Rhythm Section in Big Band and Swing - Nicole Seeger

A common idea is that when times are rough and stress is high, people look inward for hope and happiness. This was especially true in the American Great Depression of the 1930s. In what became known as the “swing era,” jazz music spread like wildfire. People all over the country would gather around big bands or listen to swing music on their radios and dance their worries away. “Despite the depression—or perhaps because of it—the thirties were for many people a new beginning” (Schuller). Something about the “swing” of the music got people on their feet and helped them escape from the harsh times of the 1930s. The rhythm section was well known for creating the basis of this swing.

The rhythm section of a big band in the 1930’s usually consisted of one of each of the following instruments: guitar, piano, bass, and drum set. The rhythm instruments provided a stylistic basis off of which the other musicians in the band could play. The two choral instruments, the piano and the guitar, complimented each other and the soloist. The bass was usually acoustic, and a technique known as walking bass was used. Walking bass consists of unsyncopated quarter notes that create a walking sound. The drums provided the “swing,” and could change the mood and the timing of the piece.

The rhythm that is characteristic of swing is created by lengthening the eighth notes that are on the beat and shortening the eighth notes that are between the beats. Some argue that the musicians in the rhythm section of a big band play as a collective unit, but others, like Charles Kiel, state that the musicians have more of a tendency to participatory discrepancies. Participatory discrepancies are defined as the articulation of the beat of the music along with unsynchronized timing between the drums and the bass. This results in a “push and pull between the instruments, creating a tension that drives the groove with energy” (Butterfield). This topic is still under debate, and there are many papers arguing the unity or lack thereof of the swing rhythm section.

Rhythm section greats, such as drummer Gene Krupa and pianist Teddy Wilson, carried the rest of their ensembles by providing the swing for them. Without drummers, pianists, guitarists, and bass players, big bands would not have their characteristic rhythm – the rhythm that created such danceability for swing music, the rhythm that allowed so many people to get away from the crumbling economy that surrounded them and have a hope for new beginnings.

 

 

 

Citations:

Butterfield, Matthew. "Participatory Discrepancies and the Preception of Beats in Jazz." Music and Perception. 27.3 (2010): 157-76. PsycINFO. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

Scaruffi, Piero. "New York: The Swing Era." A History of Jazz Music. Piero Scaruffi, 2005. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.

Schuller, Gunther. The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz 1930-1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Print. 3-5.