of numerous big bands, including those led by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Earl Hines, Artie Shaw and Lionel Hampton.
The big bands’ popularity began to wane in the second half of the ’40s, and the expense of keeping a large group of musicians together forced many bandleaders to disband their groups or work with smaller ensembles. But a handful, including Count Basie and Duke Ellington, kept their big bands active well into the rock ‘n’ roll era. In the years since, several jazz artists (notably Charles Mingus and Sun Ra) have utilized the big band format, while the pop mainstream has seen periodic neo-swing revivals. As of this writing, big bands bearing the names of such long-departed swing-era superstars as Basie, Ellington, Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey continue to perform their namesakes’ classic material for present-day audiences.
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