World War II and the End of the Big Band Era

Justin Bui

English 11/U.S. VA History

Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Hurowitz

19 May 2014
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Justin Bui

English 11/US VA History

Period 6/7

19 May 2014

Introduction

It was the 1930s, and people were coming in droves to ballrooms in order to dance to

swing music. Imagine the bustling crowds, people of all walks of life all together in a dingy and

crowded ballroom to hear one thing: the Big Bands.

Figure 1: The Savoy Ballroom in its heyday.

"Jazz Nights at the Savoy." 123Posters. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

The image above shows a typical night at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York.

The Savoy Ballroom came to be the paragon of the Big Band Era because it truly epitomized the

youthful energy of the times, and the above image truly depicts this. The crowd was roaring;

everyone was on their feet; and the room was alive.

But what were Big Bands? A Big Band is a band that is larger than a combo and that

usually features a mixture of ensemble playing and solo improvisation typical of jazz or swing

(big-band). Typical Big Bands had 12 to 25 members. The Swing Era of Jazz Music was an
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era of Jazz music characterized by a strong rhythm section of double bass and drums with a lead

section of trumpets, trombones and saxophones. In the 1920s and 1930s, clarinets were also

used. The music of this era had a strong swing beat and was usually extremely up-tempo,

making it perfect for the ballroom settings in which it was played.

Sadly, by the late 1940s, the typical Big Band score was gone, and replaced with the

smaller quartet and quintet combo scores. In Figure 2, one can see a page 1930s style Big Band

Score, and in Figure 3, one can see a score from a modern combo.

Figure 2: Score of 1930s Big Band

Washut, Bob. Emily. 2007. N.p.: n.p., 2007. Print.
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Figure 3: Score of Modern Combo (Quintet)

Silver, Horace. Song for My Father. 1965. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

When analyzing the scores, it becomes clear that the magnificence of the Big Band is

gone, as it is evident that the combo seems to lack its extravagance. This can be seen by a simple

vertical analysis of the scores: comparing the quantity of the notes and staves going from top to

bottom. In music, a bar is defined as a division of music, a segment of time defined by a given

number of beats, and a staff is a line used to denote an instrument which is used in a

composition.

Figure 2 has an average of about 20 notes per bar of music, while the Figure 3 has an

average of about 10 notes per bar of music. Furthermore, the Big Band score has 18 staves, and

the combo score has a mere six. Thus, the Big Band score uses twelve more instruments than the

combo score. Through analyzing these two musical scores, one can see that the Big Band score

is much more complex.

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So what started the downfall of the Big Bands? Many jazz historians point to World War

II. Before the war had started, Big Band Jazz had been booming, and many big band leaders

were becoming household names, such as Duke Ellington, Glen Miller, and Benny Goodman.

However, the Second World War had a huge impact on the music industry. This is no surprise

given the immense amount of rationing of human and material resources on the home front

needed in order to fight a total war. But it still raises the question, how did World War II lead to

the end of the Big Band Era of Jazz in America?

Jazz Goes to War

When America went to war in the World War II, Jazz music did as well. Many

musicians went oversea not only to serve in the war, but also to provide upbeat swing music to

boost morale and remind soldiers of home. The military draft stole many good musicians from

their Big Bands. Jack Teagarden, a bandleader often referred to as the Father of Jazz

Trombone, lost seventeen men to the army in only four months. He, like many other band

leaders, were forced to pay for replacements with less talent. Tommy Dorsey, another

bandleader, complained, "I'm paying some kid trumpet player $500 a week, and he can't even

blow his nose.

By October 1942, there were 39 bandleaders enlisted in the army, 17 in the Navy, three in

the Merchant-Marines, and two in the Coast Guard. Glen Miller, the bandleader responsible for

the smash hit, In the Mood, disbanded his big band to form an Air Force unit. Benny Goodman,

a famous Bandleader during the Swing Era and one of the most influential Jazz Clarinetists of all

time, while he was deferred due to a back injury, volunteered for the USO and made special V

Discs for people overseas (Dedicated to Chaos).

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Figure 4: Glen Millers Air Force Band plays for World War II soldiers in Britain.
Maj. Glenn Miller Air Force Band. 7 Feb. 2011. Photograph. National Museum of the U.S. Air
Force.
Figure 4 shows Glenn Millers Big Band playing for the allied soldiers abroad. The

crowds were huge, and the Big Bands truly boosted the morale of the Allied Forces and pushed

them towards victory. However, with so much talent flooding out of America and heading off to

go fight in a war, it is no surprise that Big Bands in the United States lost members and money.

Total War Affects the Music Industry

The music industry was stressed by the needs of World War II on the home front.

Blackouts and late-night curfews darkened some nightclubs and dance halls. Furthermore, a

twenty percent entertainment tax closed ballrooms all across the country. During the war, the

rationing of rubber and gasoline for tanks would eventually take many touring band buses off the

road. Additionally, many Pullman trains were being used to transport servicemen to go off to

war. Without a reliable source of transportation, many Big Bands were forced to preemptively

end their tours. Along with the rationing of rubber and gasoline, the United States also rationed

shellac, a component necessary to produce records, because it was used to provide the protective

coating for grenades (Bunker). Because of this, many Big Bands were forced to stop releasing

records during the war period (Dedicated to Chaos).

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During the war, musical instrument manufacturing would be nearly banned in the United

States. This was because many of the components used to produce instruments, such as copper,

lumber, and leather, were needed in the war effort. From May 1942 to May 1945, instrument

stores had no new instruments on their shelves. The banning of the production of musical

instruments would lead many instrumental manufactures to switch to producing items for the war

effort. Their expert metalwork would allow them to be converted to factories for the production

of weaponry (Richardson, Band Instrument Manufacturing). This would put a strain on

instrumentalists during the war years to replace and repair instruments. It would also prevent

young students from beginning their instrumental education.

With the lack of instruments and records being produced by Big Bands due to rationing

for the war effort, the Big Bands would be defenseless in the coming rise of the Pop Vocalists.

Musicians Strikes

During the Second World War, there were two musicians strikes that occurred over the

lack of payment for musicians. Musicians were not getting paid as much as they used to because

of the tight war economy. This led many musicians to protest. The two most notable protests

were the Musicians Strike of 1941, and the Musicians Strike of 1942-1944.

ASCAP against BMI

In 1915, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), a

performing rights organizations which licenses and collects royalties for the performance of its

music, won a lawsuit against a small restaurant in New York in which Victor Herberts music

was played without a license. The Supreme Court decided that even if the music was not directly

influencing a profit for the restaurant, the purpose of employing [the music] is profit, and that is

enough. (Herbert) Because of this, ASCAP gained immense power throughout the years
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leading up to World War II, and by 1941, ASCAP was the largest performing arts society in

America.

In 1939, the use of the television was becoming more widespread in America, and the

ASCAP wanted to profit from its success. However, in October 1939, CBS proposed that

broadcasters set up their own licensing agency, luring some composers away from the ASCAP.

They created Broadcasting Music Incorporated (BMI), using funds pledged by broadcasters who

expected a strike by the ASCAP against them. The creation of BMI led to tensions between the

ASCAP and Broadcasters (Clarke, The 1940s: War and Other Calamities).

These tensions would eventually lead to the ASCAP going on strike against Broadcasters

at the end of 1940. The strike lasted ten months. During the strike, no composition published by

a member of the ASCAP could be broadcast, except on independent stations that broadcast little

live music. Because of the strike, sheet music sales plummeted from 300,000 pieces a week in

1940 to 120,000 a month. However, the strike did not have an effect on vocalists.

Consequently, the strike allowed for minority music to gain popularity, such as Carl Perkins

Blue Suede Shoes. Without Big Bands being played on the radio, vocalists began to rise in

fame. By the end of the strike, the masses were introduced to the emerging rhythm and blues

labels, which would explode in popularity. By contrast, Big Bands would begin to wane in

popularity. (Clarke)

AFM against Recording Companies

During the early 1940s, the music industry received a fit of mechanization. More

musicians began to go to recording studios in order to record records. The American Federation

of Musicians, a labor union which represents professional musicians in America, led by James

Petrillo, commissioned bandleader Ben Selvin, an experienced musician and recording

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executive, to determine if recordings were putting musicians out of live work. Selvin reported to

the AFM that record labels were paying millions of dollars to musicians and that union action

was not the answer to problems caused by the mechanization of music. (Clarke) The

convention applauded him, particularly the Big Band leaders. However, Petrillo stated that

record companies forbid records from being played on the radio and jukeboxes. Thus, on August

1, 1942, Petrillo ordered musicians to stop recording. The exception to this was recording for

servicemen. (Dedicated to Chaos)

In the weeks before the strike, artists booked studios solid in order to record as much as

possible before the strike began. The strike would last two years, and during the strike old Big

Band recordings were simply reissued, as band leaders were unable to record new music,

severely decreasing the popularity of Big Bands. Vocalists, unaffected by this strike as well,

were given yet another boost into the popular music scene. Singers were not members of the

AFM, and thus were exempt from the ban on recording. Record companies would take

advantage of this and produce a large amount of a capella records. These records consisted of

vocal quartets or solo vocalists backed by a chorus. The music produced during this time would

have lyrics that would boost the countrys morale during the war or appeal to men and women

separated by the war. The youth of America would fall in love with the songs, and the singers

who sang them. (Burns) This strike would set off the rise of the Pop Vocalist and therefore, be

the nail in the coffin for Big Bands.

Broadcasting during and after the War

The war also led to a change in the way information was broadcast. Before the war,

televisions were very obscure, but after the war, the popularity of the television grew

exponentially.
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After the United States entry into World War II in 1942, the Federal Communications

Commission reduced the minimum commercial air time from fifteen hours a week to four hours

a week (Television History: A Timeline). This, however, did not have an immediate impact

because television production during World War II was prohibited. Nevertheless, even though

this did not affect the television industry in America immediately, it set the stage for the

domination of the television after the war (Boulg 89).

Figure 7: Television Set Production from 1947 to 1953

Radio Electronics Television Manufacturers' Association. "Television Receiving Set Production,
1947-53." Table. Television History: The First 75 Years. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014.
<http://www.tvhistory.tv/>.
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The rise of the television began after the war during 1947. With the war won and home

front rationing ceased, factories were free to build televisions, and as evidenced by the chart on

page 9, television production skyrocketed. In 1947, 178,571 televisions were produced, but in

1953, 30,359,557 televisions were produced. That is an increase of nearly 17000%.

The television industry seemed to grow overnight. After World War II, the television

industry began to expand with a speed unforeseen even by the most optimistic leaders of the

industry. The novelty of seeing TV pictures at home caught the publics fancy and began a

revolution in the world of entertainment. (Boulg 101) After the war, the television became the

predominant method of receiving entertainment and information.

Due to televisions gaining popularity, fewer people were going out to clubs to see Big

Bands in person because anyone could watch them on their television for free. With fewer

people going to clubs, the clubs had less money to pay their performers. Thus, they could not

afford to hire the large 12 to 25 piece big bands, and began to hire small quartets or quintets,

slowly killing off the Big Bands.

Racism and the Movement towards Equal Rights

After the end of World War II, many African American musicians had returned with

hope of being treated equally due to their bravery in the war effort. Sadly, that was not the case,

as racism remained as fervent as ever, even worsening during and after the war. Big Bands

would continue to be constricted by the racial violence and resistance that worked against them.

Many incidents in courts and legislatures showed that whites were determined to deny

rights to blacks. Some band leaders like Duke Ellington, whose all Black Band is shown in

Figure 7, attempted to distance their image and musical identity from the Swing Era, but the
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problems caused by World War II made it difficult for these bandleaders to make money. Many

black song writers began to earn less money for their big band charts, as it became evident that

the respect blacks had gained during the Swing Era was lost after the war. Furthermore, many

black men and women were forced to give up jobs for white veterans of the war (Dedicated to

Chaos).

Figure 8: Duke Ellingtons all black Big Band.

Duke Ellingtons Big Band. Duke Ellingtons Big Band. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

It also became extremely difficult for Big Bands to go on tours in the south. For

example, during one of Duke Ellingtons tours, the bands management representative, Cress

Courtney, was almost killed on an Ellington orchestra southern tour when shots were fired at

the phone booth he was using. Courtney, a white man, believed that he was shot at because he

was down there in the South representing a black band. According to longtime Ellington

sideman Jimmy Hamilton, there was an incident in 1947 when the band was chased by the police

out of a private restaurant dinner hosted by a well-off white fan who wanted to pay a personal

tribute to the band in Georgia. (Cohen 252) Many restaurants in the South refused to serve

blacks, thus, many bands travelled with cooks who would cook for them.

However, discrimination was not limited to the South. Sophisticated urban venues on

both the east and the west coast discriminated against black musicians. In 1945, Ellingtons Big

Band became the first black band to play at Ciros, a nightclub in Hollywood. In between the
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sets of their performance, the band members would socialize with the movie stars in attendance.

At the sight of this, the managers told Ellington that The help [is] not allowed to socialize with

the guests. (Cohen 252) The black band had to eat outside of the restaurant, so as to not

disturb the guests. Black bands touring the north sometimes had to stay within dingy hotels

because they were forbidden from staying in nicer hotels.

It is clear that due to augmented racial tensions after the war, Big Bands were forced to

make sacrifices. Racial violence and discrimination made touring difficult, and black musicians

lacked the rights that their white counterparts had. This, coupled with other factors, would cause

Big Bands to eventually die out.

Ballroom Conditions

After World War II, the twenty percent entertainment tax left many ballrooms and clubs

with much less money to run their clubs and hire bands to play. This led to many of the

performance venues being regarded as dingy clubs with bad food and little pay. After the war,

Big Bands stopped performing at ballrooms and clubs because they were unwilling to perform in

such terrible conditions for such little pay. Many ballrooms around the country were forced to

close, while most jazz clubs ended up simply hiring the less expensive combos whose new style

of music, bebop, was sweeping the nation. (Dedicated to Chaos)

Another problem with most ballrooms and clubs were the race riots that often occurred

within close proximity to them. An example of this was with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem,

New York. Many people avoided going to the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem due to the race riots

that often occurred near it in the mid-1940s. One can see the precarious environment created by

the race riots in Figure 8. Due to the race riots, going to Savoy Ballroom eventually became a

dangerous activity that no one wanted to do. Furthermore, the government was afraid of letting
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white servicemen participate in the integrated swing dances held at the Savoy Ballroom.

Because of this, the Savoy Ballroom, among others, would eventually close in the late 1940s.

(Burns)

Figure 9: The Harlem Race Riots of 1943.

Harlem Race Riots of 1943. NYCData. Baruch College, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

All of the problems with the ballrooms, can be traced back to the World War II

entertainment tax and the rising racial tensions after the war. With ballrooms closing so

frequently and being forced to hire smaller quartets and quintets, Big Bands were losing venues

to perform, and it became survival of the fittest for the big bands of the era. Because of this, Big

Bands would eventually falter out and fade into obscurity.

Rise of the Pop Vocalist

Many historians contribute the death of the Big Band to the rise of the Pop Vocalists.

The Pop Vocalists which before had performed alongside the Big Bands eventually began to take

center stage, until it became the Big Bands who were accompanying the vocalists. After the two

World War II, Musicians strikes, in which vocalists were unaffected, vocalists had become

much more prominent while Big Bands were forced to cease recording to broadcasting. People

started to fanaticize vocalists in a way similar to how they are idolized today.
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No one benefited as much as Frank Sinatra from the two musicians strikes. Because he

did not participate in them, Frank Sinatra seized his opportunity to release music and become the

most influential musician of all time. Being adored by fans due to his charming looks and

compelling voice, he was asked by the King of Swing, Benny Goodman, to sing at the

Paramount Theatre on New Years Eve in 1942. No performance epitomized the shift from Big

Bands to Pop Vocalists as much as this one. By the end of the performance, women were

literally throwing themselves and their clothes at him, and the performance was broadcast all

over national television (Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theatre). Frank Sinatra became a national

icon. Although, it was advertised as Benny Goodmans Big Band featuring Frank Sinatra, in the

end, Frank Sinatra would literally steal the show and launch Pop Vocalists into the limelight.

Even today, Frank Sinatra is remembered as one of the greatest singers of all time. Pop

singer Billy Joel once said, "Frank Sinatra's voice expresses more eloquence that I can ever say

in mere words." Jazz Singer Barbara Streisand said that, "He was the epitome of what singing is

all about, beautiful sounds, smooth as silk, effortless, impeccable phrasing, stylish, intelligent

and full of heart."

Figure 10: Billboard for Frank Sinatra at Paramount

Theatre.
Frank Sinatra at the Paramount. The Pop History
Dig. N.p., 18 Mar. 2008. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.
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Frank Sinatra, and other vocalists would end up singing over big bands in their records,

thus detracting from the success of the Big Band and causing the vocalists to take precedence

over the band. As shown in Figure 9, hundreds of people would line up outside stages to see

shows which solely advertised him. Vocalists also gained popularity because they could connect

to audiences much more effectively than bands, as they were not inhibited by their instruments.

Thus, they were able to show facial and body expressions that won over their audiences.

Furthermore, audiences were able to connect more easily to songs with lyrics than the charts the

Big Bands played. (Martin 292)

The rise of the pop vocalists had its roots in the Musicians Strikes which had occurred

during World War II. Because of the rise of the pop vocalists, Big Bands were paid less, and

vocalists were paid more. Being in a Big Band lost its prestige, and young people stopped

dreaming of being in a Big Band and started having dreams of being vocalists. Big Bands were

finished.

Bebop!

Bebop was the new style of Jazz music which would be popularized after the fall of the

Big Bands by musicians such as Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie. Known for its complex

chord changes and dense melodies, it is the jazz music most similar to modern swing music.

Because of its style and complexity, organizing a Big Band to play bebop music was a daunting

task, and one that was rarely taken on. Bebop music typically relied on smaller quartet and

quintets. A new generation of Jazz musicians would become famous through Bebop, such as

Dizzie Gillespie and Lionel Hampton, and the older legends would either stop performing, or

fade into obscurity. (Dedicated to Chaos) Figure 10 portrays a bebop combo featuring Charlie

Parker and Miles Davis, two of the most influential jazz musicians of all time.
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Figure 11: Charlie Parker and Miles Davis performing in a Bebop Combo.
Charlie Parker, Tommy Potter, Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Max Roach, August 1947. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

Some believe that the transition from the Big Bands of the Swing Era and the Combos

(quartets and quintets) of the Bebop Era was due to a natural progression of music, as a new

generation of musicians emerged that wanted to play faster, more upbeat, and more complicated

music. Bebop would remain popular even in the storm of the Pop Vocalists because the combos

were much easier to host than the Big Bands and were paid less. The music of bebop also

remained more mainstream while swing aged out of the popular music scene. (Dedicated to

Chaos)

Conclusion

So how did World War II lead to the end of the Big Band Era of Jazz? First of all, many

musicians were sent overseas and lost their fan-base in America. Needs for resources on the

home front would get in the way of the needs of touring musicians. Increased broadcasting after

the war would lead to a lack of interest in live performances. Additionally, musicians strikes by

Big Band musicians would allow for pop vocalists and other minority music to gain ground and

tear away the foundation of the Swing Era. Racial tensions that developed during the war would
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lead to increased difficulty for black big bands to perform. Ballroom conditions would falter due

to World War II entertainment taxes and lead to many bands stepping out of the music industry.

And lastly, the rise of the pop vocalists and bebop after musicians strikes during the war would

be the final blow to Big Bands, as the entrance of pop vocalists and bebop into the popular music

scene would force Big Bands into obscurity. Overall, all of the factors which contributed to the

end of the Big Band Era were either directly a result of the war, or had their roots within events

that occurred during the war.

Further Questions for Research

Despite all of the research that points to World War II as the killer of the Big Band Era,

did the end of the Big Band Era even have a cause or was it just a natural progression of music?

Hundreds of years ago, during the time of Bach and Mozart, 100 to 200 piece orchestras were the

norm. The Big Bands of the Swing Era would seem small in comparison. In order to be more

accessible to the public, music has become increasingly simpler over the years, so some argue

that the end of the Big Band Era in Jazz had no impetus, but rather, was due to the natural

progression of music over time.

Nevertheless, it is clear that the Second World War did had a substantial impact on the

jazz industry in America. But on the other hand, due to all the men travelling overseas playing

jazz music, jazz music became wildly popular in Europe. Which leads to the question: How

specifically did World War II permit the spread of Jazz music to countries such as France and

Germany, where Jazz music is still prominent and performed today?

These questions would both be valuable to research in order to further the presented

research on World War IIs impact on Jazz Music.

Figure 12: Image from the Manheim Jazz Festival

in Germany.
Carcu, Adriana. Enjoy Jazz: Mannheim,
Germany, October 2-November 18, 2011,
Week 3. All about Jazz. N.p., 31 Oct.
2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
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Works Cited

"big band." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2014.

Web. 7 April 2014.

Boulg, Jack. "Television." T. Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Association, 1972. 89-101.

Print. Vol. 19 of World Book. 26 vols.

Bunker, Robert J. Grenades. World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO,

n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. <http://worldatwar.abc-clio.com/>.

Burns, Ken. New York: Americas Jazz Capitol. PBS- JAZZ. PBS, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

<http://www.pbs.org/jazz/places/places_new_york.htm>.

Clarke, Donald. The 1940s: War and Other Calamities. The Rise and Fall of Popular Music.

N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. <http://www.donaldclarkemusicbox.com/index.php>.

Cohen, Harvey G. Duke Ellingtons America. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2010. Print.

Dedicated to Chaos. Dir. Ken Burns. Prod. Lynn Novick. Episode #7. Jazz. Dir. Ken Burns.

PBS. 23 Jan. 2001. Print. Transcript.

Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theatre. Frank Sinatra. TheFrankSinatra, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

<http://www.thefranksinatra.com/articles/frank-sinatra-at-paramount-theater>.

Herbert v. Shanley Co. 591 US. Supreme Court of the US. 1917. Print.

Martin, Henry, and Keith Waters. Frank Sinatra. Jazz: The First One Hundred Years. 3rd ed.

292. PDF file.

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Richardson, Sarah Deters. Band Instrument Manufacturing. National Music Museum. U of

South Dakota, 27 Aug. 2010. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

<http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/News/Newsletter/August2010/WWII.html>.

"Television History: A Timeline." Tarlton Law Library. U of Texas at Austin, n.d. Web. 26 Apr.

2014.

<http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/exhibits/mason_&_associates/documents/timeline.pdf>.
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Annotated Bibliography

American Family Watching TV, 1958. Back 2 Retro. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

<<https://back2retro.wordpress.com/page/7/>.>. Image of American Family Watching

Television.

"big band." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2014.

Web. 7 April 2014. This is the dictionary definition of Big Band which I used in my

paper.

Boulg, Jack. "Television." T. Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Association, 1972. 89-101.

Print. Vol. 19 of World Book. 26 vols. I used this article in the world book to find out

information on the television. After I showed it to a friend of the family who had been

living in America during World War II, I found out that some of my initial information

regarding televisions was incorrect, so he sent me this article out of the 1972 World book

regarding the Television. It was extremely helpful in finishing my paper. The author,

Jack Boulg, was the radio and television critic for the New York Times.

Bunker, Robert J. Grenades. World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO,

n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014. <http://worldatwar.abc-clio.com/>. This source gave me

information on how shellac was used in the production of grenades.

Burns, Ken. New York: Americas Jazz Capitol. PBS- JAZZ. PBS, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

<http://www.pbs.org/jazz/places/places_new_york.htm>.

<http://www.pbs.org/jazz/places/places_new_york.htm>. I found this source because I

thought that since I could not find any statistical data on musicians salaries or the tickets

the clubs sold during this time period, that I may as well just look at the general success

of Jazz Clubs during this time period. This website talked about the jazz capital of
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America, New York City. It also spoke of the arguably the most famous Jazz club of all

time, the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. The website talked about the timeline of the

ballroom until its closing in 1958, which matched up well with my time period (late

1950s) for when Big Bands had died out. However, I was extremely surprised to find

another cause for the end of the Big Band Era in this source. According to this source,

around the Mid 1940s, race riots due to segregation and economic decline led Harlem to

become a dangerous place to go. People did not want to go to the Savoy Ballroom

because of the danger, which led to less people seeing the Big Bands performing. This

gave me another cause which contributed to the end of the Big Band Era. This source

could potentially be biased because it seems to glorify the Big Band Era and does not

give many negative aspects of the era. This source led to me to research the effect of

racism on Big Bands. Did the rise of segregation effect which musicians played with

who? Did segregation have a larger impact? I also found some videos on the PBS website

that could potentially be helpful.

Carcu, Adriana. "Enjoy Jazz: Mannheim, Germany, October 2-November 18, 2011, Week 3." All

about Jazz. N.p., 31 Oct. 2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. This is the image of a German Combo

playing Jazz which I used on the last page of my paper.

Charlie Parker, Tommy Potter, Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Max Roach, August 1947.

Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki>. Image of

Charlie Parker and Miles Davis performing in a combo, playing bebop music.

Clarke, Donald. The 1940s: War and Other Calamities. The Rise and Fall of Popular Music.

N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. <http://www.donaldclarkemusicbox.com/index.php>. This

site gave me a large amount of information on the musicians strikes of 1941 and 1942.
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This article went extremely in depth and provided me a lot of background on the two

strikes as well as their immediate consequences.

Cohen, Harvey G. Duke Ellingtons America. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2010. Print. This source

gave me information on Duke Ellingtons life and allowed me to gain an insight on how

racism and the post war period had affected his Big Band.

Dedicated to Chaos. Dir. Ken Burns. Prod. Lynn Novick. Episode #7. Jazz. Dir. Ken Burns.

PBS. 23 Jan. 2001. Print. Transcript. This video allowed me to gain an understand of how

World War II directly impacted the end of the Big Band Era as well as visually

presenting elements of the racism present towards Big Bands.

Duke Ellingtons Big Band. Duke Ellingtons Big Band. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duke_Ellington_Big_Band.jpg>. This image is

a photo of Duke Ellingtons all black Big Band performing.

Engelbrecht, Barbara. Swinging at the Savoy. Dance Research Journal 15.2 (1983): 3-10.

JSTOR. Web. 10 Jan. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1478672?seq=8>. This article

presented the details of what happened in a typical swing ballroom, as well as going in

depth about the Savoy Ballroom.

Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theatre. Frank Sinatra. TheFrankSinatra, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.

<http://www.thefranksinatra.com/articles/frank-sinatra-at-paramount-theater>. I found

this short Blog online about Frank Sinatras performance on New Years Eve

performance in 1942 that has been stated to have begun the End of the Big Band Era.

This article stated that it was the performance that launched Sinatras career. Before

then, he could not find a place to play, and then he got a call asking him to open for
 Bui 23

Benny Goodman at the Paramount Theatre. His performance that night was stellar, the

crowd was possibly one of the largest crowds gathered for a musical event, and they

loved him. This performance would lead him to be signed by Columbia Records, and

star in multiple movies. According to this source, Sinatra would sing over Big Bands in

his records, thus he detracted from the success of the Big Bands, and the fame went to

him, not the band. This is especially true when coupled to the fact that he was a movie

star. He was the first case of a singer becoming more famous than the band, and due to

his success, big bands began to fade into obscurity. There is clearly bias in this blog

because it is made by a fan of Sinatra, so Sinatra would most likely be glorified.

Nonetheless, it gives an idea of how the Big Band industry took a hit due to Sinatras

success. It would be beneficial to do some more research on Sinatra and other vocalists

during this time.

Frank Sinatra at the Paramount. The Pop History Dig. N.p., 18 Mar. 2008. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

<http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=frank-sinatra-at-the-paramount>. Image of the

billboard in New York City before Frank Sinatras performance at Paramount Theatre.

Gitler, Ira. Swing to Bop: An Oral History of the Transition in Jazz in the 1940s. New York:

Oxford UP, 1985. Digital file. I found this book through a Google Search of Transition

from Swing to Bebop but the cost of the ebook was 15 dollars. So then I checked the

Library E-Portal, and sure enough, TJHSST owned the eBook. I was ecstatic. I have no

had time to read all 240 pages, but from what I read in the introduction, this source seems

extremely relevant. It started talking about the differences between the two eras,

especially highlighting the fact that the swing era was controlled by the Big Bands. In

the table of contents, it also showed somewhat of a mix between the two eras, as some
 Bui 24

big bands remained during the Bebop era, which is an interesting talking point. It

showed that Big Bands never truly died out, but they just were not as prominent. I expect

to get a lot out of this source. I do not see much bias in the book itself, but I have not

read enough of it to determine a real bias in it. I think with this book, I will be able to get

everything I need involving the transition between the two eras stylistically. There may

be some more sources in the bibliography of the book to look at, but I think it should

suffice for now.

Harlem Race Riots of 1943. NYCData. Baruch College, n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

<http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/nycdata/disasters/riots-harlem_1943.html>. Image of the

Harlem Race Riots of 1943 which impacted the Savoy Ballroom.

Herbert v. Shanley Co. 591 US. Supreme Court of the US. 1917. Print. Court Case regarding the

use of Broadcasted Music.

Jazz Nights at the Savoy. 123Posters. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

<http://www.123posters.com/savoy1.htm>. This is an image of the Savoy Ballroom in

Harlem, New York City. It was in operation from 1926 to 1958. Known as the home of

happy feet it was also the scene of many famous Battles of the Bands, including Chick

Webb, Benny Goodman, and Count Basie.

Levin, Mike. All Recording Stops Today. Downbeat 1 Aug. 1942: n. pag. Print. This is the

magazine that was released on the day that the second musicians strike was started.

Maj. Glenn Miller Air Force Band. 7 Feb. 2011. Photograph. National Museum of the U.S. Air

Force. Photo of Glenn Millers Army Air Force Band playing at a British Base during

World War II.

 Bui 25

Martin, Henry, and Keith Waters. Frank Sinatra. Jazz: The First One Hundred Years. 3rd ed.

292. PDF file. In doing research on Frank Sinatra, I was able to locate this Jazz History

Textbook on Google Books. This has a ton of information on Jazz and the Big Band Era

in general, but I was focused on what it had to say of Frank Sinatra. Apparently, Frank

Sinatra first came into stardom after his Paramount Theatre performance, which matched

with the information from the blog. Furthermore, he was not just famous. He was the

first real Pop Star as we define it today. There would be screaming teenage girls

throwing themselves at him on the street. In a simple comparison, Frank Sinatra had the

same effect on girls that One Direction does today. He became a household name all

across the nation, which at that time, had not really happened before. Count Basie, one of

the most famous Big Band Leaders, only managed to stay relevant because he was

playing with Frank Sinatra. As a reference source, I do not think that this source had any

bias. This gave much more solid examples of Sinatras prominence and the fade of Big

Bands into the background. There is a lot of information in this textbook, and it could

potentially be extremely helpful for background information on my points. It also stated

that Big Bands were usually associated with the Swing Era, which ended in the 40s and

that Quartets were associated with Bebop. It may be beneficial to look at not just the

transition between Big Bands and Quartets but the transition from Swing to Bebop, since

those were the styles associated with the two.

Radio Electronics Television Manufacturers' Association. "Television Receiving Set Production,

1947-53." Table. Television History: The First 75 Years. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014.

<http://www.tvhistory.tv/>. This is the graph of Post War Television production which I

used in my paper. It was created by the Radio Electronics Television Manufacturers'

 Bui 26

Association, a standards and trade organization for the consumer electronics industry in

the United States. .

Richardson, Sarah Deters. Band Instrument Manufacturing. National Music Museum. U of

South Dakota, 27 Aug. 2010. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

<http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/News/Newsletter/August2010/WWII.html>. This website gave

me information on the production of musical instruments during World War II, as well as

the banning of the production of certain instruments.

Silver, Horace. Song for My Father. 1965. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print. Score of the 1965, Horace Silver

hit, Song for My Father, as arranged for a jazz combo (quintet).

Smith, F. Leslie, John W. Wright, and David H. Ostroff. Telecommunications in the United

States. 4th ed. New York: Routledge, 1998. Print. This source gave me valuable

information regarding telecommunications in the United States during World War II.

Teichroew, Jacob. Jazz Music and the Civil Rights Movement. About.com Jazz. N.p., n.d.

Web. 11 Jan. 2014.

<http://jazz.about.com/od/historyjazztimeline/a/JazzCivilRights_2.htm>. After looking at

the information of the PBS Website on New York and seeing the information about how

race riots led to certain New York City Ballrooms becoming dangerous, I went to look

about how the segregation and the Civil Rights Movement affected jazz during the 1930s

and 1940s. I discovered that segregation did not affect the composition of the Big Bands.

An example of this would be how Benny Goodman, a white bandleader, often hired

prominent black musicians to play in his Big Band, and many black musicians actually

got their start playing for him, such as Lionel Hampton, who is considered the father of

jazz vibraphone. I also learned that Duke Ellington, a black pianist, had a contract which
 Bui 27

made it so that he would not play in front of segregated audiences. He also rented three

vans for his entire band during their southern tour so that they would not have to abide to

the Jim Crow Laws. His music also perpetuated ideals of black pride, and urged for

equal representation of blacks in the music industry. The article is mainly about how

different artists spoke out against segregation, so it did not have many details on the

segregation itself. Nevertheless, with this, I can see that segregation actually did not have

a profound effect on the end of the Big Band Era as Big Bands seemed to function as

desegregated groups. It may be best to start looking at other causes, possibly the rise of

the Pop Vocalist with Frank Sinatras New Years performance in 1942.

"Television History: A Timeline." Tarlton Law Library. U of Texas at Austin, n.d. Web. 26 Apr.

2014.

<http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/exhibits/mason_&_associates/documents/timeline.pdf>.

History of the Television. Gave me the information on the FCC Commercial Reduction

which I used in my paper.

Washut, Bob. Emily. 2007. N.p.: n.p., 2007. Print. A 1930s Big Band style score written by a

modern Jazz Studies Student.

Wikipedia. Big Band. Wikipedia. N.p.: n.p., 2014. N. pag. Wikipedia. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/>. This paper gave me the definition of Big Band which I used

in the first draft of my paper.