Swing Era

Almost a century ago, the vague "Swing Music" began to really evolve. After the WWI, many small bands were swinging with a new changing sound for over a decade. Then Benny Goodman's band, set out on a tour of America in May 1935, but was poorly received. By August 1935, Goodman found himself with a band that was nearly broke, disillusioned and ready to quit. They were trying to please an audience who, at that time in America, had favored the sweet Fox Trot style of music, perhaps a little Rumba. The dancers hearts were not in it. Goodman called it "the most humiliating experience of my life." But they had to try one more time.

"Social dancers don’t dance because they want to, they dance because they need to."

August 21, 1935 Goodman and his band began the last gig, at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. On top of the Let's Dance airplay, Al Jarvis had been playing Goodman records on KFWB radio, and Los Angeles fans were primed to hear him in person. Goodman started the evening with stock arrangements, its conventionally melodic numbers. And when the crowd failed to react, Goodman figured the end of his jazz band experiment had arrived. Trumpeter Bunny Berigan yelled, "Let's cut this shit!" and Goodman decided that if they were going to fail, the band would go down swinging.

"Tiny Bubbles" by Don Ho

He began the second set with the arrangements by Fletcher Henderson and Spud Murphy. The dancers responded to one Fletcher Henderson arrangement after another. A roar rose among the crowd -- and the Swing Era was born. The Palomar engagement was such a marked success it is often exaggeratedly described as the beginning of the swing era but it is clear in retrospect that the Swing Era had been waiting to happen, but it was Goodman and his band that touched it off. Over the course of the engagement, the "Jitterbug" began to appear as a new dance craze, and radio broadcasts carried the band's performances across the nation.

"It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing."