Race and Swing in the 1930's

            Swing, more than just a style of jazz, was a distinct and influential period in the history of jazz music, as well as American history. This evolution of jazz occurred at an interesting crossroads; it was both on the edge of technologic innovation, while simultaneously on an economic precipice. Swing was beginning in pre-depression America, during the rise of the radio and was then shaped during the biggest economic downturn in the nation’s history. These factors in composite, lead to competition that brought race to forefront of jazz dialogue in the 1930’s.

            Radio, while being an amazing invention for the dissemination of music to most Americans, was a troubling dawn for musicians. Radio became the main mode of music listening for most Americans. “A single band could now entertain countless listeners through the magic of radio” (Gioia, The History of Jazz, p.127). It was this shift in the consumption of music that led to a mini-depression within the jazz community.  “As wages declined and musician unemployment rose, a dozen players could be hired for relatively little” (Gioia, p.128). This downturn lead to the big band style that ultimately became swing music.

            In the 1930’s, a few choice musicians were fulfilling the nation’s supply of jazz music. In this dynamic, the worst thing for jazz would be a mass influx of musician. This is exactly what the recession brought. Just as black musicians in the early 1900’s, more and more white people saw the music industry as a means to escape the lower, working class (Stewart). This forced blacks and whites to compete for the same gigs, putting them at odds and creating a conflict that was soon made about race.

            “Once again, as in other forms of labor, a vicious system keeps the Negro and white in competition, while the inevitable exploiters take advantage of their rivalry” (Swing Changes, p.64). The ‘vicious system’ was a collection of white individuals, mostly agents and radio producers that kept the black musicians and white musicians at odds. The black musicians were seen as superior in their performance of the music, the white musicians superior in all other aspects. This allowed white musicians to have great access to the newly developing middle class white youth market (Stewart).

            These factors molded jazz into an issue of race, and the way information was diffused hardly mitigated this. It was “a small coterie of young white men, typically from a privileged social backgrounds, exercised enormous influence in shaping America’s understanding of the swing phenomenon” (Swing Changes, p.52). It is hard for a group of young white men, in an increasingly tense depression-era America, to be unbiased while speaking on the issue of race. But not all in the white jazz community saw swing as a black versus white struggle.  Swing critic John Hammond said that, “’only by unity between Negros and whites will they be able to survive’” (Swing Changes, p.61).  Hammond believed that this competition between white and black musicians was allowing those who had the means of cultural production to profit from their struggle, while keeping the musicians down.

            Swing was not, and is not, inherently race dividing. Swings temporal proximity to the advent of radio and the great depression brought about a unique set of circumstances that had black and white musicians in competition for jobs, which radio was slowly making unwarranted. This competition was covered by a hardly unbiased, mostly white, press core, which exacerbated the issue of race. I believe, had swing somehow occurred 10 years either side of the 1930’s, race would not have been as prevalent in it’s literature.

Comment: Ethan Mendoza