So we should then outline what constitutes swing. Although there is no clear genesis of the term, swing has as many definitions as it does historians and performers of the music. Some say swing is based on the dividing of a beat into triplets. While this is true, if is FAR from a complete description. That’s like saying the Special Theory of Relativity is about time dilation. Well…yes, but that doesn’t tell us anything particularly useful in understanding Einstein’s theory. Swing is not really definable. It is a feeling. Indeed there is a musical term “swing-feel” which refers to syncopated rhythm. It creates a drive to the music, a “horizontal propulsion.”
But swing-feel cannot be notated on sheet music. Once, I was playing a walking bass piece from sheet music and at a certain bar, I played it exactly as it was written. My instructor shouted, “NO! NO! NO!” He grabbed the bass from me and said, “You have to swing it!” And played the bar the way it was meant to be played which was not as I played it even though I played exactly what was on the sheet music. Swing is a feeling and it is intuitive. If you don’t feel it, you can’t play it. But syncopation is not the only way to swing. You have to play a swing piece in such as way that it “pushes” itself along even without syncopation. When walking a bass, which is generally done in 4/4 time, you put a little accent on beats 2 and 4. The piece will push itself along quite nicely but there is nothing in the notation that tells you to play it that way nor should the 2-and-4 accent be considered syncopation. You just have to swing it.
So how is swing music structured? It wasn’t structured all that differently from earlier jazz except that it was more riff-oriented and had much larger brass and/or reed sections and were streamlined. Riffs are short musical phrases that can be repeated or joined onto other riffs. The riffs can be played in I-IV-V7 or ii-V7 patterns for example. Other riffs can be layered over them. Solos can be built out of various riffs hooked together.
In the tutorial below, we hear various riffs. He plays an end tag riff, for example. A jazz orchestra might learn a way to play that tag and notate it. A band might learn 50 different end tags and the band's arranger will choose the most appropriate one. There are intro riffs, bridge riffs, etc. To improvise a piece, the bandleader or arranger could call out a riff to the drummer who will kick things off with a repeated beat. Then the leader calls out a riff to the sax section and they’ll start playing that riff (he might have a name for it or maybe just a number). When the riff has repeated enough times, he might call out a riff to the trumpets and they’ll start playing a different riff over top the sax section riff. Then he might add in a piano riff to mix in with the rest. Then the bass joins in to set the rhythm in place. Then the clarinetist might stand up and start soloing. At the end of, say, four bars the trombones dash off a short but pointed stab of notes that serves to punctuate what the clarinetist is doing. When the clarinet is done soloing, the leader might nod to the lead trumpet man and he’ll start soloing. And so on. All of them are playing riffs—little musical building blocks by which an entire piece can be constructed on the fly. When the leader feels it is ready, he’ll shout out an end tag and the band will comply. Usually, though, this was all done with charts but the band knew them so well they could improvise without the chart.
Jazz riffs and fun piano bits - YouTube
Jazz is built on riffs as is blues. By extension, rock music uses many of these same riffs. Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing” (written by Louis “Just A Gigolo” Prima for another band) is an excellent example of constructing a piece out of riffs—building blocks. Some riffs are a few notes long, some are several bars but they are all riffs. Most riffs can also be played in different ways (e.g. inverted or played backwards) to make entirely new riffs.
"SING, SING, SING" BY BENNY GOODMAN - YouTube
With proper coaching, even amateur music students can play complex sounding swing numbers just by learning the riffs out of which each number is built. Below, a group of Japanese high school girls called the Swing Girls perform “Sing Sing Sing.” None of these girls had been playing more than a year at the time this was taped. All you need is decent musicianship and a good arrangement. I’m grateful for the Swing Girls clips because they demonstrate what I’m explaining quite well. Not too much going on at once so you can hear how the riffs are hooked together:
"Sing Sing Sing" / 19 tracks Swing Girls First&Last Concert Live 2004 - YouTube
Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” is another famous example. Again, the Swing Girls show how convincingly it can be pulled off with a good arrangement and knowing how to play the riffs. To do it this well would still require a great deal of practice but it can be done. Sure, Miller’s band does it better simply because they are far more experienced musicians but even amateurs can pull it off as they do here if they get their riffs down well enough—and this was their ONLY live performance:
In The Mood / ep14 Swing Girls First&Last Concert Live 2004 - YouTube