Swing Revival
Encyclopedia
The Swing Revival was a late 1990s
and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing
and jump blues
music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima
, often mixed with a more contemporary rock
, rockabilly
or ska
sound, known also as neo-swing or retro swing.
The beginning of the neo-swing movement is usually credited to the Los Angeles
band Royal Crown Revue
, who formed in 1989, playing rockabilly-inflected swing and jump blues at such nightclubs as San Francisco's Club DeLuxe
. That same year, two other influential bands formed: California’s
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
, who stayed closer to the original swing sound, and Eugene, Oregon
’s Cherry Poppin' Daddies
, a rock band who experimented with swing (though it was not their primary focus).
Most swing revival bands were based around a rock and roll
rhythm section of electric guitar, double bass, and drum kit, with a three or four instrument horn section
, which usually consisted of trumpet, saxophone, and trombone. One of the revival bands, The Brian Setzer Orchestra
used a much larger horn section, with thirteen wind instruments, which more closely matched the size of the groups during the swing era in the 1930s.
Much of the swing revival drew on the style popularized by Louis Prima
called jump blues
. This use of the term "swing" is based more on orchestration and dance than strictly on musical style. The swing music in the 1930s and 1940s was part of the Big Band
era, led by Glenn Miller
, Artie Shaw
, Duke Ellington
, and Benny Goodman
. However, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a newer style, known at the time as jump blues
, became popular in African-American nightclubs as played by such musicians as Cab Calloway
, Big Joe Turner
, Lowell Fulson
, Louis Jordan
, and Louis Prima
.
Swing revival bands focused on the highly rehearsed and arranged sweet style rather than the hot style, which was more improvisational, and which focused on instrumentalist virtuosity.
and The Mask
(whose hit soundtrack featured both Royal Crown Revue
and the Brian Setzer Orchestra) introduced the genre to a wider audience.
By the late 90s, retro swing's popularity was increasing. The 1996 film Swingers
, featuring Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, was both a critical and financial success. In 1997, third wave ska and ska punk
had become a major presence in mainstream music. The commercial success of bands such as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
, who combined ska
and punk with a prominent brass section, and Hepcat
, who played a more traditional jazz and R&B influenced style of ska, presumably helped pave the way for neo-swing's mainstream acceptance.
Finally, in 1998
and 1999
, the swing revival entered the mainstream, partly due to a television commercial for The Gap
featuring the original Louis Prima
recording of "Jump, Jive and Wail" and khaki
-clad dancers doing the Lindy Hop
. Neo-swing bands cracked the Billboard
Top 50, Cherry Poppin' Daddies had a major hit with "Zoot Suit Riot," Big Bad Voodoo Daddy played the half-time show at Super Bowl XXXIII
, and retro-swing music was prominently featured in television and films such as 1999’s Blast from the Past
.
In recent years, swing music has become popular in Germany. Singers Roger Cicero
and Tom Gaebel
have attained large followings both in their native country and world wide. Cicero’s style is predominantly that of 1940s and 1950s swing music, combined with German lyrics; he became Germany's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007.
During the Swing Revival, the Ultra-Lounge
series of CDs appeared in 1996.
, hip hop
and house
techniques. Leading artists include Caravan Palace
and Parov Stelar
. It is mainly popular in Europe, and electro swing artists incorporate European influences such as Django Reinhardt
's Gypsy Swing.
1990s in music
For music from a year in the 1990s, go to 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99This article includes trends in popular music in the 1990s....
and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
and jump blues
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima
Louis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
, often mixed with a more contemporary rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
or ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
sound, known also as neo-swing or retro swing.
Origins
For the history of swing, see swing musicThe beginning of the neo-swing movement is usually credited to the Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
band Royal Crown Revue
Royal Crown Revue
The Royal Crown Revue is a band formed in 1989 in Los Angeles, California. They are often credited with starting the Swing Revival movement. Live, RCR has been extremely successful: They participated in 1998's Vans Warped Tour, opened for the B-52s and The Pretenders and played at major US Jazz...
, who formed in 1989, playing rockabilly-inflected swing and jump blues at such nightclubs as San Francisco's Club DeLuxe
Club DeLuxe
Club DeLuxe is a nightclub located on Haight Street in San Francisco. Opened by Jay Johnson in 1989, it was the nesting ground for the swing revival of the 1990s, and hosts a wide array of jazz bands and DJs as well as a monthly burlesque show. The bar was designed in 1949.Monday nights are...
. That same year, two other influential bands formed: California’s
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a contemporary swing revival band from southern California. Their notable singles include "Go Daddy-O", "You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight ", and "Mr. Pinstripe Suit". The band played the Super Bowl XXXIII half-time show in 1999.The band was originally formed in Ventura,...
, who stayed closer to the original swing sound, and Eugene, Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
’s Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Cherry Poppin' Daddies
The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are an American band established in Eugene, Oregon, in 1989. Formed by Steve Perry and Dan Schmid , the band has experienced many membership changes over the years, with only Perry, Schmid and Dana Heitman currently remaining from the original line-up.The Daddies' music...
, a rock band who experimented with swing (though it was not their primary focus).
Most swing revival bands were based around a rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
rhythm section of electric guitar, double bass, and drum kit, with a three or four instrument horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
, which usually consisted of trumpet, saxophone, and trombone. One of the revival bands, The Brian Setzer Orchestra
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
The Brian Setzer Orchestra is a swing and jump blues band formed in 1990 by Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer. The group had success covering Louis Prima's "Jump Jive an' Wail", which appeared on Prima's 1957 album The Wildest!...
used a much larger horn section, with thirteen wind instruments, which more closely matched the size of the groups during the swing era in the 1930s.
Much of the swing revival drew on the style popularized by Louis Prima
Louis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
called jump blues
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
. This use of the term "swing" is based more on orchestration and dance than strictly on musical style. The swing music in the 1930s and 1940s was part of the Big Band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
era, led by Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
, Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw
Arthur Jacob Arshawsky , better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writings....
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, and Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
. However, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a newer style, known at the time as jump blues
Jump blues
Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...
, became popular in African-American nightclubs as played by such musicians as Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
, Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
, Lowell Fulson
Lowell Fulson
Lowell Fulson was a big-voiced blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. Fulson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also recorded for business reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom...
, Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan
Louis Thomas Jordan was a pioneering American jazz, blues and rhythm & blues musician, songwriter and bandleader who enjoyed his greatest popularity from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", Jordan was highly popular with both black and white audiences in the...
, and Louis Prima
Louis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
.
Swing revival bands focused on the highly rehearsed and arranged sweet style rather than the hot style, which was more improvisational, and which focused on instrumentalist virtuosity.
Transition into mainstream
Throughout the early 1990s, neo-swing was mostly an underground movement, though exposure through movies such as 1993's Swing KidsSwing Kids (film)
Swing Kids is a film produced in 1993, directed by Thomas Carter and starring Christian Bale, Robert Sean Leonard and Kenneth Branagh. The runtime is approximately 112 minutes. The film is considered as being part of the Lindy Hop revival of the 1980s and 1990s...
and The Mask
The Mask (film)
The Mask is a 1994 American superhero comedy film based on a series of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. This film was directed by Chuck Russell, and produced by Dark Horse Entertainment and New Line Cinema, and originally released to movie theatres on July 29, 1994 through New Line...
(whose hit soundtrack featured both Royal Crown Revue
Royal Crown Revue
The Royal Crown Revue is a band formed in 1989 in Los Angeles, California. They are often credited with starting the Swing Revival movement. Live, RCR has been extremely successful: They participated in 1998's Vans Warped Tour, opened for the B-52s and The Pretenders and played at major US Jazz...
and the Brian Setzer Orchestra) introduced the genre to a wider audience.
By the late 90s, retro swing's popularity was increasing. The 1996 film Swingers
Swingers (1996 film)
Swingers is a 1996 comedy-drama film about the lives of single, unemployed actors living on the 'eastside' of Hollywood, California during the 1990s swing revival...
, featuring Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, was both a critical and financial success. In 1997, third wave ska and ska punk
Ska punk
Ska punk is a fusion music genre that combines ska and punk rock. It achieved its highest level of commercial success in the United States in the late 1990s. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk, blending ska with hardcore punk.The characteristics of ska punk vary, due to the fusion of contrasting...
had become a major presence in mainstream music. The commercial success of bands such as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are an American ska punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1983. Since the band's inception, lead vocalist Dicky Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, tenor saxophonist Tim "Johnny Vegas" Burton and dancer Ben Carr have remained constant members...
, who combined ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
and punk with a prominent brass section, and Hepcat
Hepcat
Hepcat is a ska and reggae band formed in southern California in 1989.Their soulful harmonies and mellow rhythms were unlike those of contemporaries and more akin to musicians from the heyday of 1960s Jamaican ska, also referred to as the first wave....
, who played a more traditional jazz and R&B influenced style of ska, presumably helped pave the way for neo-swing's mainstream acceptance.
Finally, in 1998
1998 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...
and 1999
1999 in music
-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation.**Paul McCartney attends the first of his stepdaughter Heather's first housewares collection in Georgia....
, the swing revival entered the mainstream, partly due to a television commercial for The Gap
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
featuring the original Louis Prima
Louis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
recording of "Jump, Jive and Wail" and khaki
Khaki
This article is about the fabric. For the color, see Khaki . Kaki, another name for the persimmon, is often misspelled "Khaki".Khaki is a type of fabric or the color of such fabric...
-clad dancers doing the Lindy Hop
Lindy Hop
The Lindy Hop is an American social dance, from the swing dance family. It evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and '30s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based...
. Neo-swing bands cracked the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Top 50, Cherry Poppin' Daddies had a major hit with "Zoot Suit Riot," Big Bad Voodoo Daddy played the half-time show at Super Bowl XXXIII
Super Bowl XXXIII
Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played on January 31, 1999, at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida to decide the National Football League champion, following the 1998 regular season. The American Football Conference champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football...
, and retro-swing music was prominently featured in television and films such as 1999’s Blast from the Past
Blast From the Past (film)
Blast from the Past is a 1999 romantic comedy film based on a story and directed by Hugh Wilson and starring Brendan Fraser, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, Sissy Spacek, and Dave Foley.-Plot:...
.
In recent years, swing music has become popular in Germany. Singers Roger Cicero
Roger Cicero
Roger Marcel Cicero Ciceu is a German jazz musician and the son of the Romanian pianist Eugen Cicero.- Biography :...
and Tom Gaebel
Tom Gaebel
Tom Gaebel is a German singer and leader of a big band named after himself. He changed the spelling of his last name, avoiding the umlaut to give it an international sheen. In addition to singing and arranging music, Gaebel writes lyrics in English....
have attained large followings both in their native country and world wide. Cicero’s style is predominantly that of 1940s and 1950s swing music, combined with German lyrics; he became Germany's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007.
During the Swing Revival, the Ultra-Lounge
Ultra-lounge (album series)
Ultra-Lounge is a series of compilation CDs released by Capitol Records, predominantly featuring music genres such as exotica, space age pop, mambo, television theme songs, and lounge...
series of CDs appeared in 1996.
Electro-swing
Electro-swing is a later development, incorporating samplingSampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
, hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
and house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
techniques. Leading artists include Caravan Palace
Caravan Palace
Caravan Palace is a French Electroswing band based in Paris. The current band line-up consists of Sonia Fernandez Velasco , Arnaud Vial , Hugues Payen , Camille Chapelière , Charles Delaporte and Antoine Toustou...
and Parov Stelar
Parov Stelar
Parov Stelar aka Marcus Füreder is a musician who lives and works in Linz, Austria. He performs with his Band - the Parov Stelar Band - and as a DJ worldwide...
. It is mainly popular in Europe, and electro swing artists incorporate European influences such as Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
's Gypsy Swing.