But the music of trombonist Jack Teagarden, clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, guitarist Eddie Lang, and the white bands like New Orleans Rhythm Kings the Casa Loma Orchestra, and Chicago’s so called “Austin High Gang” (drummer Gene Krupa, clarinetist Benny Goodman, and others) proved that loose, hot swing could be played by both black white and white bands. On the other side of the racial line, sales of hot big band swing by African American bands to fans both white and black proved that recording companies were wrong in trying to market blues and jazz strictly as “race music” for black listeners.
Yet, even with the revival of smaller, independent jazz recording labels in the mid-‘30s, the music was still divided among the racial lines – in the same way that the South was still segregated. Packaging and marketing helped while bands gained wide popularity with white audience. But as they succeeded commercially, they never forgot where the music came from. They openly acknowledged the African American roots of music.
Of course, serious fans and players of all ethnic backgrounds could hear the real truth: After all, great music is great music.
Count Basie (1904 – 1984) Sets the Swing Standard
Perhaps the greatest of the swing bands was Count Basie’s. From the start, Basie, was bound for big band greatness. He came up through Walter Page’s Blue Devils and Bennie Moten’s band, both among the hottest of the larger ensembles of the late-‘20s and early-‘30s. Basie left Moten’s band in 1935, just before Moten’s death, and just when big band swing was about to hit the big time nationally.
By 1936, Basie was leading his own smaller band in Kansas City, Missouri, which included drummer Jo Jones, saxophonist Lester Young, and blues singer Jimmy Rushing. Live radio broadcasts of the band caught the attention of agents and Decca Records. On the verge of commercial success, in 1937 Basie expanded his group to a full-size swing band. In the Kansas City section (piano, bass, drums, and rhythm guitar) and arrangements that left plenty of room for stellar soloists like Young.
Basie’s arrangements were still in the loose Midwest style, with “heads” or signature melodies serving as the basis for collective and individual improvisation. But the sections worked tightly together, giving the effect of easygoing precision. Even today, the Basie band’s tight, trademark sound is still respected and emulated by newer big bands.
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