What is swing? If we take the original meaning of the word (i.e. élan) it quite accurately describes what kind of music we are talking about. Swing does not only exist as a genre but as a very typical manner of playing jazz.(95) It is worth mentioning at the beginning of this chapter that conductors of swing bands mostly conducted the bands according to the original meaning of ’swing’. Firstly, orchestras could have played easily even without a conductor who were treated as stars and functioning mostly as showmen, secondly, it was unnecessary for the conductors to ruin the music by beating the air too much. It was absolutely enough if they gave a cue to the orchestra at more important entries and tuttis, pointed at the upcoming soloists while sometimes communicating with the audience rather than the band. In some respects, this is very similar to what Franz Liszt thought about conducting. It is known that Liszt did not like constant beating of the time, often lowered his arms and directed music by raising his hands again only when he felt necessary. Sometimes he put down his baton at the most inspired, most beautiful parts. He let the orchestra play, he trusted his eyes, the tension created by him, the power of the music. He himself wrote about this: ‘In many cases, even the rough, literal maintenance of time and of each continuous bar clashes with the sense and expression. There, as elsewhere, the letter killeth the spirit, a thing to which I will never subscribe...’ Later: ‘...In my opinion, the real task of a conductor consists in making himself seem superfluous. We are helmsmen, not oarsmen.’(96) Many criticized Liszt’s conducting but Ödön Michalovich(97) (1842-1929) had a different opinion: ‘Whoever feels that it is impossible to play under Liszt’s direction, has only himself to blame.’

The music of Liszt was widely known in America by the time of the swing era. Of course, swing did not enter the musical world at once. The dawn of the style was marked by early big bands, the orchestras of Fletcher Henderson, Paul Whiteman and Jean Goldkette. The legendary trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931) played in the orchestras of both Goldkette and Whiteman.(98)

According to the memoirs of Bill Challis, arranger (and occasional fourth saxophone player) of the Goldkette band, Bix was very enthusiastic about contemporary European music, listened to recordings of The Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy and Stravinsky’s The Firebird. Challis also wrote down the Faun, The Sea and the String Quartet to understand the secret of the effects used by Debussy.(99) Challis had regular had conversations with Bix about serious music and arranging. Such interest of Bix can be best recognized in his legendary solo piano piece, In A Mist. Irving (Itzy) Riskin, pianist of the Goldkette band, remembered Bix: ‘His greatest pleasure, from the start, was to have me play him to sleep with Debussy, Stravinsky, and such American composers as McDowell (sic!) and Eastwood Lane. Whenever I got to an interesting harmony he'd just lie there in bed and moan.’(100) According to trumpetist and singer Phil Dooley, Bix went bowling or dealt with music in his spare time and talked much about modern music, he enthused about the works of Ravel, Stravinsky and Sibelius.(101) And Bix Beiderbecke was extremely important to all swing musicians, he and Louis Armstrong were the idols for most trumpet players. Bix was a role model because of his harmonic creativity and suprising melodic lines. Also the sound of the Goldkette band was an example to be followed for many musicians of the era. This sound was the result firstly of the work of Bill Challis, who studied Debussy. And as it was already mentioned in the previous chapter, Debussy would not have become what he was without Liszt.

By the time of the swing era (that is the period from the late twenties to the first half of the forties) works of contemporary European composers were known and played throughout the United States, mainly as a result of the activity of Damrosch, who made music with Liszt together, and his sons. Impressionistic sound greatly influenced the arrangers of the swing era (think especially of muted brass and the use of strings or even timpani). The new effects and arranging techniques are at least as important as new harmonies (as in the works of Duke Ellington).