The Swing Beat! I am not a a  big smooth Jazz person  but I’m down  with the swing beat and Big Band Jazz. I actually took a class on the History of Jazz. And we got to look into the different types and the history of each and the break down of the music and the chord and the beats. I really enjoyed it. Granted, I’ve played music so I’m familiar with many things.

Sometimes I get so caught up in list listening to music for fun that I miss all the details put into it. I didn’t realize how many current song have swing beats in them until we discussed it in class. I really enjoy more modern pop/hip-hip music with the swing beat. It gives it a  really nice sound. To be fair though, I’ve been listening to a lot of music lately with that beat. It’s become a favorite beat of mine!  I digress…

I knew a bit about what we discussed in class, since I took that history of Jazz class. Though, in that class, I feel like we didn’t discuss race relations that well. I mean, in regards to race records. We discussed influences and what not, but I don’t believe my teacher ever specified the actually record label and the like. So I was fascinated that there were labels that only wanted black people, but also included white people in the background, but as a secret. I feel like that’s what they’ve done in the past but vice versa.

I remember us talking about Bessie Smith, but we focused more on Ella Fitzgerald in my other class, which seems odd since Bessie Smith was the first really big singer. I wonder who is technically more popular though.

Now, I briefly remember Muddy Waters, but I don’t remember discussing about his life. And the whole idea with the folklorists and going back to the roots was interesting. You can see how music music was packaged and sold even back “in the good old days” as many people like to say.