The Swing Era

music history · jazz · 1930s · dancing

Big bands ruled. During the swing era, large groups of musicians with lots of brass instruments, saxophones, and drums played energetic music that made people want to dance. This was THE music that teenagers and adults loved most in America.

Benny Goodman's big moment. On August 21, 1935, a musician nicknamed the King of Swing named Benny Goodman played at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, and this performance introduced swing music to the whole country in a major way.

Amazing soloists shined. The swing era brought incredible musicians into the spotlight, like saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, drummers like Gene Krupa, and pianists like Fats Waller, who each had their own special style that made the music exciting.

Black musicians started it. Though swing became huge in the mid-1930s, black bands led by Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Fletcher Henderson had been playing this kind of music since the late 1920s and early 1930s, long before it became a national craze.

Popular for 14 years. The swing era lasted from 1933 until 1947, meaning for over a decade, this upbeat, danceable music was what most people in America wanted to hear.