THE 1990’s SWING REVIVAL by Mark Crampton
By now, you readers should have grasped that there are just NOT many styles of music I don’t like and listen to. Around 2002, I think, was when I really got into swing music – after being introduced to revival swing - specifically, the Cherry Popping Daddies “Zoot Suit Riot” one and only swing album - by my older daughter, Michelle. I REALLY got interested in both original Big Band Swing and Swing Revival then. So, OK, I guess if I am going to do an article on the Swing Revival of the 1990’s, obviously I should do a quick introduction to the original Big Band Swing that was being revived! Original Big Band Swing is characterized by a big band (hence the name!), with a solid rhythm section - drum set and percussion, piano, upright base and strings - backed by reed and horn/brass
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sections. It features choruses rather than lead vocalists, with prominence of solo instrumentalists - often, the band leader himself - leading the music and “winging it” outside of this musical structure. Revival swing replaces the original rhythm section with a rock band - drum kits and percussion and electric guitars, but also keeps the piano and upright base, sometimes the other strings, depending on the size/style of band - still backed by reed and horn/brass sections. It also still has the choruses and instrumental soloists – who are also the lead vocalists. To start, the original “Swing Era” of the American music scene was, mainly, an evolution of the “Roaring 20’s” big band music and the “Charleston” dance era (1923-1928) https://youtu.be/ yNAOHtmy4j0 [NOTE: the dancer at
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1:37 is at Galveston’s famed Hollywood Dinner Club – look it up.] Or how about a clip of the fabulous Josephine Baker (if you don’t know who she was, well – too bad for you!) https://youtu. be/krp5bliseHQ The recognized “Swing Era” only ran from 1935 thru the WW II years. Benny Goodman is considered the forerunner - and biggest name bandleader - of the swing era https://youtu.be/zBs9gZQX7lQ , while numerous bands – many with band leaders and musicians who played in Goodman’s band - followed him. Harry James, Gene Krupa, Zoot Sims, Buddy Greco, to name a few. The “Jitterbug” or “Jump” style of swing dancing swept America - and the world - at that time, because of the music! https://youtu.be/kAYrXXxtPxs from the movie “Private Buckaroo” in 1942. https://youtu.be/3tRFL4q5m7c -
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don’t know what movie this clip is from – still great dancing! Sadly, for various reasons, by the end of WW II the American music industry spurned the unified Big Band swing style, and in the late 1940’s Jazz was the predominate music choice. In the mid-1950’s thru the early 1960’s, Big Band Music did make a resurgence in popularity, but it was generally smaller “big” bands playing swinging pop and swinging jazz rather than classic Big Band swing. The famous musician band leaders had given way to celebrated vocalists front men/women – Dean Martin, Doris Day, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore, Peggy Lee, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra https://youtu.be/1cPG1t52GgI et al. typified this trend, and it pretty much