[Dixielandjazz] Demise of the Big Swing Bands

[Steve Barbone]

IMO, while many like to blame bebop and changing jazz styles for the demise
of Big Band Swing, it died largely because of a combination of economics and
a switch from dancing at nightclubs to listening. Below is the "short
history course" distilled from a term paper I did on the subject in 1958 at
Hofstra University.

 
A) Perhaps the Goldkette Band was the first to die because of economics. It
   became too top heavy. best players, highest salaries, superb music. They
   bested the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra in 1927 as you might recall. Yet
   a year or so later they were forced to disband. Why? They had become
   victims of their own success and no venue could afford them and proof
   that the music is not enough.

B) The 20% entertainment tax of World War II. This 20% add on to night club
   bills was specifically targeted to clubs that featured dancing and dance
   floors. So a $25 night out suddenly became a $30 night out. The club
   owners were no dummies. As they watched their own profits fall, because
   people then spent less on booze, they eliminated the dance floors and
   filled that space with tables. The music was now for listening, not for
   dancing. Voila, no tax to pay and more customers. For a time Dixieland
   became the rage for "listeners", but that too would fade. Once the
   entertainment scene broadened, folks made other choices.

By the end of World War 2, the Big Bands were much too expensive, compared
with smaller groups. And so most, like Goldkette's, disbanded. A few kept
going, Basie for a while, Kenton, Ellington (subsidized by Duke's royalty
revenue), Woody Herman and others. But they oriented more towards jazz and
less towards dance.

The days of dancing to the Dorsey's, Miller, Goodman, Shaw, Barnett, Basie
et. al., were over and subsequently the dancers gravitated to Jump Blues and
Rock & Roll. 

Cheers,
Steve Barbone