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Today there aren't nearly as many places to hear live swing bands versus those that existed in the 1930s and 1940s. Instead of playing for dances at ballrooms, most bands now appear in theatres and concert halls, so you need to do some on-line searching to find out which band is appearing where.

If you want to hear recordings of current and original swing band, though, there are literally thousands of websites you can tune into. Just a few sites:

www.tuxjunction.net

www.glennmillerorchestra.com

www.bigbandbuddies.com

www.georgegee.com

www.jack-million.com

www.swingcatsbigband.com

www.swingorchestra.com

www.countbasie.com

plus loads of videos on YouTube

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12y ago
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10y ago
Like many genres of music, there's not an extremely specific description but rather a broad group of characteristics. Swing grew out of jazz and while primarily still jazz-based, it incorporates elements of show music, pop songs, and even Classical Music.

Swing is usually but not always performed with a simple 4/4 or 3/4 beat. The tempo is moderate to fast, often with an air of jauntiness. Swing bands also play slower ballads and dance tunes. Because they use the same orchestrations, some people include those songs as part of the genre as well.

While jazz tends to be performed by small numbers of musicians (2 to 6), swing is more typically played by larger orchestras consisting of 8 to as many as 45 musicians. The typical number is in the 12 to 18 range. The smaller size of jazz groups allows for more improvisational play; the musicians may follow a general melodic line but improvise their own variations as they perform. Because swing bands are larger tunes are more strongly arranged; i.e. the musicians mostly perform notes as written in a score, similar to the way classical music is performed. However, swing arrangements usually leave sections "open" for individual musicians to perform improvised solos just as they would in a small jazz group.

Swing arrangements often include the "call-and-response" pattern that made its way into jazz from early spiritual music. In call-and-response, the melody is performed by one voice (e.g. the altos) and then echoed back by the other voices in the chorus, each voice adding changes and interpretations to the original. When call-and-response is used by a swing orchestra, each group of instruments (called a section) plays the melody in succession, with subtle changes being added as the melody is transferred from one section to another.

The usual format for a swing band includes the following instruments:
> Two to five each of trombones, trumpets, and reeds (saxophone/clarinet)
> Drums
> Piano
> String bass
Nearly all bands also had one or more vocalists, and larger ones also employed groups of singers who accompanied the lead vocalist(s). Some of the largest orchestras even had string sections.

That said, the best way to know what swing is, is to listen to it! Here's just a tiny sample of the music you can look for:

  • Benny Goodman: Don't Be That Way, Down South Camp Meeting, Stompin' at the Savoy, Blue Skies, Life Goes to a Party
  • Duke Ellington: Take the "A" Train, It Don't Mean a Thing, Harlem Air Shaft, Mood Indigo
  • Artie Shaw: Begin the Beguine, Softly as in a Morning Sunrise, Traffic Jam, Lady Be Good
  • Glenn Miller: In the Mood, Little Brown Jug, String of Pearls, Bugle Call Rag
  • Count Basie: One O'Clock Jump, Satin Doll, Doggin' Around
  • Tommy Dorsey: Well, Git It!, Marie, Song of India, Opus No. 1, Quiet Please
  • Claude Thornhill: Anthropology, Robbin's Nest, Buster's Last Stand
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12y ago

Swing Music was a dance music so it was played primarily in dance halls and theatres like the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

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14y ago

typically 40s music or 20s

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Q: Where do you hear swing music?
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