Scott Yanow, a well-known and prolific jazz writer, historian and journalist, has produced a definitive treatment of all things Swing. Equally useful as a textbook and a guide to essential recordings, Swing covers the jazz genre also known as Big Band, from its birth in 1935 to its end in 1946, as well as the post-Swing era, the Swing revival of the 1980s, and Retro Swing of the 1990s.
It’s a huge subject and requires some organizing in order to be digested, and Yanow has hit upon a reasonable solution. He first treats the bandleaders, from Louis Armstrong to Paul Whiteman and beyond, then covers the sidemen, vocalists, and composers and arrangers. The scheme is sometimes arbitrary. Armstrong may have been most influential as a bandleader, but he was also a highly important soloist, and a beloved and innovative vocalist. Likewise bandleader Duke Ellington, who surely is equally notable as a composer and arranger, and no slouch as a pianist either. But for the most part, the organization works and makes for an orderly presentation of lots of information.
Nearly as important is the section on Swing music in the post-Swing era, which takes in much of Frank Sinatra’s career, the second phase of Count Basie’s, and latter-day Swing revivalists such as Harry Connick Jr., Scott Hamilton and Louis Jordan.
Yanow has little patience for much of the ’90s Retro Swing movement, particularly the most popular of the groups, the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and the Brian Setzer Orchestra, but he does acknowledge the authenticity of some groups, particularly the Royal Crown Revue, Squirrel Nut Zippers and others. He faults the mainstream press for treating the movement as merely a fad, however, and also the jazz press for almost totally ignoring what could have been a big hope for jazz’s future as a popular art form.
In addition to giving a biography of each major artist, Swing provides a discography of what’s available on CD, which can cover many pages for Armstrong, Ellington, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and their ilk, or just one or two entries for lesser lights. Also included for each is a paragraph or two of “LPs to search for,” and listing of any films in which the artist or group appeared.
Yanow is a serviceable writer but hardly a great one, although usually he gets right to the point: “Earl Hines was one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time.” Of Art Tatum, he observes, “His blinding speed on the piano was often unbelievable, he played chords and harmonies in the 1930s that other pianists would not think of until the 1960s and ’70s, and his technique was phenomenal.” And of Ella Fitzgerald, “Her voice was always in tune, she evoked constant joy, and she could outswing anyone, whether through her remarkable scat singing or in her phrasing of lyrics.”
Yanow’s not really a great interviewer, which is apparent in a section of interviews with several Retro Swing stars. He also is less than well-informed about other genres such as country, referring to the 1920s hillbilly band Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers as “Git-Tanner’s Skillet Lickers.” And he is far too enamored of the exclamation point!
But for sheer volume of information about one of the most prolific and influential eras of American popular music, and as a guide to essential recordings, Swing is a worthy addition to any collector’s library.
(Miller Freeman, 2000)
