John Wriggle
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040405
- eISBN:
- 9780252098826
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040405.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter is an overview of the business and political landscape of Swing-Era jazz music. Music arranging was a steadily growing field in America during the 1930s and 1940s, when the job was ...
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This chapter is an overview of the business and political landscape of Swing-Era jazz music. Music arranging was a steadily growing field in America during the 1930s and 1940s, when the job was integral to many areas of the entertainment industry. Moreover, the music format most commonly associated with the Swing Era is the jazz dance big band. Although a number of bandleaders were notably capable arrangers themselves, most Swing Era stars lacked either the time or inclination to write large numbers of works for their own bands. Music arrangers thus found a central role within the business apparatus that supported the rise of big bands during the mid-1930s—an entertainment industry expansion enabled in part by a consolidation of radio, recording, and management enterprises during the Depression.Less
This chapter is an overview of the business and political landscape of Swing-Era jazz music. Music arranging was a steadily growing field in America during the 1930s and 1940s, when the job was integral to many areas of the entertainment industry. Moreover, the music format most commonly associated with the Swing Era is the jazz dance big band. Although a number of bandleaders were notably capable arrangers themselves, most Swing Era stars lacked either the time or inclination to write large numbers of works for their own bands. Music arrangers thus found a central role within the business apparatus that supported the rise of big bands during the mid-1930s—an entertainment industry expansion enabled in part by a consolidation of radio, recording, and management enterprises during the Depression.
