Harold Land (tenor sax), Clifford Brown (trumpet), Richie Powell (piano), George Morrow (bass) and Max Roach (drums). From the album Study in Brown (1955).
Swing music is style of jazz that emerged in the late 1920s in America and was very popular during the 1930s and 1940s. The name is due to the “swinging feeling” when emphasis is on the weak pulse of the music. In the swing bands there were musicians improvising on the melody of the arrangement.
Louis Armstrong
These so-called “big bands” performed this dance music that dominated the American music scene during what is known as the “swing era”. The most outstanding musicians to play this music were Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellingon and Count Basie among others. Swing was born in the 1920s when dance bands began to use arrangements written with rhythmic innovations created by Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines.
Count Basie
There is a brief introduction and then the theme goes off at very fast pace. The main tune is composed of a quick phrase played by the saxophone and trumpet, and the bridge is played by the piano. Brown begins his solo as a whirlwind with short and shocking phrases. Land follows with longer passages played at full speed. Then the piano continues the race to see who comes first playing like a juggler. The saxophone and trumpet exchange four-bar solos with the drums. At last, the group reexposes the theme without fainting for a moment, but this time the bridge is played by Roach.
© EmArcy Records
