Battle of the Big Bands

[Automatic Slim]

Who's your favorite big band? Vote for one of these (you can vote for more than one) or do a write in vote for a band not on the list.

Fletcher Henderson
Benny Goodman
Count Basie
Duke Ellington
Cab Calloway
Chick Webb
Dorsey Brothers (together or separately

I vote for Duke Ellington, with Fletcher Henderson coming close.

[Roemilca]

Duke Ellington, then Cab Calloway.

[SATCHMO]

Lester young and Coleman Hawkins. Their rivalry was legendary.

[bunker's hill]

They're all great. I like Cab Calloway. Do you mean musically great big bands or commercially great big bands?

Because you don't have Glenn Miller in there. Do you think his band is swing or a big band?

[Burning Down]

Originally Posted by bunker's hill

They're all great. I like Cab Calloway. Do you mean musically great big bands or commercially great big bands?

Because you don't have Glenn Miller in there. Do you think his band is swing or a big band?

I always thought Glenn Miller was big band.

For me it's Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

[wad]

lionel hampton wow!

[Automatic Slim]

Originally Posted by bunker's hill

They're all great. I like Cab Calloway. Do you mean musically great big bands or commercially great big bands?

Because you don't have Glenn Miller in there. Do you think his band is swing or a big band?

I didn't think anyone would ever respond to this thread! I stopped paying attention. I meant musically great, or enjoyable. Anyway, I haven't listened to Glenn Miller

I always considered that 'big band' referred to the number of instruments, not to a style. However, most of the big bands played swing, if I recall correctly.

As far as commercially successful big bands, I'd have to say Duke Ellington and Count Basie, as they outlasted the competition, surviving far past the swing era. I have read that the Cabaret Tax and the Depression killed most of the big bands and that economic reality later favored the smaller bebop bands. Yet the Duke and the Count survived!