big bands
Jazz era orchestras
Big bands are large jazz ensembles typically featuring brass, woodwinds, and rhythm sections—usually twelve to twenty-five musicians.
The term particularly evokes the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s, when bandleaders like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman dominated American popular music: My grandparents danced to big bands during the war.
- saxophonesSingle-reed brass instruments
- swingSuspended recreational seat
- jitterbugEnergetic swing-era partner dance
- swing dancingUpbeat partnered jazz movement
- jazz bandsImprovisational musical groups
jazz · orchestra · lindy hop · swing music · dance floor · charts · brass bands · Harlem Renaissance · bandleader · zoot suits · rhythm · Tin Pan Alley · arrangements · music stands · radio broadcasts · Great Depression · dance bands · dance halls
- bandsbrass bands, marching bands, military bands, concert bands, community bands
- musical groupsbands, orchestra, orchestras, choir, choirs
- Roaring Twentiesflappers, Charleston, speakeasies, jazz age, Prohibition
- American musicjazz, blues, country music, rock, country
- Jazz Originsblues, ragtime, spirituals, syncopation, New Orleans
big bandsjam sessions
Impromptu collaborative music-making
free jazz · bebop · jam bands · garage bands
big bandsrock bands
Amplified musical ensembles
hip-hop · electronic dance music · singer-songwriters · contemporary pop
big, band, bigger, biggest, bigly, bigness, big-hearted, biggish, biggie