Oldies Music Glossary: "Big Band"

Definition: "Big Band" music is a term used to describe the harder, somewhat slower form of jazz that begin to take off in the mid-thirties and lasted through World War II (indeed, American society during the war is almost inseparable from the genre). However, apart from the more generic "swing" term, Big Band music generally featured a large "dance orchestra" of 15-20 musicians, sometimes with a solo vocalist (hence the name). The bands were pop-oriented, commercial outfits that were led by the bandleader, not the singer, and improvisation was kept to a minimum. The orchestration was also slightly different than in other types of jazz, with clarinets often taking lead lines and more than one saxophone offering rhythmic counterpoint.

There were two types of big bands at the zenith of the genre's popularity: "sweet" bands, ballad-heavy and more likely to be concerned with melody, and "hot" bands, which were more rhythmically oriented, more prone to soloing, and more likely to appeal to fast swing dancers like jitterbuggers. The term is not always precise: some big bands could run both sweet and hot; some employed vocalists and some did not; some were closer to traditional jazz than others. After WWII, harder, more experimental and less danceable forms of jazz like bebop and free jazz began to take over the style, and pop music moved away from jazz entirely and began a slow, decade-long flirtation with urban blues that would lead directly to the birth of rock and roll. Big bands still exist today, many of them bearing the names of their long-dead leaders, as new bandleaders faithfully replicate the tightly regimented orchestration and arrangements of their most beloved hits.

Also Known As: Swing, Pop Vocal