From the early 1930s until the late 1940s big band swing was the most popular style of music in the USA, and many of the most important bandleaders were huge mainstream stars.
Bands usually containing between 11 and 20 musicians would play music that combined ensemble passages, often riff-based, with solo sections to entertain large audiences of dancers.
Duke Ellington, considered by many to be the greatest composer in jazz, was a key bandleader, as were virtuoso clarinettist Benny Goodman, pianist Count Basie, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, the ever-popular Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman.
The era also saw the emergence of a number of soloists, with Coleman Hawkins notably establishing the tenor saxophone as an important jazz instrument.
Lester Young, who like Hawkins first found fame with Fletcher Henderson’s Orchestra, was also highly influential, as were alto saxophonists Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges, pianists Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson, and trumpeters Roy Eldgridge and Rex Stewart.
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday also first appeared singing with big bands during this period – as we highlighted in our guide to the best jazz singers of all time.
A number of factors contributed to the decline of the big band era, as it became harder for bandleaders to keep such large ensembles consistently employed. Although many of the groups disbanded, a few – Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Woody Herman and Stan Kenton in particular – were able to keep producing important records well beyond the 1940s.
Key big band recordings
Here are a few of our favourites, taken from our complete round up of big band music.
Album & Key Track
The Complete Atomic Basie Splanky
Duke Ellington – The Blanton-Webster Band Cotton Tail
The Lester Young Story One O’Clock Jump
Benny Goodman – the Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert I Got Rhythm
