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Swingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture

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Swing was the only truly popular jazz style: starting in 1935, in the now legendary Benny Goodman digression, the swing style lasted for about a decade and during that time it was the American pop music style, its bandleaders and musicians enjoying a public recognition and popularity in most cases higher than movie stars, and only comparable to what would happen with rock artists some decades later. This brilliant book traces the history of swing in its political, social, and cultural aspects, analysing what it represented for youths in the America of the Great Depression. In its radical cut with the "sweet music" bands of the early 1930's, swing was adopted by young radicals as the expression of a more democratic and unprejudiced way of life. It embodied a move (although modest by present day standards) towards racial integration and equality that was several decades ahead of the same type of movement in society at large, and most of its more important personalities lend their support to New Deal and progressive politics, left wing causes, and the Popular Front movement. All this, and more, are described and discussed in a masterly way in this book. Besides, it also puts meat into the backbones by discussing at length concret cases, such as Benny Goodman, the Duke, Basie, and Gleen Miller. The change in swing brought about by the War, as well as the wars within Jazz in the second half of the 1940's between traditionalists, swing, and bebop fans, culminating in the abrupt end of the swing era and of the classical big band jazz scene is brilliantly analysed in the last chapters of the book. A truly admirable and engaging work.

Author Erenberg's historical research is well documented and scholarly. Primary criticism is that the author appears to editorialize political leanings to the far Left. It is asserted in the book that specific musical artists of the 1930's and 1940's were socialist (Communist implied) activists, when their associations with Leftist individuals and organizations may have been more business based rather than of any real political substance.