Origin of bands

["L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>]

There's some interesting history at the Big Band Database, including a 
timeline of bands.  Here are some excerpts (below).  When this timeline 
ends, of course, the rock bands take over.  Dance music continued to a swing 
beat through the Fifties, but then shifted to rock in the Sixties.

I guess this is where Mark gets his notion that all US music is black music. 
  According to this history, the concept of dance bands (as opposed to the 
marching kind) and professional musicians came out of New Orleans.

So were there rock bands as we understand it today before the British 
Invasion?  I'm suspecting the early rock acts focused on a solo 
singer/performer.  But, a lot of these jazz musicians were in Europe and the 
UK during the war, or else moved there when the bottom dropped out of the US 
job market, so they took the band concept with them.  Who actually came up 
with the standard line-up of three guitars in front and drums (rhythm) in 
back?


keets


>In the early 1800's, the concept of "Bands" is not yet fully understood. 
>Very small groups of (usually Amateur) musicians are employed for a 
>specific function, and then discharged. By the mid-1800s, Minstrel groups 
>and other shows now use a "group" of musicians as part of the traveling 
>troupe.

>From about 1880 on, there are no "dance bands" yet, but there are the New 
>Orleans "Dixieland" - sometimes called "jazz" - bands. The music starts in 
>New Orleans, and moves north via the Mississippi riverboats and the 
>railroad. In these early "Jazz" bands, the Violin, Cornet and Trombone form 
>the "front line", with piano, banjo and tuba forming the "back line", now 
>called the rhythm section.

>"Popular" music is still mostly Rags and show-tunes. 1917 Orig. Dixieland 
>Jazz Band, first Jazz band to record. Their recording of
Jazz "Livery Stable Blues" sells a million copies (in 1917!!) and turns Jazz 
into popular music. (a Black bandleader, Freddie Keppard, had rejected an 
offer to record because he though others would copy his style.)

>U.S. declares war on Germany, enters WW1.  The era of the "Roaring 
>Twenties" is about to enter. "Pops" Whiteman will shortly form his first 
>popular orchestra. The music is slowly becoming arranged and the old 'head' 
>arrangements begin to fade. The music is now much more for dancing. The 
>Dance Band era is nearing. 1926 NBC Coast-to-Coast network established.  
>Home radio receivers are becoming ubiquitous. Every home has one. Dance 
>Bands broadcasting from Hotels, Dance Halls and radio studios, become the 
>main commodity of radio stations. But the `Big Bands' have not arrived as 
>yet. But, starting now, the Leaders, who in the future will become 
>household names, are starting their careers and orchestras.

>In 1935, Goodman's band ended a cross-country tour in LA. The tour was very 
>disappointing, but when the band opened in LA, the youngsters went wild. 
>They absolutely loved the music. It is the official start of the SWING 
>MUSIC era.

>The American Musician's Union disastrous strike, and the WW2 years have 
>taken their toll. The great "Swing Era" starts to die. In December 1946, 
>13-14 years after Benny Goodman invented swing, the
bubble breaks. In December, 8 bands 'give up the ghost': Benny Goodman; Jack 
Teagarden; Ina Ray Hutton; Tommy Dorsey; Woody Herman; Harry James and Benny 
Carter, all call it quits.





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