By 1929 the recording industry was a hugely successful business. Jazz was king; but with the advent of the Great Depression people stopped buying records. One estimate says record sales declined by as much as 90% between 1929 and the early ’30s. Still, new technology kept the industry afloat. New microphones developed by RCA greatly enhanced the quality of radio broadcast sound; by the latter years of the 1930s, most households owned a radio where the family would gather to hear comedy, drama, news, and live music entertainment, for free. In addition, jukeboxes became popular, starting in the middle of the decade, and actually stimulated record sales once again as folks wanted to own what they heard in the juke joints.

         Musical styles kept evolving, too. By 1935 swing, a danceable subgenre of jazz, became the most popular form of music and would remain so for a decade. Swing grew out of African American roots – one early pioneer was Fletcher Henderson, for whom Louis Armstrong once played. When Henderson disbanded he went to work as an arranger for Benny Goodman whose 1935 appearance at L.A.’s Palomar Ballroom is often seen as the spark that ignited the swing era. Swing was generally played by Big Bands of 10 or more (sometimes many more) musicians; there were saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section of drums, bass, piano, and sometimes a guitar. Some of the most successful big bands were led by Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the Dorsey Brothers, Tommy and Jimmy, Guy Lombardo, Artie Shaw, Cab Calloway, and Glen Miller.

         Prominent vocalists of the ’30s included The Mills Brothers, who grew out of a barbershop quartet; the swinging Andrews Sisters; early country pioneers, Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family; and the biggest selling artist of the decade, “crooner” Bing Crosby.    

                                                               -Steve Williams (4/27/23)