Numerous stories of swing musicians are dominated by ethnic, racial, and gendered situations; stories that played an important role in the development of swing. Examples include Artie Shaw’s childhood years on the Lower East Side of New York City where he spent time with migrant children from Eastern Europe and Trummy Young’s youth in the Yamacraw section in Savannah, Georgia where the community that he grew up in was dominated by blacks, Italians, and Chinese. As a decisive player in the development of jazz, migration has provided a context for the emergence of swing. The diverse nature of immigrants coupled by the migrant’s intent to preserve their ethnic culture while living in a capitalist country has created a collage of different colors.
…show more content…
Exploring the stories of swing musicians and their cultural interactions during their childhoods, one realizes that despite coming from different ethnicities, they are able to assemble eventually to create swing as adults. Indeed, Duke Ellington’s discussion on swing agrees to this idea and adds that as a boy, he grew up to the sounds of Southern Negroes incorporating Spanish syncopations to “rhythmic blues”. He further notes that Negro bands coming from the New Orleans tradition marched to a quickstep similar to swing. A closer look at the rhythm reveals swing’s similarity to Spanish (Cuban) and West African …show more content…
Viewing swing as a commodity, it is necessary to look at other commodities in the 1930s and observe their industrial idea of changing the form of products without recasting the function. The same holds true for the evolution of swing. Swing follows the idea of “repackaging” the genre. Since swing stems out of America, it is important to note that in any capitalist society, consumer loyalty is central in its performance. Thus, consumer capitalism and advertising exert more influence on the marketplace. The making of a commodity such as swing as a standard product make it easier for the consumer to associate a style to a brand similar to the idea of labelling a genre. The entrance of World War Two also plays a central role in reorganizing workers and
Exploring the stories of swing musicians and their cultural interactions during their childhoods, one realizes that despite coming from different ethnicities, they are able to assemble eventually to create swing as adults. Indeed, Duke Ellington’s discussion on swing agrees to this idea and adds that as a boy, he grew up to the sounds of Southern Negroes incorporating Spanish syncopations to “rhythmic blues”. He further notes that Negro bands coming from the New Orleans tradition marched to a quickstep similar to swing. A closer look at the rhythm reveals swing’s similarity to Spanish (Cuban) and West African …show more content…
Viewing swing as a commodity, it is necessary to look at other commodities in the 1930s and observe their industrial idea of changing the form of products without recasting the function. The same holds true for the evolution of swing. Swing follows the idea of “repackaging” the genre. Since swing stems out of America, it is important to note that in any capitalist society, consumer loyalty is central in its performance. Thus, consumer capitalism and advertising exert more influence on the marketplace. The making of a commodity such as swing as a standard product make it easier for the consumer to associate a style to a brand similar to the idea of labelling a genre. The entrance of World War Two also plays a central role in reorganizing workers and