Swing music is a form of jazz that developed in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. The name came from the emphasis on the off–beat,or weaker pulse. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946,known as the swing era. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Notable musicians of the swing era include Duke Ellington,Benny Goodman,Count Basie,Cab Calloway,Jimmy Dorsey,Tommy Dorsey,Woody Herman,Harry James,Lionel Hampton,Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw.
James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson was an American pianist,bandleader,arranger and composer,important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. He was one of the most prolific black musical arrangers and,along with Duke Ellington,is considered one of the most influential arrangers and bandleaders in jazz history. Henderson's influence was vast. He helped bridge the gap between the Dixieland and the swing eras. He was often known as "Smack" Henderson.
Donald Matthew Redman was an American jazz musician,arranger,bandleader,and composer.
Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams was an American jazz,jump blues,and rhythm and blues trumpeter.
Ivie Anderson was an American jazz singer. Anderson was a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra for more than a decade.
The swing era was the period (1933–1947) when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States. Though this was its most popular period,the music had actually been around since the late 1920s and early 1930s,being played by black bands led by such artists as Duke Ellington,Jimmie Lunceford,Bennie Moten,Cab Calloway,Earl Hines,and Fletcher Henderson,and white bands from the 1920s led by the likes of Jean Goldkette,Russ Morgan and Isham Jones. An early milestone in the era was from "the King of Swing" Benny Goodman's performance at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles on August 21,1935,bringing the music to the rest of the country. The 1930s also became the era of other great soloists:the tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins,Ben Webster and Lester Young;the alto saxophonists Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges;the drummers Chick Webb,Gene Krupa,Jo Jones and Sid Catlett;the pianists Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson;the trumpeters Louis Armstrong,Roy Eldridge,Bunny Berigan,and Rex Stewart.
Ray Willis Nance was an American jazz trumpeter,violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra.
"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn that was the signature tune of the Duke Ellington orchestra.
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book is a 1957 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald,accompanied by Duke Ellington and his orchestra,focusing on Ellington's songs.
Russell Procope was an American clarinetist and alto saxophonist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra.
"Dinah" is a popular song published in 1925 and introduced by Ethel Waters at the Plantation Club on Broadway. It was integrated into the show Kid Boots. The music was written by Harry Akst and the lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. Hit versions in 1926 were by Ethel Waters,The Revelers,Cliff Edwards,and Fletcher Henderson.
Orchestral jazz is a jazz genre that developed in New York City in the 1920s. Early innovators of the genre,such as Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington,include some of the most highly regarded musicians,composers,and arrangers in all of jazz history. The fusion of jazz's rhythmic and instrumental characteristics with the scale and structure of an orchestra,made orchestral jazz distinct from the musical genres that preceded its emergence. Its development contributed both to the popularization of jazz,as well as the critical legitimization of jazz as an art form.
Blackbirds of 1928 was a hit Broadway musical revue that starred Adelaide Hall,Bill Bojangles Robinson,Tim Moore and Aida Ward,with music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It contained the hit songs "Diga Diga Do",the duo's first hit,"I Can't Give You Anything But Love","Bandanna Babies" and "I Must Have That Man" all sung by Hall.
This is the discography of recordings by Duke Ellington,including those nominally led by his sidemen,and his later collaborations with musicians with whom Ellington had generally not previously recorded.
George Washington was an American jazz trombonist.
Dick Vance was an American jazz trumpeter and arranger.
Recollections of the Big Band Era is an album by American pianist,composer and bandleader Duke Ellington recorded in 1962 and 1963 by Bruce Swedien at Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago for the Reprise label but not released until 1974 on the Atlantic label. The album features performances of compositions associated with big bands led by artists such as Count Basie,Fletcher Henderson,Louis Armstrong,Cab Calloway and others by the Duke Ellington's Orchestra. The 1989 CD reissue included 11 bonus tracks that originally appeared on Will the Big Bands Ever Come Back? which was released on Reprise in 1965.
A Study in Frustration:The Fletcher Henderson Story is a box set compilation surveying studio recordings of the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra from 1923 to 1938,released in 1961 on Columbia Records,CXK 85470. It initially appeared as a four-album set produced by Frank Driggs and assembled by John Hammond,both of whom also wrote the liner notes. The set was part of a Thesaurus of Classic Jazz series on Columbia which included King of the Delta Blues Singers also worked on by Hammond and Driggs and released in 1961,the first album reissue of songs by blues legend Robert Johnson.
Ellingtonia,Vol. One is a compilation album of phonograph records assembled by Brunswick Records during the American Federation of Musicians strike,cataloguing the early,experimental Brunswick and Vocalion recordings of Duke Ellington in the middle of the Harlem Renaissance. During the later Swing era,the recordings were praised for accurately predicting the developments in the Big band genre several years in advance.
Ellingtonia,Vol. Two is a compilation album of phonograph records assembled by Brunswick Records during the American Federation of Musicians strike,cataloguing the famed early recordings of Duke Ellington on Brunswick and Vocalion Records. During the later Swing era,the recordings were praised for accurately predicting the developments in the Big band genre several years in advance.
