Swing Era Jazz

The Sting of Swing: Racial Tension in the 1930s

       Jazz during the early years of New Orleans and later throughout the 1920s in Chicago and New York was distinct from later evolutions of the music in that that music itself was a black-dominated scene. While it is true that many white musicians tried to emulate this new hot sound emanating from nighttime club performances, and even evident in that some such as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and Bix Beiderbecke rose to prominence, creatively jazz was in the hands of black musicians. At this time, jazz was also a relatively moderate business, and, while the favorite of young lower-middle class dancegoers, not widespread amongst the larger world community. Thus while there was little money associated with it, there was little interest in the racial scheme within it. Therefore there was little engenderment of a competitive nature between races, and while there was some racial hierarchy, for example the white mob-owned speakeasies in Chicago, it was firmly ensconced and mostly ignored (Stewart). With the advent of the swing era however, including the big bands of Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman, the scene changed. Jazz became a popular business as the larger ensembles adapted popular dance tunes and made them even more appealing, and with appeal came money, $80 million in 1937, and thus competition as well, “The creation of a truly nationwide mass medium in the form of radio catapulted a few jazz players to a level of celebrity that would have been unheard of only a few years before” (Gioia 128)(Swing Changes, 107). This nationalization of jazz music transformed it into almost an industry, with white bandleaders, recording artists, bookers, and even magazine writers moving in on the popularity, “The industry was dominated by celebrity bandleaders…” (Swing Changes, 101). The competition for space lead to a distinction in race, and white bands and black bands now became distinct units, “The conditions and prospects faced by African-American and white big bands had never been equivalent, and as swing became profitable business the disparity between the two groups increased” (Swing Changes, 122). One instance of this competition can be easily seen in big band battles throughout the swing era, one of the more famous being between Benny Goodman and Chick Webb. This highly anticipated event in the community featured a white celebrity bandleader coming to a respected black one at the Savoy in Harlem, the center of black-created music (Stewart).

        This general dynamic led to the acquisition of jazz music by ideological movements during the swing era, writers for a series of magazines began closely observing and commenting on the occurrences in jazz, mostly racial than musical, “…[jazz] served as both a symbol and a vehicle for cultural rebellion and, in a most indirect way, social protest. Although its musicians for the most part were unconscious of issuing such a challenge, the cultural establishment perceived their music as a direct threat to established cultural values” (Swing Changes, 53). This conflict sparked over the race in jazz rode on the controversy already in play through contemporary leftist ideals, giving another aspect and source for racial tension and conversation in the swing era. Ironically enough the self-propagating articles of the over-enthused writers served an important role in increasing the divide in jazz by reinforcing the separation of black and white bands.

      Not all entire racial buzz was about segregation and conflict. There are some notable moments of integration. While Benny Goodman was a product of the system creating white bandleaders of white bands, he made genuine efforts to increase equality. He created a separate quartet from his big band and by including drummer Gene Krupa from his band and hiring vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and pianist Teddy Wilson, both astute black players, made it a diverse group. This later allowed for Hampton to break an important color barrier by filling in for Gene Krupa in the band after the drummer left (Gioia, 142). This demonstrates that racial integration in jazz was a starting trend that would eventually serve to partially ameliorate the tension created in the swing era. The issue of race tension in the jazz scene then was created both by socioeconomic forces driven by white controlled commercialism and political issues written by liberally conscious journalism.

Commented on Brandon Smith