The early swing era, 1930 to 1941 /

Discussing a period of enormous creativity, Oliphant (English, Univ. of Texas, Austin) focuses on a portion of jazz history he calls the "early swing era" to analyze the important recordings of the big jazz bands. In discussing the bands, he segregates them by race--under the justifiable premise that the black bands were generally the most innovative and aesthetic whereas the white bands won fame and fortune--but stresses the critical relationship between the races not only in the development of important music but as a wedge in cracking racist attitudes. Oliphant traces and discusses the significant recordings of the major bands in great detail (without musical notation), offering a kind of dialog that brings in the opinions of most major critics and historians on a wide range of subjects--composition, arrangement, solos, section work, sources from which all of this music came. One chapter discusses the often-overlooked importance of small groups in the swing era. An A-to-Z biographical listing of major figures, with one-paragraph summaries, concludes the book. Musicians and nonmusicians with a focused interest in this period will find the book of great value, particularly for its extensive notes referring to recordings and for its many quoted opinions. The detailed discussion may scare away the general reader. All music collections. C. M. Weisenberg University of California, Los Angeles