the jazz that was popular during the 1930s and 1940s was known as 'big band' or 'swing' a big band or jazz orchestra,consisted of approximately 12 to25 musicians and contained saxophones,trumpets,trombones,and arhythrm section.the arranger called for an inprovised solo,a short piece of music created spontaneously by one of the players in many bands the arranger was also the bandleader
big bands jazz was first and foremost dance music.the earliest bands played music characterized by a sweet and romantic melody,suitable for dancing.later the music acquired a "swing beat" a style of playing with a strong,driving rhythm.the"hot" rhythms of bandleaers such as benny goodman and count basie became the dominant form of popular music after 1935 from this joyous,swinging music came the energetic style of dancing called"jitterbug