Swing That Modern Sound

Swing That Modern Soundby Kenneth J. BindasHow America invented swing how swing energized America.It was for stage bands for dancing and for a jiving mood of letting go. Throughout the nation swing resounded with the spirit of good times. The swing era was America's segue into modernity. But this pop genre for a decade America's favorite arose during the worst of times the Great Depression. From its peak in the 1930s until bebop rhythm and blues and country swamped it after World War II swing defined an American generation and measured America's musical heartbeat. In its heyday swing reached a mass audience of very disparate individuals and united them. They perceived in the tempers and tempos of swing the very definition of modernity.What fed the music? And in turn what did the music feed? What social structures encouraged swing's creation acceptance and popularity? Swing That Modern Sound analyzes the cultural and historical significance of swing and tells how and why swing achieved its audience unified its fans defined its generation and after World War II fell into decline. As it examines the role of race class and gender in the creation of this music Swing That Modern Sound tells how the genre came to symbolize the modernist revolution taking place in America.Kenneth J. Bindas is an associate professor of history at Kent State University Trumbull Campus in Warren Ohio. He is the author of All of This Music Belongs to the Nation: The WPA's Federal Music Project and American Society 1935-1939.