[78-L] Big Band Era

Thu Jun 25 07:01:14 PDT 2020

I'm not an expert, but there go my two cents....

A simple  logical reasoning is implicit in Roger's question, and it is clear that a term such as Big Band Era is likely to have been coined after the bands heyday. I doubt anyone in the late thirties would have said it this way, something like 'we're immersed in the big band era', maybe some musical writer in the billboard or other musical magazine, but it's not likely. Do trend analysers inquire about a current musical trend's end, imagining a different panorama in the future, and seeing their current Era as in a foreseen retrospective? In modern days it seems quite probable; musical fashions are multiple, short-lived phenomena, and there is a myriad of musical writers and critics, reaching every corner of the planet at a simple mouse click,  and besides that, today they can,  and do, write what they want, as they want, in complete freedom. So this kind of critical exercise is conceivable, and surely it exists in written media.

 But I believe it was not the case in the 1930s-40s... although they wrote in apparent freedom, at least in magazines addressed to the young generation, I believe forms and styles were pretty narrow, at least in commercial publications. If we would look after such a term written in that epoch, we should turn to more serious scholar publications, where such an analysis could well have been done.

A different thing is to name a band a 'big band'. This, Donna has  pointed, was a very old term, and could have been used then.  This time I would search in the commercial publications. If such a term was used, I feel the answer is in these musical magazines for youngsters about swing, the bandleaders, and the starlettes then sparkling.

Again, a long post from the Spanish ignorant, with no more contents that simple reasoning and no facts. I'm sorry, but I have no data about it... but I like very much to discuss about the hobby with you all!

Best regards,

Iñigo Cubillo

________________________________
De: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com <78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com> en nombre de 78-l-request at klickitat.78online.com <78-l-request at klickitat.78online.com>
Enviado: jueves, 25 de junio de 2020 1:48
Para: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
Asunto: 78-L Digest, Vol 141, Issue 11

Send 78-L mailing list submissions to
        78-l at klickitat.78online.com

To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
        http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
        78-l-request at klickitat.78online.com

You can reach the person managing the list at
        78-l-owner at klickitat.78online.com

When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of 78-L digest..."

Today's Topics:

   1.  test (Malcolm)
   2. Re:  test (Michael Biel)
   3.  Big Band Era (Rodger J Holtin)
   4. Re:  Big Band Era (Donna Halper)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2020 10:53:47 -1000
From: Malcolm <malcolm at 78data.com.invalid>
Subject: [78-L] test
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Message-ID: <f8a3821b-ce07-c62d-1893-ff66ba438834 at 78data.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

just a test

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2020 20:54:53 +0000
From: Michael Biel <mbiel at mbiel.com.invalid>
Subject: Re: [78-L] test
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Message-ID:
        <BN3PR04MB2305F98BE716D0D2D567A3EFB5940 at BN3PR04MB2305.namprd04.prod.outlook.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppp.

Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
________________________________
From: 78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com <78-l-bounces at klickitat.78online.com> on behalf of Malcolm <malcolm at 78data.com.invalid>
Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2020 4:53:47 PM
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Subject: [78-L] test

just a test
_______________________________________________
78-L mailing list
78-L at klickitat.78online.com
http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2020 21:22:35 -0500
From: Rodger J Holtin <rjh334578 at gmail.com.invalid>
Subject: [78-L] Big Band Era
To: "78-List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Message-ID: <002401d649ce$538da250$faa8e6f0$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"

Would anybody happen to know who coined the term "Big Band Era" or any
variations thereof?  When? Was the term "Big Band" used during the era
itself?  Did fans, musicians, writers, anybody refer to all those late night
remote bands as "big bands" when they were still new, hot stuff on the air
most every night, or did that terminology only emerge once the party was
over and everybody who loved those bands started wondering where they went
and they needed a handy term?

Rodger Holtin

78-L Member Since MCMXCVIII

For Best Results Use Victor Needles

--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2020 00:16:13 -0400
From: Donna Halper <dlh at donnahalper.com.invalid>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Big Band Era
To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Message-ID: <1771baf8-e253-17c4-ead2-18b42894df90 at donnahalper.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed

On 6/23/2020 10:22 PM, Rodger J Holtin wrote:
> Would anybody happen to know who coined the term "Big Band Era" or any
> variations thereof?

As you know, the term "Big Band" is actually quite old-- I find it in
the 1890s, in advertisements for concert halls and county fairs, often
referred to as a "big brass band" but sometimes just as a "big band." In
the early 1940s, reviewers are talking about the "big name band era"--
in other words, the bandleaders are the stars, and the audience knows
the bands by the name of the person who was the leader.? But I don't see
any references to the "big band era" until the 1950s, as the music
changed and music critics and reviewers were looking back on past trends.

--
Donna L. Halper, PhD
Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies
Lesley University, Cambridge MA

------------------------------

_______________________________________________
78-L mailing list
78-L at klickitat.78online.com
http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l

End of 78-L Digest, Vol 141, Issue 11
*************************************