Essay, Research Paper: Music Of The 1920s And 1930s

Durring the nine-teen twentys and thirties the music scene was

as popular as ever. There was the Jazz Era durring the twenties and the

Swing Era durring the thirties. Merging into the early twenties a type of

improvised music , called Dixieland Jazz was being recorded. Famous

artists includeing Louis Armstrong and Kid Ory were very popular to

the people. This music was a hit till nine-teen twenty three. Jazz musi

was the popular music durring this decade. Than durring the nine-teen

thirties many types of music was popular. This decade of the thirties

was the Swing Era. Swing is a Jazz style music that emerged at this

time. This type of music has a fast paced beat and included a band of

about ten musicians or more.

The swing era of the thirties dates back to the early twenties ,

where the black community , while dancing to contemporary Jazz

music , discovered the Charleston and the Lindy Hop. On March 26 ,

1926 , the Savory Ballroom opened its doors in New York. The

Savory was an immediate success with its block-long dance floor and

a raised double bandstand. Nightly dancing attracted most of the best

dancers in the New York area. Stimulated by the presence of great

dancers and the best black bands , music at the Savory was largely

Swinging Jazz. One evening in 1926 , following Lindbergh's flight to

Paris , a local dance enthusiast named "Shorty George" Snowden was

watching some of the dancing couples. A newspaper reporter asked

hin what dance they were doing , and it just so happened that there

was a newspaper with an article about Lindbergh's flight sitting on the

bench next to them. The title of the article read , "Lindy Hops The

Atlantic , " and George just sort of read that and said , "Lindy Hop"

and the name stuck. In the mid 1930's , a bouncy six beat variant was

named the Jitterbug by the band leader Cab Calloway when he

introduced a tune in 1934 entitled Jitterbug. With the discoverey of the

Lindy Hop and the Jitterbug , the communities began dancing to the

contemporary Jazz and Swing music as it was evolving at the time ,

with Benny Goodman leading the action. Dancers soon incorporated

tap and jazz steps into their dancing.