![]() In ‘ The World of Swing’, Stanley Dance discussed the concept of swing in the two first chapters of his book. So perhaps the best answer to “what is swing?” is that you can feel it rather than explain it. Some joked saying they’d prefer tackling Einstein’s theory, some called it “free speech in music”, some put it as simply a “matter of personal opinion”, and some slyly remarked that if you need to ask, then you’ll never know. Over the years, many jazz performers and musicians were asked to define “swing”. After all, a lot of debate surrounds this term and what it describes. Unfortunately, this means that the concept of “swing” can be tricky to explain. It’s like the term “groove” that’s also used to describe a rhythmic “feel” in a funk or rock context. This definition pushes us towards the conclusion that swing in music can be interpreted as a “feel”. The first definition of swing in the ‘ Jazz in America’ glossary is “when an individual player or ensemble performs in such a rhythmically coordinated way as to command a visceral response from the listener (to cause feet to tap and heads to nod) an irresistible gravitational buoyancy that defies mere verbal definition”. Swing can be a “feel”, a way of performing, or a form of jazz music.īelow, I’m going to explain each of these meanings in more detail so you can really understand what swing is in music. As I mentioned above, the term “swing” can indicate many things, but in the music world, it has 3 main associations.
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