The Swing Era The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945 [Hardcover]

Here is the book jazz lovers have eagerly awaited, the second volume of Gunther Schuller's monumentalThe History of Jazz. When the first volume,Early Jazz, appeared two decades ago, it immediately established itself as one of the seminal works on American music. Nat Hentoff called it a remarkable breakthrough in musical analysis of jazz, and Frank Conroy, inThe New York Times Book Review, praised it as definitive.... A remarkable book by any standard...unparalleled in the literature of jazz. It has been universally recognized as the basic musical analysis of jazz from its beginnings until 1933.
The Swing Erafocuses on that extraordinary period in American musical history--1933 to 1945--when jazz was synonymous with America's popular music, its social dances and musical entertainment. The book's thorough scholarship, critical perceptions, and great love and respect for jazz puts this well-remembered era of American music into new and revealing perspective. It examines how the arrangements of Fletcher Henderson and Eddie Sauter--whom Schuller equates with Richard Strauss as a master of harmonic modulation --contributed to Benny Goodman's finest work...how Duke Ellington used the highly individualistic trombone trio of Joe Tricky Sam Nanton, Juan Tizol, and Lawrence Brown to enrich his elegant compositions...how Billie Holiday developed her horn-like instrumental approach to singing...and how the seminal compositions and arrangements of the long-forgotten John Nesbitt helped shape Swing Era styles through their influence on Gene Gifford and the famous Casa Loma Orchestra. Schuller also provides serious reappraisals of such often neglected jazz figures as Cab Calloway, Henry Red Allen, Horace Henderson, Pee Wee Russell, and Joe Mooney.
Much of the book's focus is on the famous swing bands of the time, which were the essence of the Swing Era. There are the great black bands--Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Jimmie Luncels#