Yesterday, I came across this gem, a BBC documentary that serves up a smart history of swing. It rightly dates the music's start to 1924, when Louis Armstrong joined Fletcher Henderson's band. The documentary isn't perfect—Fats Waller is missing as is Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb, Harry James, Stan Kenton, Charlie Barnet and others. Perhaps the biggest oversight is Nat King Cole's influence on modern pop singing. But it's very, very good. Here's The Swing Thing...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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