Styles

Blues

Type of slow, sad American negro song telling of their misfortune. Usually in 4/4 time and is mostly patterned on a 12-bar structure (although 8 and 16 bars are also found) and on a scale where some notes are flattened. Listen to an excerpt from a blues played by a modern jazz group.  

   Notice the tenor saxophone solo. Now listen to a swing band version of a blues, this with accompanying strings, along with the customary brass, saxophones and rhythm sections.     Now listen to a final example played by a Dixieland jazz band, playing in the original style of jazz from New Orleans. Notice the instruments used, trumpet, clarinet, trombone, piano, guitar, double bass and drum kit, and that the singer mentions his home town, New Orleans.     Listen in particular to the counter melody, played by a clarinet as the singer performs the song.

Swing

A swing band was usually led by a virtuoso instrumentalist and provided dance music, a style which started in the 1930s. Listen to an example by the Glenn Miller Band. 

   Notice that the melody is played by saxophones, is in 4/4 time, is in a major key, and is based on arpeggios, ie broken chords. Now listen to another example in which you can again clearly hear the sections of the band. This is a more modern swing arrangement of a Beatles song, 'I wanna be your man'.