[Tango-L] West Coast Swing

[steve pastor]

While investigating the origin of West Coast Swing, and the music it was originally
  danced to, I ran across a few convergences with tango. I shared that information with the list.
  This led to some reaction, and a West Coast Swing thread. I replied to the first post
  privately, since WCS is a bit off topic. The second post in that thread led me to decide
  to share what I found on this off tango topic - West Coast Swing (Although WCS
  does share the improvisational nature of Argentine Tango). 
  
  The roots of West Coast Swing are in the Swing Era. But, "swing" refers not only to
  Big Band Swing, but more generally how music is played. Most accounts of how
  WCS came to be go from jazz/blues to R&B to Rock ‘n Roll. I have come to believe
  that this account leaves something out. On another dance forum the only person who
  mentioned this other element was from Australia! The unmentioned element is
  Western Swing.
  Here’s how I arrived at the Western Swing connection. I have endeavored to list the
  source of all of my information. WCS is the "state dance" of California. Although it is
  likely that a similar style evolved in other parts of the country, Southern California has
  the best documented scene, and the most publicity.
  This is from from a personal communication (July 6, 2006 email) from Sonny Watson 
  "Swing Music was the thing for a good amount of time. However the music was 
  changing into Rock and Roll about the mid 40's as Blues, Boogie-Woogie, Western
  Swing Music etc stated above." (Get started on his web site at http://www.streetswing.com/ to see why I think he has cred )
  from a web site ---
  "Back east they stayed with the big band sound, which you could only do eastern
  swing to. But here, we didn't have big band places; we had country-western and blues.
  Dancing in a slot (i.e., West Coast Swing) fit that kind of music better," Blair says.
  "supplied by Diane Jarmolow of the Ballroom Dance Teachers College
  and reprinted with(out) permission.". (And Skippy Blair was there. She was born
  3/15/1924 - streetswing - smp) http://www.firststepdance.com/histories/east_west.php
  And this regarding Tex Williams ---
  The singer and guitarist caught his first big break after moving to Los Angeles in 1942.
  At that time California was populated by many former Texans and Oklahomans
  working in the defense industry, creating a need for Western swing entertainment in a
  region not noted for country music. http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/williams_tex/bio.jhtml
  And... Bob Wills Western Swing
  "Toward the end of the decade (the 30s sp) , big bands were dominating popular
  music and Wills wanted a band capable of playing complex, jazz-inspired
  arrangements. To help him achieve his sound, he hired arranger and guitarist Eldon
  Shamblin, who wrote charts that fused country with big band music for the Texas
  Playboys. By 1940, he had replaced some of the weaker musicians in the lineup,
  winding up with a full 18-piece band. The Texas Playboys were breaking concert
  attendance records across the country, filling out venues from Tulsa to California; and
  they also had their first genuine national hit with "New San Antonio Rose," which
  climbed to number 11 in 1940. Throughout 1941 and 1942, Bob Wills & His Texas
  Playboys continued to record and perform and they were one of the most popular
  bands in the country. ...their singles for Columbia, which were consistently reaching
  the Top Five between 1945 and 1948; ..." http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/wills_bob/bio.jhtml
  Well now. It turns out the West Coast Swing was called Western Swing early on.
  Lauré Haile is credited with the first written description of what the dancers were doing
  in the Los Angeles area in "the 1940s" (the date is pretty ill defined in most accounts
  and that would be WCS).
  "In 1951 Lauré Haile first published her dance notes as a syllabus, which included
  Western Swing for the Santa Monica Arthur Murray Dance Studio." History of Swing
  Dancing By: Lori Heikkila - many sites use her articles
  http://www.centralhome.com/ballroomcountry/swing.htm
  By the late 1950s the Western thing no doubt wasn’t selling anymore, what with the
  popularity of the "new" rock ‘n roll. West Coast Swing had been a generic term for the
  way swing was danced on the West Coast. It started being used consistently for what
  we think of as WCS.
  Although Western Swing doesn’t fit well with the swing kid image, it looks to me like it
  was an important part of those early years.
  Meanwhile, I’ve gotten annoyed by the accounts that leave out the young white guy Western Swing (like Bill Haley and the Saddlemen) and country (like Elvis Presley) contribution to R&B that yielded the wildy popular Rock ‘n Roll. But, that’s another off topic.

 		
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