Social Impact of Swing and Jazz
Before Swing:
- Jazz was very race specific and African Americans were virtually the only ones that would play and perform Jazz.
- Bands were not integrated and band members were all of the same race.
- Early swing era African American musicians were not supported on radios or any other media spreading technology.
- African Americans and white dancers would not dance together or have any contact at dances.
- Women did not play a prominent role in dancing and singing, and were often times constrained in dancing such as tight clothes that did not allow them to move around a lot.
- Dancing had consisted of the man leading the women, and the opposite genders would have different footing in the dance.
- Bands mostly played to audiences of their own race.
- Mass youth culture and racial harmony was a major result of the swing era.
- During the swing era women began dancing dances that were formerly danced by other races and the opposite gender, changing the way women danced and were seen in public.
- Women icons and role models were on the rise during this period people like Ella Fitzgerald and created new expectations and potential opportunities for women.
- Jazz became the basis for most social dance music and also provided one of the first opportunities for public integration.
- African Americans were teaching white dancers how to Lindy Hop, a popular dance at the time and were hired to perform and they started to gain more and more support in the musical industry.
- Swing dances were one of the few places where black and whites could get together in the same place and dance together.
- Popular bands began to see more integration and African Americans and white musicians were grouped together in some of the Big Bands of the time period.
- Public social dancing became the key American courtship ritual.
- Dancing served as an important emotional outlet and dances were a great social gathering for the younger and sometimes older generation.
- With Jazz and swing music, white audiences began to follow black bands as well.
- In swing, both members male or female had the same footing. Swing was echoing the message of gender equality the gave way in the earlier part of the century.
- Although white jazz musicians had been taking inspiration from African American artists for at least three decades, by the 1940s a new generation of white musicians and dancers were deeply invested in the music that Duke Ellington, an African American musician christened “Swing” with his 1932 hit record.
- Americans were now taking African American musicians seriously, which fueled a growing conviction that equality was a real possibility.
- For the first time in history, there were all girl bands which constantly showed that women could play and perform different instrument.
- Swing during the World War II era offered female jazz musicians and vocalists new jobs and gave them many more opportunities.
Spread of Swing Jazz in Society:
- Books and other forms of literature that were about social dancing,spread.
- Technology such as television and radio helped spread the sounds and moves of Swing.
- Hollywood films often had Swing dancing which motivated the young generation to learn how to dance.
- Black bands that did not have as much success in America due to Jim crow laws and effects of the great depression migrated to Europe spreading swing and jazz culture and music to other countries.
- Bands were constantly on the road and traveling around and performing.