Swingin’ And Swayin’

[HostDave]

By Christopher Kyte, President

Why is it we are sometimes drawn to music that might pre-date our past but that gives us the same feeling of comfort and security as actual memories from childhood? I’m a big fan of big bands and in my last blog, I mentioned that we have a couple Big Band Themboating voyages coming up in February with a stellar line-up of musical entertainment. When we all think of the music of the big bands, we tend to focus on the 1930s and 1940s as that seems to be the most glamorous era and the heyday. The names are legendary. Benny Goodman. Glenn Miller. Cab Calloway. Count Basie. Artie Shaw. Harry James. Duke Ellington.

Just like many of our guests, I’m not as old as I might seem based on my interest in big bands. To grow up dancing to the great bands of the 1930s and 1940s I would be around 90 by now! While I’m older than I’d like to be, I’m younger than that! But when I listen to music of the big band era it takes me back to a time that I didn’t remember but I think I do. What I really remember is the legend of America of my parents and their parents. The music ties in to the stories I used to hear as a child so even though I didn’t dance to the original bands, through my family history I feel as if I did. And what a wonderful time it was.

The big band is a uniquely American invention that exemplifies the jazz and swing eras. In an era when bands were just a handful of people, the big band got its name because it was, well, big! Most averaged between a dozen and two dozen musicians.

Formal jazz bands gave way to a freer, more relaxed and improvisational style by the 1930s and the epicenters of the movement were in New York, Chicago and Kansas City. This was the era of Cab Calloway, Mel Tormé and his Mel-Tones, Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club orchestra and led to the rise of individual stars such as Louis Armstrong.

Big bands captured the popular imagination and radio broadcasts spread their reach across the country with contests such as the Battle of the Bands. In fact, Benny Goodman only rocketed to stardom after radio found him. Big bands were also featured frequently in movies of the time and soon the music’s reach extended around the globe.

Swing was a variation of the jazzy style of the original big bands and was initially viewed with a similar disdain to that of early rock and roll 20 years later. Swing had a smoother sound than jazz and rose in popularity gradually before developing a mass following in the middle of the 1930s.

Swing is most associated with World War II thanks to the movie images of military men in crisp uniforms dancing with their sweethearts before heading off to war. Radio, combined with Hollywood, made sure that glamourous big bands became a fixtures of the 1940s and America’s part in the war. In fact, band members served in the military with frequency and big bands toured with the USO. One of the great musical losses of the war was the death of Glenn Miller when his plane was shot down over England. The war not only lifted swing, it also helped to dismantle it as more and more musicians joined the military. After the war ended, swing fell out of favor due, in part, to its close association with the global conflagration that many people wanted to forget.

I’ll admit that swing is my favorite style. I’ve come to realize it’s because, for me at least, it represents a time when America pulled together and achieved the unachievable. The patriotism, bravery and honor of our fighting men in uniform symbolize a country that believed no matter how great the odds, it would always prevail. Like most of our guests, I didn’t live through that era, but feel immensely proud of those who did. For me, swing is the music of our greatest generation.

Our February 15, 2013 vacation from Memphis, TN to New Orleans, LA and a February 23, 2013 trip roundtrip from New Orleans take our guests back to that time. Greats like the Artie Shaw Orchestra and Harry James Orchestra still exist, still play the hits and can be found on another nod to the past, our grand American Queen. For me, these are among our most treasured voyages.