Bands were playing, people were dancing, the music business was booming. It was the big-band era, and swing was giving a new shape and sound to American culture. Swing Changes looks at New Deal America through its music and shows us how the contradictions and tensions within swing-over race, politics, its own cultural status, the role of women-mirrored those played out in the larger society. Drawing on memoirs, oral histories, newspapers, magazines, recordings, photographs, literature, and films, Swing Changes offers a vibrant picture of American society at a pivotal time, and a new perspective on music as a cultural force.
By:
David W. Stowe
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions:
Height: 235mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 17mm
Weight: 476g
ISBN: 9780674858268
ISBN 10: 0674858263
Pages: 299
Publication Date: 01 October 1996
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
A / AS level
,
Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction: Understanding Swing 1. The Tempo of the Time Song of the Jitterbug New Venues, New Audiences 2. Between Conjure and Kapital The Big Bringdown As American as Baseball and Hotdogs We Are All Americans Just Rich Men's Sons 3. The Incorporation of Swing Anyone Can Lead a Dance Band Broadcasting Swing The Jukes Take Over Are Colored Bands Doomed? Passing in Hollywood 4. The Conscription of Swing Soldiers of Music The Theater of Race The Gender Front 5. Swing and Its Discontents Tension Music and Concertitis Smothering the Market Crewcut, Jarb, Swixibop Swing Redux 6. Cracks in the Coalition That Modern Malice Jazz Is America's Own Epilogue: Shall We Dance? Notes Index
David W. Stowe is Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures and director of American Studies at Michigan State University.
Reviews for Swing Changes: Big-Band Jazz in New Deal America
David Stowe's contention is that big-band swing, with its emphasis on regimented performances in which soloists made their personal contributions to the collective whole, was analogous to'the notion of a cooperative commonwealth central to Franklin Roosevelt's vision of America'... Swing Changes offers some fresh perspectives on music as 'social practice'--with a wealth of pertinent material...in the accompanying Notes . -- John White American Studies
