Swing is a genre of music that is greatly recognized and loved by many music enthusiasts all over the globe. The genre finds its roots in the American culture at the time around the 1930s when people were facing lots of socio-economic issues. The great depression was a major problem for the Americans and they came up with different ways to divert their minds from the sufferings.
Some great Jazz musicians took the music to a new level and people started enjoying it. They found their escape in the "swing" rhythm of the music. The music started spreading rapidly in different parts of America and it also bridged the gap between the black and the white people. The big bands of that time featured many white musicians playing along with black singers.
The big bands and individual Swing musicians including the band leaders released many great albums. The legends inspired a large number of budding artists to take bold steps towards recording great Swing numbers. It is very difficult to say which Swing songs are the best and who made the best album as Swing is a versatile genre with each musician expressing his/her talent in a different way. Every musician added his/her own signature features that made Swing such a rich music genre. As you will tune into the Swing music station in the USA, you will find each song to be distinctly appealing.
In this article, Swing Street Radio, a Swing music radio station in the USA has prepared a list of some the greatest Swing songs ever made. The list contains multiple songs from various Swing artists that are widely accepted to be the best Swing numbers ever made.
Let us take a look at those songs:
#1 Shanghai Shuffle - This is a song by Fletcher Henderson, one of the most influential arrangers and bandleaders of the Swing era. The song Shanghai Shuffle was recorded after Louis Armstrong entered the group and it clearly focuses on the importance of each musician in a big band.
#2 Darktown Strutters’ Ball - Benny Goodman is a huge name in Swing music and top Swing numbers list is not possible without this legend. This song was recorded by Goodman in the year 1937. The album which contained this song is known as “At The Madhattan Room” and it is also considered a gem by the Swing music enthusiasts.
#3 It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) - This song was one of the most popular songs by Duke Ellington. He described the song as an “expression of a sentiment which prevailed among jazz musicians at the time”. This song is one the best Swing numbers ever recorded and it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008. You must listen to this song on Swing music radio in order to get the real taste of Swing music.
#4 In The Mood - This is one of the greatest songs by Glenn Miller along with his orchestra. The song is often considered the number one hit by the virtuoso musician and is extremely popular among the Jazz music enthusiasts. For 13 weeks in the USA, the song topped the charts.
#5 Sing, Sing, Sing (With A Swing) - This is the second most popular song by Benny Goodman with the word Swing in the title. This song is most popular due to the simple and rhythm style which clearly brings forth the “swing” motion in the music. If you want something to actually understand the basic form of Swing music, then there is no better option than this piece.
#6 Chattanooga Choo Choo - This song by Glenn Miller is a part of the soundtrack for "Sun Valley Serenade" and is considered to be the greatest contribution Miller ever made to Swing music. This song was the first to be honored with a gold record badge on the account of its huge sales. A whopping 1.2 million copies were sold in the year 1942.
Conclusion - These are some of the greatest songs recorded during the golden era of Swing and if you want to get the real taste of Swing music, you must listen to these tracks. You can easily find these tracks on Swing music station in the USA. If you are a music lover and like to listen to Jazz, you can tune into Swing Street Radio and listen to a lot of the classic Swing tracks and gather more knowledge about the genre and the musicians who enriched it.