History of Jazz 1930-40

Jazz became more widely popular in the 1930s, helped by the

availability of recordings and radio broadcasts. The centre of jazz
moved again to New York and small combos grew into swing bands,
which have fewer opportunities for individual soloists. Some feel
that swing is not true jazz because the arrangements were written
down, but composers, such as Duke Ellington, sometimes arranged
their numbers in an improvisation session with the band and then
wrote them down. The most prominent bands of the period were
those of Duke Ellington (1899-1974), Count Basie (1904-84) and
Benny Goodman (1909-86). The 1930s also saw the rise of great
song-writers such as George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen and
Jerome Kern. Their songs cannot be classed as jazz in their original
forms, but they became standards for all the bands. The arrangers
enjoyed their inventive, varied chord changes, and their melodies
were instantly recognisable. Great songs encouraged great singers
such as Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Jimmie
Rushing.

Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington stands alone as the greatest jazz composer of the

20th century. He produced over a thousand compositions, about a
quarter of which were written in collaboration with members of his
band or other musicians. They cover a huge range of styles, from
ragtime and blues to longer, more ambitious works and
arrangements of classical pieces. He wrote specifically for the
players in his band, as in the ‘Concerto for Cootie’ for his trumpeter
Cootie Williams. Williams, along with Bubber Miley, experimented
with playing in a ‘growl’ style and colouring his sound with a variety
of mutes. These can be heard on the Latin-American-influenced
‘Caravan’ and in ‘East St Louis toodle-oo’, which was the band’s
signature tune until 1941. Johnny Hodges (alto sax) and Joe ‘Tricky’
Nanton (trombone) were also important members of the band.

Any collections of Duke Ellington recordings will show the diversity

of his work. It is interesting to contrast two or more different works
from a similar time, such as ‘Mood indigo’ (1930) and ‘It don’t mean
a thing (if it ain’t got that swing’) 1932. In each case note:

• The complexity of the chord changes

• The overall structure
• The role played by each section of the band and the use of
individual instruments from sections
• The style of melody used by each improvising soloist

As an example of his longer works, you may want to ‘Reminiscing in

tempo’, a four-movement work in slow tempo composed in memory
of his mother. The breaks between the movements were enforced
by the length of the whole side. In practice the piece makes a
twelve-minute whole, retaining the same tempo and musical ideas
throughout.

Count Basie, ‘Lester leaps in’ (1939)

Count Basie’s band was famous for its precise rhythm section and
its easy swung rhythms. This track was recorded by a small group of
soloists with Basie on piano and the rhythm section playing a crucial
role in providing the energy behind the performance. It
demonstrates a number of standard jazz techniques:

• Walking bass: a constantly moving bass line roving around the

chord changes
• ‘Comping’: the pianist supplies short chords at the changes,
leaving space for the soloists to improvise without competition
from the piano.
• Trading fours: two soloists alternate at four-bar intervals