A big band is a type of musical ensemble that originated in the United States and is associated
with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of percussion, brass, and woodwind instruments
totalling approximately 12 to 25 musicians. The terms jazz band, jazz ensemble, jazz orchestra,
stage band, society band, and dance band may describe this type of ensemble in particular
contexts. A standard big band consists of saxophones,
trumpets, trombones and a four-piece rhythm section. Some big bands use additional instruments.
Beginning in the mid-1920s, big bands were the main popular music. These bands did little
improvisation. By the end of the 1920s, big bands added more improvised soloing. Radio
was a major factor in helping bandleaders like Benny Goodman to achieve fame. Big bands
appeared in movies in the 1930s through to the 1960s.
Swing music began in the 1920s and flourished through the early 1930s. After 1935, big bands
rose to prominence playing swing music. There was a considerable range of styles among the
hundreds of popular bands. After WW II, bandleaders pioneered the performance of various Brazilian
and Afro-Cuban styles with the traditional big band instrumentation. In the late 1990s,
swing made a comeback in the US. While jazz "combo" performances are largely improvised,
big band music is primarily crafted in advance by an arranger.
Instrumentation
A standard 17-piece instrumentation evolved in the big bands, for which many commercial
arrangements are available. This instrumentation consists of five saxophones, four trumpets,
four trombones and a four-piece rhythm section. However, variants to this instrumentation
are common. Composers, arrangers, and bandleaders have used sections with more or fewer players,
and additional instruments, such as valve trombone, baritone horn/euphonium, vibes,
bass clarinet, French horn, tuba, banjo, accordion and strings. Male and female vocalists have
also joined big bands to perform particular arrangements. In recent years synthesizers
and / or electronic keyboards have been added, often replacing the piano.
Some arrangements call for saxophone players to double on other woodwind instruments, such
as flute, clarinet, soprano sax, or bass clarinet. Trumpet and trombone players are sometimes
called upon to use various sound-changing mutes, and trumpet players sometimes need
to play flugelhorn. In some rhythm sections, a guitar player is omitted. Players in the
rhythm section may be called upon to play acoustic or electric instruments. Latin or
other auxiliary percussion instruments may be added, such as cowbells, congas, tambourines,
or triangles. History and style
Beginning in the mid-1920s, big bands came to dominate popular music. These bands typically
played a form of music related to jazz that was characterized by sweet and romantic melodies,
the presence of a string section, and very little improvisation. Typical of the genre
were such popular artists as Paul Whiteman, Ted Lewis, Harry Reser, Leo Reisman, Abe Lyman,
Nat Shilkret, George Olsen, Ben Bernie, Bob Haring, Ben Selvin, Earl Burtnett, Gus Arnheim,
Henry Halstead, Rudy Vallée, Jean Goldkette, Glen Gray, Isham Jones, Roger Wolfe Kahn,
Sam Lanin, James Last, Vincent Lopez, Ben Pollack, Shep Fields, Fred Waring, and "all-girl"
bands such as "Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators." Although unashamedly commercial,
these bands often featured front-rank jazz musicians-—for example, Paul Whiteman employed
Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer. Toward the end of the 1920s, a new form of
big band music emerged, giving more space to improvised soloing. The few recordings
made in this style were labelled race records and were marketed to a limited black audience.
Few white musicians were familiar with this music, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen and Hoagy
Carmichael being notable exceptions. The three major centers in this development were New
York City, Chicago and Kansas City. In the first, a sophisticated approach to arranging
predominated, originally in the work of Don Redman for the Fletcher Henderson band, later
in the work of Duke Ellington for his Cotton Club orchestra, and Walter "Foots" Thomas
for Cab Calloway's, and Charlie Spivak and His Orchestra. Some big ensembles, like the
Joe "King" Oliver outfit played a kind of half arranged, half improvised jazz, often
relying on “head” arrangements. Other great bands, like the one of Luis Russell
became a vehicle for star instrumentalists, in his case Louis Armstrong. There the whole
arrangement had to promote all the possibilities of the star, although they often contained
very good musicians, like Henry "Red" Allen, J. C. Higginbotham and Charlie Holmes. Others
such as Alvino Rey grew popular with shows in New York City and then toured the country
sharing their hit songs and new musical styles. Radio and movies
Earl "Fatha" Hines became the star of Chicago with his Grand Terrace Cafe band and began
to broadcast live from The Grand Terrace nightly coast-to-coast across America. Meanwhile in
Kansas City and across the Southwest, an earthier, bluesier style was developed by such bandleaders
as Benny Moten and, later, by Jay McShann and Jesse Stone. Big band remotes on the major
radio networks spread the music from ballrooms and clubs across the country during the 1930s
and 1940s, with remote broadcasts from jazz clubs continuing into the 1950s on NBC's Monitor.
Radio was a major factor in gaining notice and fame for Benny Goodman, known as the “King
of Swing”. Soon, others challenged him, and “the battles of the bands” became
a staple at theater performances featuring many groups on one bill.
Big Bands also began to appear in movies in the 1930s right on through to the 1960s. Shep
Fields and his orchestra appeared in The Big Broadcast of 1938 for Paramount Pictures while
accompanying the actor Bob Hope in the 1930s. Alvino Rey and His Orchestra were featured
in films through RKO Pictures during their peak in the early 1940s, such as Sing Your
Worries Away. Fictionalized biographical films of Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, Benny Goodman,
and others were made in the 1950s, as nostalgic tributes to the glory years.
Rise and fall of swing
Swing music began in the 1920s, distinguished by a more supple feel than the more literal
4/4 of earlier jazz and a walking bass—Walter Page is often credited with developing this,
though isolated earlier examples exist. This type of music flourished through the
early 1930s, although there was little mass audience for it until around 1936. Up until
that time, it was viewed with ridicule and looked upon as a curiosity. After 1935, big
bands rose to prominence playing swing music and held a major role in defining swing as
a distinctive style. Western swing musicians also formed very popular big bands during
the same period. There was a considerable range of styles among
the hundreds of popular bands. Many of the better known bands reflected the individuality
of the bandleader, the lead arranger, and the personnel. Count Basie played a relaxed
propulsive swing, Bob Crosby more of a dixieland style, Benny Goodman a hard driving swing,
and Duke Ellington’s compositions were varied and sophisticated. Many bands featured strong
instrumentalists, whose sounds dominated, such as the clarinets of Benny Goodman, Artie
Shaw and Woody Herman, the trombone of Jack Teagarden, the trumpet of Harry James, the
drums of Gene Krupa, and the vibes of Lionel Hampton. The popularity of many of the major
bands was amplified by star vocalists, such as Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey, Helen
O'Connell and Bob Eberly with Jimmy Dorsey, Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb, Billie Holiday
and Jimmy Rushing with Count Basie, Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest with Harry James, Doris
Day with Les Brown, Toni Arden and Ken Curtis with Shep Fields and Peggy Lee with Benny
Goodman. Some bands were "society bands" that relied on strong ensembles but little on soloists
or vocalists, such as the bands of Guy Lombardo and Paul Whiteman.
By this time the big band was such a dominant force in jazz that the older generation found
they either had to adapt to it or simply retire—with no market for small-group recordings, some
musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines fronted their own bands, while others,
like Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver, lapsed into obscurity.
The major African American bands of the 1930s included, apart from the bands led by Ellington,
Hines and Calloway, were those of Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, and Chick Webb.
Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Shep Fields and, later, Glenn Miller far eclipsed
other bands in popularity from the middle of the decade. Also popular was the Casa Loma
Orchestra and Benny Goodman’s early band. During World War II Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine
led bands whose soloists figured as the early performers of Bebop. For a few years after
the war, Dizzy Gillespie and Lionel Hampton led Bebop-oriented big bands.
White teenagers and young adults were the principal fans of the Big Bands in the late
1930s and early 1940s. They danced to recordings and the radio, and attended live concerts
whenever they could. They were knowledgeable and often biased toward their favorite bands
and songs, and sometimes worshipful of the famous soloists and vocalists. Many bands
toured the country in grueling one-night stands to reach out to their fans. Traveling conditions
and lodging were often difficult, in part due to segregation in most parts of the United
States, and the personnel often had to perform on little sleep and food. Apart from the star
soloists, many personnel received low wages and would abandon the tour and go home if
bookings fell through. Personal problems and intra-band discord could affect the playing
of the group. Drinking and addictions were common. Turnover was frequent in many bands,
and top soloists were often lured away to better contracts. Sometimes bandstands were
too small, public address systems inadequate, pianos out of tune. Successful bandleaders
dealt with all these hazards of touring to hold their bands together—some with rigid
discipline, some with canny psychology. Big Bands played a major role in lifting morale
during World War II. Many band members served in the military and toured with USO troupes
at the front, with Glenn Miller losing his life while traveling between troop shows.
At home, many bands suffered from the loss of personnel and quality declined during the
war years. A recording ban from an ill-timed recording strike in 1942 worsened the situation.
Vocalists began to strike out on their own and by the end of the war, swing was giving
way to less danceable music including bebop. Many of the great swing bands broke up as
tastes changed. The ultimate result of the strike was an increased
focus on vocalists and a corresponding diminished focus on musicians. This event, more than
any other, marked the end of the big band era.
Since 1945 As jazz evolved and expanded in new directions,
major band performances of note did occur from the 1950s to the 1970s. Noteworthy performers
included: Dizzy Gillespie, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Gil Evans, Stan Kenton, Johnny Richards,
Sun Ra, Gary MacFarland, Charles Mingus, Oliver Nelson, Carla Bley, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big
Band, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, Sam Rivers, Don Ellis, Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew
Tabackin Big Band, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and Anthony Braxton.
Later bandleaders pioneered the performance of various Brazilian and Afro-Cuban styles
with the traditional big band instrumentation, and big bands led by arranger Gil Evans, saxophonist
John Coltrane and electric bassist Jaco Pastorius introduced cool jazz, free jazz and jazz fusion,
respectively, to the big band domain. Modern big bands can be found playing all styles
of jazz music. Some large contemporary European jazz ensembles play mostly avant-garde jazz
using the instrumentation of the big bands. Examples include the Vienna Art Orchestra,
founded in 1977, and the Italian Instabile Orchestra, active in the 1990s. In the late
1990s, swing made a comeback in the US. The Lindy Hop has taken hold on both coasts, and
many younger people took an interest in big band styles again. The Jazz at Lincoln Center
Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis is the resident orchestra of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The JALC
Orchestra currently tours internationally, promoting the big band sound.
African "Afrobeat" big bands have existed from 1970 to the present when Fela Kuti of
Nigeria, fused big band jazz with Yoruba tribal rhythms, highlife, and American James Brown
funk. As of 2008 there are over 40 working afrobeat big bands including Dele Sosimi,
Antibalas, Chopteeth, Femi Kuti, and Seun Kuti.
Calloway performed an original shortened big band version in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.
Big Band arrangements In contrast to jazz "combos," in which musical
performances are largely improvised, big band music is primarily crafted in advance by an
arranger. Typical big band arrangements of the swing period follow a strophic form, with
the same phrase and harmonic structure repeated several times. Each iteration, or chorus,
most commonly follows Twelve-bar blues form or Thirty-two-bar song form. The first chorus
of an arrangement typically introduces the melody, and is followed by subsequent choruses
of development, which may take the form of improvised solos, written soli sections, and
shout choruses. An arrangement's first melodic statement is often preceded by an introduction,
which may be only a few measures or up to a full chorus in length. Many arrangements
additionally contain an interlude, often similar in content to the introduction, inserted between
some or all choruses. Other embellishments to the form can include modulations and cadential
extensions. See also
Big band remote British dance band
List of American big band bandleaders List of big bands
List of British big band leaders List of experimental big bands
Swing Territory band
References
Further reading Becker, Howard S. "The Culture of ... [and]
Careers in ... a Deviant Group: the Dance Musician", in his Outsiders: Studies in the
Sociology of Deviants, p. [79]-119. N.B.: The results are of a study undertaken in 1948-1949.
William Russo, Composing for the Jazz Orchestra University of Chicago Press, Library of Congress
no. 61-8642 George T. Simon, The Big Bands, The Macmillan
Company, New York, 1967, Library of Congress no. 67-26643
White, Mark. The Observer's Book of Big Bands: Describing American, British, and European
Big Bands, Their Music and Their Musicians [and their vocalists], in The Observer's Series,
no. 77. London: F. Warne, 1978. ISBN 0-7232-1589-8