Chuck Anderson ©2008

Significant Topics The Great Depression The Rise of Big Band Music and Swing World War II Music

Social, economic, political, technological and religious influences shaped the music of each period. We will see that music does not exist independently of society. Listeners have enjoyed music throughout time for its aesthetic qualities, but music has also been used to convey emotions and ideas. It has been used to enhance patriotism and to maintain order in social and religious ceremonies. Music is not just a part of society--- music is society.

1929 Stock Market Crash

Emergence of High Quality Music 1) Record Manufacturing 2) Radio Broadcasting 3) Sound Film Production

The Traditional Popular Song Gershwin, Kern, Rodgers “The Swing Era” emerged from the Jazz Age

Duke Ellington It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing

Swing Definition: a contagious rhythmic feeling, a desire to snap the fingers, tap the toes and get up and dance

Swing Era Big Bands Played for dancing Different styles emerge, Swing dominates

Growth of Radio 600 AM stations in 46% of American homes Grows to 765 stations in 81% of American homes Car Radio

Technology and the Rise of “Crooning” Singing styles changed Rudy Vallee Russ Colombo Bing Crosby

Sheet Music Recordings outsold sheet music Loss of both during Depression

Record Sales Annual Sales: $75 Million $5 Million Late 20’s Hit Record= 350,000 copies 1933 Hit Record= 5,000 copies

Record Companies Swing began to affect the upward turn of record sales Decca emerges as “the” label Columbia, Decca, and RCA dominate All or nothing recordings

Jukeboxes Juke Joints 400,000 jukeboxes in service by end of 30’s Best outlet for whites to hear black music Temporarily replace live musicians

Popular Hits and Standards 30’s era-Golden Age of Songwriters  Arlen, Berlin, Carmichael, Ellington, the Gershwins, Kern, Porter, Rodgers, Hart, Warren Turn popular music into art form Music writer and lyricist equal in copyright ownership Writers were not singers and vice versa

Big Bands During the height of the popular song, the big bands were creating dance classics- 12 to 18 musicians divided into sections

Sources of Popular Music 1) Theater 2) Sound Movies 3) Dance Bands 4) Tin Pan Alley Manhattan’s 28 th Street, the section between 5 th Avenue and Broadway

Popular Hits and Standards Cont’d As a rule, a hit gets associated with a particular artist. A standard gets associated with many artists.

Representative Hit Songs of the Decade 1929 Crash in October  Tip Toe Through the Tulips (in the film Gold Diggers)  Makin’ Whoopee  Ain’t Misbehavin’

1930  “Stein Song”  Happy Days are Here Again Democrats theme song in 1932 election of Franklin D Roosevelt 1931  Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries  Get Happy  On the Sunny Side of the Street  Star Spangled Banner becomes National Anthem

1932  Brother Can You Spare a Dime?  Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” Depth of the Depression  Stormy Weather 1934  Shirley Temple “On the Good Ship Lollipop  Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town 1935  Cheek to Cheek

1936  Pennies From Heaven  The Way You Look Tonight  A Fine Romance  Goody, Goody  These Foolish Things Remind Me of You  The Music Goes Round and Round 100,000 discs first year Prediction of Swing Era popularity

1937  Most hits involve Swing oriented big bands  They Can’t Take That Away from Me  Once in a While  I Can’t Get Started  Bob Hope’s signature “Thanks for the Memory”  Two Sleepy People

1938  A Tisket A Tasket  My Reverie  September Song 1939  Deep Purple  Gone With the Wind  The Wizard of Oz Songs  Body and Soul

1940  In the Mood  Begin the Beguine  Big Bang singers begin to upstage the bands- prediction of the 40’s and the future in general

Music from Broadway and Hollywood Good marketing spreads Broadway music Radio, Film, Sheet music, Recordings, Movies Combos and Big Bands replace Broadway, Hollywood, and traditional songwriters Exodus of talent to West coast

Music from Broadway and Hollywood Cont’d The Jazz Singer introduces sound for music Hollywood’s interest in musicals Original music written for film Studios took over music publishers Astaire and Rodgers become stars

Musicals Bright, Breezy forms of entertainment Hummable tunes 194 musicals on Broadway between 1929 and 1940

The Rise of Swing and the Triumph of the Big Bands At beginning of Depression, dancing is a major part of the American dancing scene  The Charleston, the Black Bottom, the Varsity Drag- pictures of dances Stage is set for big band swing of the 30’s

The Jazz Heritage The 20’s “Jazz Age”- misleading Until 1930, jazz exists on margins Jazz requires ability to improvise and depart from written score Jazz appeals to subgroups To be popular, it has relied on watered down versions

The Big Bands Jazz began as a small group music and has gone back to that format Band leaders and soloists become household names Why so popular?

Non-Musical Reasons 1) Overwhelming importance of radio 2) Special cultural and emotional climate of the Great Depression 3) World War II

The Big Bands Cont’d Dance Music Count Basie Big Band was ideal structure for Jazz Social and Racial interaction

The Big Bands Cont’d Louis Armstrong Develops from purely functional dance unit to concert ensemble Duke Ellington advances Big band music and is criticized

The Big Bands Cont’d New recording techniques developed Music helps the public endure a long depression and a World War Early 30’s, tuba was replaced by the string bass

The Big Bands Cont’d In 1934 Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey hit the road. Jimmy takes over after family fight (Arr. Glenn Miller) Benny Goodman

The Big Bands Cont’d Big Bands unsurpassed in excellence since their fall from grace in the late 1940’s No other genre of popular music has had such a consistently elevated level of sophisticated and direct appeal Swing acted as a bridge bringing blacks and whites together Assimilated popular and high culture in new ways

Triumph of Swing By 1938, swing was everywhere Duke Ellington: “Jazz is music. Swing is business.” Swing benefited everyone Dance craze continues Recordings and live performances flourish  Band leaders and vocalists thrust into the movies

Youth and Swing 1930’s bring about change in music and what music represents

World War II picture

Role of Music in World War II Music was always a big part of any war effort Music- very significant in the context of the largest war in history Radio and movies spread songs and specific voices and bands to the troops and the public

Reasons for US Broadcast and Production of Music 1) To boost the morale of troops and civilians suffering under war 2) To attract enemy troops to propaganda programs 3) To express a vision of the nature of their regimes

World War II Songs provide nostalgia for peace, songs motivated and promised a better future American troops first modern force Forces had regular access to radio

Famous Songs Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy- Andrews Sisters (1941) The White Cliffs of Dover- J Dorsey (1942) Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree- Brown, Stept, Tobias

Famous Songs Don’t Get Around Much Anymore- Duke Ellington I’ll Walk Alone- Martha Tilton Sentimental Journey- Les Brown

Famous Songs I’ll Be Seeing You- Bing Crosby You’d Be So Nice to Come Home to- Cole Porter (1943)

Conclusion Popular music is tied with nostalgia By end of 1940’s, the war was over, the troops came home. The big bands and swing era come to a close The music style changed and the big band was replaced by the small combo, Bop music and the birth of Rock and Roll!!!