Swing revival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Swing Revival | |
| Stylistic origins | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins |
1920s - 1950s; 1990s
|
| Typical instruments | |
| Mainstream popularity | 1990s, 2000s |
The Swing Revival was a 1990s and early 2000s-era period of renewed popular interest in swing and jump blues music from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima. Influential swing revival groups included Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Royal Crown Revue, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums Featuring Miss Carmen Getit and The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Also popular, the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, are considered a swing band due to their radio hits, but swing is just one of the genres they do.
[edit] History
Most swing revival bands were based around a rock and roll rhythm section of electric guitar, double bass, and drum kit, with a three or four instrument horn section, which usually consisted of trumpet, saxophone, and trombone. One of the revival bands, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, used a much larger horn section, with thirteen wind instruments, which more closely matched the size of the groups during the swing era in the 1930s.
Much of the swing revival drew on the style popularized by Louis Prima called jump blues. This use of the term "swing" is based more on orchestration and dance than strictly on musical style. The swing music in the 1930s and 1940s was part of the Big Band era, led by Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. However, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a newer style, known at the time as jump blues, became popular in African-American nightclubs as played by such musicians as Cab Calloway, Big Joe Turner, Lowell Fulson, Louis Jordan, and Louis Prima.
Swing revival bands focused on the highly rehearsed and arranged sweet style rather than the hot style, which was more improvisational, and which focused on instrumentalist virtuosity.
In recent years Swing music has become hugely popular in Germany. Singers Roger Cicero [1]and Tom Gaebel [2]have attained large followings both in their native country and world wide. Cicero’s style is predominantly that of 1940s and 1950s swing music, combined with German lyrics; he became Germany's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007.
The swing revival was also associated with a revival of interest in swing dancing. Films such as Swingers and the earlier Swing Kids increased interest in the Swinging lifestyle, as did 1999's retro-friendly Blast from the Past.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- AMG Retro Swing Site (registration required)
