Swing to Bop: An Oral History of the Transition in Jazz in the 1940s

by Ira Gitler

This indispensable book brings us face to face with some of the most memorable figures in jazz history and charts the rise and development of bop in the late 1930s and '40s. Ira Gitler interviewed more than 50 leading jazz figures, over a 10-year period, to preserve for posterity their recollections of the transition in jazz from the big band era to the modern jazz period. The musicians interviewed, including both the acclaimed and the unrecorded, tell in their own words how this renegade music emerged, why it was a turning point in American jazz, and how it influenced their own lives and work. Placing jazz in historical context, Gitler demonstrates how the mood of the nation in its post-Depression years, racial attitudes of the time, and World War II combined to shape the jazz of today.

Genres: Music, History, Jazz

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 1985

Reviews

[Jefferson]

~ Fantastic first hand accounts!

[Graham Kozak]

Great book detailing how jazz transformed from the swing era to bop. The book is all interviews conducted by Ira where he speaks to many jazz legends describing their experiences during this time, Ira does a great job weaving parts of the interviews together into a steady progression of people who played with the same bands, in practically chronological order. This book also doesn't hold back the hardships players faced during this time, jim crow, racism, and how drug use plagued the jazz world are all topics covered. It was also fascinating to learn more about some of these swing bands and the stories behind them. It's one thing to read what happened in a textbook, it's another kind of connection to read interviews of people who were there and learning about what was (and wasn't) included in textbooks. Only negative of the book is that the text looks kinda old-timey or not blurry but kind of less clear if that makes sense, but it didn't detract anything from the books contents. Great read!

[Hunter Devolin]

Admittedly not a ton of takeaways from this. You've got to know the names of all the original bebop players to keep up, and even then it's mostly just musicians name dropping each other without too much direction or insight. Interesting enough if you're a bebop fan, but there's likely nothing here you haven't heard about or read already.

I did enjoy the couple pages that talked about Mary Lou Williams and her relationship with Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell.

Every oral history has the potential to come up short if the interviews don't give the author what they need to construct a clear and engaging narrative, so I'd say it's simply a pitfall of the format.

[RA]

Very entertaining oral history of the period from Swing to Bop. A wonderful mixture of anecdotes, and tragic, informative & humorous stories from a wide variety of musicians. This gives a true glimpse into the lifestyle of the musicians.

Much of it, of course, focuses on Bird & Diz, but much more.

[JDK1962]

99% interview snippets with musicians of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Interesting look at life in the jazz trenches of that time.

[Gerald]

Oral histories of what it was like to be on both sides of a musical revolution. Ira Gitler does a great job of assembling the first hand accounts into an enjoyable narrative.