Experiencing Big Band Jazz

A Listener's Companion

Jeff Sultanof

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2017
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781442242432
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Jazz Music

The era of popular music from about 1917 onward saw an explosion of creative songwriting that converged with a new sound from reed, brass, and rhythm instruments. Jazz was born, and the musical sophistication that accompanied this original sound set the stage for the prominence of arrangers, whose role in big band orchestrations became as important as jazz musicians and composers themselves. The Big Band evolved as a unique phenomenon in American music history. With both studio and live vintage recordings readily available, an investigation of how to listen and experience Big Band music is overdue.

In Experiencing Big Band Jazz: A Listener's Companion, composer/arranger, music historian, and music editor Jeff Sultanof takes a fresh look at Big Band music, examining why the Big Band era started when it did; how pop music changed to meet the needs of Big Bands and the reverse; the role played by well-known band leaders and the bands they led, the jazz soloists who became legendary, and the stories of several ensembles previously unexamined. Lists of must-hear recordings and videos drawn from studio as well as live sources are also included to make the book an invaluable resource for music lovers of every age.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Series Editor’s Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Timeline
• Some Technical Terms
• The Earliest Days
• The First Era
• Interlude
• The Explosion of the Swing Era
• The War and the Recording Ban
• The Singers Take over the Popular Music Scene
• Rebirth and Diversity
• Toward a Concert Ensemble
• Limitless Possibilities
• Suggested Readings and Personal Interviews
• Recorded Sources and Further Listening
• Name Index
• Song Index
• About the Author