SwingDJs

Hey Folks

So I'm writing up my own personal opinion of what swing music is (yes, both big S and little s) for a couple of friends of mine and I'm looking for things that others have wrote on the topic, so that I can give links to other opinions as well. Obviously googling doesn't really come up with much so I was wondering whether you all had any particular favourite posts or articles that you wouldn't mind linking my way.

Cheers!

I always liked Gunther Schuller's exploration of the definition in "The Swing Era". See The Swing Era on Google books

I agree with trev.
In this book, they asked the Duke for a definition of Swing. Worth reading!
http://www.amazon.com/World-Swing-Oral- ... 0306810166

New Orleans drummer, educator and author Stanton Moore talks about the concept of playing in "the cracks" briefly in his Groove Alchemy book. The idea is very relevant to understanding swing. I think he got the term from Johnny Vidacovich who talks about it in this podcast, he gets to the idea at about 19:00. While you may not think of Moore and Vidacovich as swing guys, I think the idea is helpful to understand music with that not exactly swing sort of feel. The idea is something that can't be precisely captured in conventional music notation so you really need to hear it and even play it to get it. Of course there more to it but I think playing in the cracks a cornerstone of swing and any kind of music that makes you move.