The Swing Era and the Drums

In my previous post, I briefly mentioned a few different styles of music that drummers should be familiar with when playing a big band gig. I mainly talked about the feel of a tune. I have used the terms “feel” and “style” interchangeably here. Here is part of that post:

The “feel” of the tune tells the drummer the style: swing; Mambo; Cha Cha Cha; rock ballad; Bossa Nova; waltz (3/4); Samba, etc.

In this post, I would like to expand a bit on the swing style of drumming in the context of a 10-piece band that plays music from the swing era. This is a pretty limited framework, but one that I feel is important to understand when playing the music of Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Glen Miller, and Artie Shaw among many others.

So, the style or feel of the tune says “swing.” What does that mean? Do I get to play like Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes and/or Jack DeJohnette? The answer is most definitely not! The feel is swing and all of these drummers really swing, but the style from the swing era has to be kept in mind. The Swing Era and the tunes played during that era will dictate to the trained musician what is to be played on the drum set.

This music was considered “pop” (popular) or commercial music in it’s day. Think of any commercial music today. What do pop music from this current time and swing music from 1935 have in common? If you answered “dancing,” then you understand where I’m headed with this. The drummer’s role is to get people dancing and keep them there. Yes, there are certain rhythms to be played that “swing” but how they are played is key here.

My best advice is to listen to recordings from the above mentioned artists to start to understand what is required from you as a drummer in this setting. Do this for any and every style which you would like to learn. It’s an amazing journey!