What is swing?

[jazz1]

How would you describe swing?

Can you describe it, or can you only feel it.

Just curious

[Kalo]

Swing is that without which "it" would not mean a thing.

Seriously, has anyone ever been able to put what swing is into words? I've certainly never come across a convincing, memorable formulation.

[Alexander]

I'm tempted to quote Fats Walller and say, "If you don't know what it is, for heaven's sake don't mess with it!"

But I won't, because I don't want to be one of *those* jazz fans who look down their noses at people who dare to ask such questions.

"Swing" is hard to define, but in simplest terms it is this: "In music, a swung note or shuffle note is the rhythmic device in which the duration of the initial note in a pair is augmented and that of the second is diminished. A swing or shuffle rhythm is the rhythm produced by playing repeated pairs of notes in this way. Lilting can refer to swinging, but might also indicate syncopation or other subtle ways of interpreting and shaping musical time.

In some jazz music, especially of the big band era, there is a convention that pairs of written eighth notes are not played equally--as the notation would otherwise be understood--but with the first longer than the second. The first note of each of these pairs is often understood to be twice as long as the second, implying a quarter note-eighth note triplet feel, but in practice the difference is rarely that pronounced. This is an assumed convention of notation in many styles of jazz, but usually does not apply to jazz before the early 1930s, latin jazz, bebop, or to the work of composers writing in the 1950s or later, unless "swing" is specified in the score." (Wikipedia entry on swing)

Swing indicated a big musical leap from the syncopated rhythm of jazz in the 1920s. It changed the whole feeling of jazz. It made for a more laid-back sound. In comparison, '20s jazz sounds frantic.

[Free For All]

In my experience, there are two interpretations of "swing":

One decribes a specific style of music (which gets into the eighth/triplet-feel business).

The other describes the energy (most often the rhythmic momentum, but not only that) created by any music (not just jazz) that affects you physically (toe tapping etc.) and emotionally. It moves you and makes you want to move.

I frequently use the term "swing" to describe non-jazz music. For example, I think Beethoven swung hard!

That's how I see it. Your mileage may vary.

(guess I kind of "Roostered out" with the parentheses) ()

[Jim R]

In my experience, there are two interpretations of "swing":

One decribes a specific style of music (which gets into the eighth/triplet-feel business).

The other describes the energy (most often the rhythmic momentum, but not only that) created by any music (not just jazz) that affects you physically (toe tapping etc.) and emotionally. It moves you and makes you want to move.

I frequently use the term "swing" to describe non-jazz music. For example, I think Beethoven swung hard!

That's how I see it. Your mileage may vary.

(guess I kind of "Roostered out" with the parentheses) ()

Hey, HEY. Nobody goes overboard with the parentheses like me- nobody (Rooster is more about enlarged text, bold, red and blue, etc)... (oh, and btw, I agree with you on "swing" and "Swing")... (like they say, if you have to ask...).

( )

[flat5]

The effect should be a forward momentum. The time should keep moving. Not start stop.

I sometimes think of Elvin Jones playing as someone walking who is falling forward but never hits the ground :-)

Edited December 17, 2006 by flat5

[Alexander]

The effect should be a forward momentum. The time should keep moving. Not start stop.

I sometimes think of Elvin Jones playing as someone walking who is falling forward but never hits the ground :-)

By contrast, Monk (who also swung) is the musical equivilent of a man walking a high-wire. He makes it look like he doesn't know where his foot is going to land, but it always lands exactly where it needs to be.

[ep1str0phy]

I was just flipping through the Jost "Free Jazz" book (having spent far too much time with said materials writing theses and whatnot), and the word "flowing" is used (as well as some terminology that would just as well describe syncopation in general--i.e., the displacement of accents, etc.). Motion or momentum, again, is what I hear often. But then, that's the academic side of things...

There's a strong duality between the "spiritual" nature of swing and any sort of theoretical definition, and it's interesting to see what you'll "reach for" first when the question is posed. Like Free For All mentioned Beethoven--I'd say the same about Derek Bailey!

[JSngry]

Swing is...nature making love with time.

[flat5]

"Swing is...nature making love with time."

Poetic...and kinky.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Swing is...nature making love with time.

Is that in the men's room?

MG

[JSngry]

"Swing is...nature making love with time."

Poetic...and kinky.

And that differs from swing how?

[JSngry]

Swing is...nature making love with time.

Is that in the men's room?

MG

Wherever two or more are gathered in swing's name...

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Swing is...nature making love with time.

Is that in the men's room?

MG

Wherever two or more are gathered in swing's name...

MG

[Jazzmoose]

Swing is the aural version of the rear view of a woman walking...

[Soul Stream]

When the music feels good...that's swing to me.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Swing is the aural version of the rear view of a woman walking...

Oh, I like that. And, I like THAT, too!

MG

[AllenLowe]

3 over 4 -

[clifford_thornton]

The tension created from a meeting between the expected and the unexpected.

To me, that's what drives the music.

[flat5]

Old joke about the WW2 Nazi dentist.

"Vee halfv vays to make you shwving".

[Quasimado]

Swing is the aural version of the rear view of a woman walking...

Exactly! Examples that come to mind are Lester Young on Lady be Good/ Charlie Parker on KoKo/ Warne Marsh on I'll Remember April (Xanadu) ...

Q

[Alexander Hawkins]

'Jello on springs'

[BruceH]

Swing is that without which "it" would not mean a thing.

Beat me to it.

[Chuck Nessa]

[AllenLowe]

sorry, you're all wrong - swing is 3 over 4 -