There was a time when hundreds of big bands roamed the land. Some enjoyed long-time residencies at hotels while others performed at an endless string of one-nighters. Some failed within a few months while others lasted for years. Between live performances, radio shows, recordings, radio transcriptions and, for the biggest names, film appearances, the swing world was a whirlwind of activity.
All of the big bands played for dancers. In fact, the reason that many large orchestras were able to flourish during the later years of the Depression was that swing was considered pop music. Big band recordings (which were often instrumentals) dominated the pop charts and young people went out to the dance halls to enjoy their favorite bands. The Swing Era was certainly a unique time.
For this article, I picked out a dozen releases (one per band) that belong in everyone’s swing collection. I limited myself to recordings from the actual swing era (1935-46) and to big bands rather than smaller combos or vocal albums. There are many bands not represented here (there does not seem to be a definitive single disc of Harry James’ pre-1946 recordings).
There are hundreds of high-quality recordings from the time and one could argue which one is “best,” but certainly the music on these dozen sets (none larger than a three-CD collection and listed loosely in chronological order) are essential in o
