Earlier Big Band And Swing Music example essay topic

Born in New York City, Artie Shaw would become one of the top bandleaders in the swing era. He began his musical career as a highly sought-after alto saxophone player in the New York area, and was able to benefit from the growth of radio and studio recordings. As he perfected his technical ability with various dance bands, he was still relatively unknown in the early 30's when he began to focus exclusively on the Clarinet while Swing music began to grow in popularity. While we may carefully analyze the two pieces to satisfy our curiosity regarding musical evolution in Jazz, we should also not lose sight of the fact that these are two very enjoyable styles of music. From the lively swing orchestras inspiring large audiences to dance, to the softer Bossa Nova sound which is pleasing to hear in a relaxed setting, both have contributed to the growth of musical creativity in Jazz from the 1930's through today.

Shaw first broke through with an unusual string quartet in New York's Imperial Theater. By early 1937, Shaw had formed a conventional swing band which would eventually record "Begin the Beguine". Tormented by the pressures that came with unwanted fame, Artie Shaw disbanded his band at the height of his fame, but was able to mount a comeback with a new band the following year to record many more hit songs. Artie Shaw would go on to serve honorably in the US Navy during World War 2, but after returning in the mid-40's it became clear that the times had changed, and it was no longer economically viable to support a big swing band. He continued to play sporadically and attempt to lead new bands until discouragement led him to announce his retirement in the mid-1950's, after which he would never even play the clarinet again.

Antonio Carlos Jobim, also known by his lifelong nickname of "Tom", grew up in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. During his late teens he began to pursue an education as an Architect, but by the time he turned 20, he could not resist a powerful attraction to music so he started to play the piano in nightclubs and worked in music studios. He recorded his first record in 1954 and found fame 2 years later when he provided the score for the play "Or feo do Carnaval". In 1958, along with the work of Brazilian Singer Joao Gilberto, Antonio Jobim launched the phenomenon known as Bossa Nova. In 1962, he gained international fame in the US when Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd performed his song, "Desafinado".

Later that year, Jobim was invited along with other Brazilian artists to perform in the US as Bossa Nova grew into a very popular musical fad. Several other Jazz groups adjusted their styles, releasing many Bossa Nova songs until the trend fell from popularity in the late 1960's. Jobim continued to perform with small groups around the world to appreciative audiences until shortly before his death, securing his reputation as one of the great songwriters of Jazz music in the 20th century". Begin the Beguine" was recorded in July 1938 by a swing orchestra led by Artie Shaw on the clarinet as the lead soloist. His big band was composed of 3 trumpet players, 3 trombones, 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor sax players, and a rhythm section including piano, guitar, bass, and drums. As the song begins with the clarinet solo and muted trumpets, the swing feel becomes clear to the listener.

The rhythm section keeps a steady beat of 4 beats per measure throughout, and the solos are carefully defined and organized with the drums or the trumpets occasionally helping to bridge gaps between various sections of the song until the Clarinet finally leads the band to a conclusion". Desafinado" was recorded in February 1962 by a small jazz group of six skilled musicians. The "front men" for this recording was Stan Getz on Tenor Sax and Charlie Byrd on the guitar. A rhythm guitar, bass, drums, and percussionist formed the rhythm section for this famous Bossa Nova tune. As the percussionists introduce the song to the audience, we can immediately tell that the tempo is not the normal steady "flat 4" beats that we may have been familiar with during the big band era. The saxophone and guitar provide spontaneous creativity with alternating solos throughout the music, going for a low mellow feel that is consistent with the tempo provided by the rhythm section, which features the sound of brushes being used on the drum set commonly associated with the Bossa Nova style.

As we compare the two pieces, the historical trend towards creativity is clearly demonstrated with the earlier big band and swing music encouraging and allowing for more periods of creativity by the soloists than their predecessors, yet still fitting within the boundaries of the song's arrangement, until the later Jazz styles including Bossa Nova, where the song seems to exist only to provide a canvas for the soloists to freely work with from the introduction until the conclusion of the piece. This is more clearly seen when you consider the "bridging" in the swing music, where the audience is explicitly "told" by the musicians that they are being led from one soloist to the next with a defined melody between each section. Desafinado on the other hand seems to be less restrictive, allowing the guitar to fade out right as the saxophone begins his contribution to the piece. Underneath it all, the rhythm section's contribution as they keep time seems to reinforce this changing style of increasing creativity with the steady flat traditional sound of swing to the very creative rhythms in Bossa Nova. Throughout the history of musical evolution, there are few styles which show more variation than Jazz. As such, it is sometimes enlightening to illustrate this variation by examining and contrasting some of the very unique styles of jazz, as well as the people behind the music.

Within these pages, we will examine the Swing era represented by the performance of "Begin the Beguine" from Artie Shaw's Orchestra with the Bossa Nova sound of "Desafinado" composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. During this investigation we will see how two very different people from very different eras and styles both enjoyed commercial success under the big tent of Jazz music, as the highly organized sound of the big band era slowly gave way to newer styles that encouraged freedom in creativity by the soloists.