The Sound of an Era

When the roaring twenties ended, the Jazz Age generation found the hangover of the Great Depression as their reward. Popular favor turned to the slower, more tradtional music of the hotel dance bands of Guy Lombardo, Abe Lyman, and Wayne King. Meanwhile, crooners Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo sang sad, mournful tales about lost loves, "Just One More Chance"; lost fortunes, "Brother Can You Spare a Dime"; and lost pride, "Just a Gigolo."

The Jazz Age, the crooning singers, and the hotel dance bands belonged to the World War I generation. This generation's children were in their mid-to-late teens in 1935; they wanted no part of their parents' musical lament. These youngsters listened for their own sound -- something new and exciting. So, when Benny Goodman's white band began playing unfiltered black swing music, he drew on a receptive young audience. Other white band leaders quickly followed "The King of Swing" to popularity, playing big band swing. In 1938, when Goodman dressed swing music in a tuxedo by performing a concert at Carnegie Hall, jukeboxes, dance halls, and the radio were dominated by big swing bands like those of Artie Shaw, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and Charlie Barnet. In addition, many black bands such as Duke Ellington's, Jimmy Lunceford's, and Count Basie's also shared the spotlight.

With the advent of war in Europe, the Big Band Era's sound and tempo began to soften. During the summer of 1939, the band destined to dominate popular music for the next three years enjoyed its first success, drawing huge crowds to the Glen Island Casino, just north of New York City. Glenn Miller's first big band failed in 1937, but his second attempt resulted in one of American popular music's most famous and successful operations. With hits like "In the Mood," no one doubted the band's ability to swing; nevertheless, it was the "Miller Sound" -- a clarinet playing the melody one octave higher than the reed section -- that gave the band's slow dance numbers the distinctive style that sold millions of records and sent Glenn Miller's band to the heights of popularity.

While the 1940s brought Glenn Miller to the forefront, the new decade also brought the Second World War and all its problems, problems that would eventually end the Big Band Era. Yet the war also gave the big bands a glorious finale, as swing music became the sound of liberation to conquered

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