376 PART 3 | FROM WORLD WAR I THROUGH WORLD WAR II
string bass (ubiquitous, now that the tuba has been phased out) tends to “walk”
the bass line, playing on all four beats instead of beats 1 and 3 only. Second,
ensembles tend to be larger: the big band of thirteen or more players divided
into reed, brass, and rhythm sections becomes the norm. Small-ensemble jazz is
more often a sideline for musicians working primarily in big bands. Third, solo
improvisation is increasingly highlighted, even as it is often confi ned by elabo-
rate arrangements that discourage “stretching out.” Finally, popular songs from
Tin Pan Alley and Broadway fi ll a growing place in the swing repertory, although
blues-based compositions are still important. The multi-strain forms of ragtime
become a rarity.
The last feature—a repertory increasingly based on popular songs and spe-
cialty numbers—changed the nature of the music signifi cantly. For starters,
the sophisticated harmonies of songwriters like George Gershwin, Cole Porter,
and Richard Rodgers required instrumental soloists to improvise over more
demanding chord progressions, in which wide-ranging harmonies moved
at a faster pace than in earlier song styles. At the same time, the need to turn
thirty-two-bar song structures into three- or four-minute ensemble numbers
for recording and dancing inspired arrangers to develop their craft. Many big
bands had imaginative staff arrangers who helped shape the band’s distinctive
sound. And a new kind of singer emerged to present those songs in the context
of a swing performance, whether by a small group or a big band. Here we will
consider fi rst the expanded role of the instrumentalist, focusing on the Kansas
City bandleader Count Basie and his remarkable sideman Lester Young. We will
then look at the new role of the singer as song interpreter, focusing on the art-
istry of Billie Holiday.COUNT BASIE, LESTER YOUNG, AND KANSAS CITY
In a region that might seem an unlikely place for jazz to have fl ourished, Kansas
City, Missouri, boasted a wide-open nightlife. For a large part of the Midwest and
Southwest, Kansas City was a center of commerce and gateway to the markets
of the East. Many westerners went there in search of entertainment, which was
plentiful because local offi cials wanted it to be, and the city was controlled by a
political faction that protected gambling, prostitution, and, during Prohibition,
the selling of liquor. With its variety of good-time venues, Kansas City was a place
where jobs for jazz musicians were plentiful, if low-paying.
By 1930 a distinctive style of orchestral jazz was developing in Kansas City,
especially in a black dance band led by local musician Bennie Moten. Based
on a rhythm section that played a driving four beats to the bar, Moten’s music
relied heavily on the twelve-bar blues and on arrangements based on riffs:
short musical fi gures that could be repeated to build up larger sections. The
arrangements, written chiefl y by Eddie Durham of the trombone section and
William “Count” Basie, the pianist, led to performances that blended solo and
ensemble passages effectively. Moten’s band recorded for Victor in 1932, but
they never found much work outside Kansas City, and in the spring of 1935
Bennie Moten died unexpectedly. Then in August of that year big-band jazz
entered the public consciousness with a bang when a jazz-oriented white dance
band led by clarinetist Benny Goodman opened at the Palomar Ballroom in
Los Angeles.big bandsBennie Motenarrangers and singers172028_15_361-385_r3_ko.indd 376 23/01/13 8:36 PM