Swing Era
Benny Goodman was regularly called the "King of Swing". His rival, Artie Shaw, was often called "King of the Clarinet". Goodman's song "King Porter Stomp" was written by Jelly Roll Morton after a piano player he knew named Porter King. Later a little-known bandleader took the name "King Porter". Nat King Cole's nickname is partly inspired by the nursery rhyme "Old King Cole" and partly inspired by his impressive jazz piano technique.
There was a popular big band, led by Blue Barron, a stage name. Blue Barron once billed himself as competing for the title of "King of the Mickey Mouse Bands". Pianist Albert Ammons was referred to both as the "King of Boogie Woogie" and the "Rhythm King" in the 30s and 40s.
Read more about this topic: Jazz Royalty
Famous quotes containing the words swing and/or era:
“And then came the most devastating thought of all: I was one of them. I who used to swing upside down on a living horse, who always danced when mere walking would have done, so glad was I of life, so full of health. It was the most gruesome thought I had ever had in my life.”
—Josephine Demott Robinson (1865–1948)
“The great pagan world of which Egypt and Greece were the last living terms ... once had a vast and perhaps perfect science of its own, a science in terms of life. In our era this science crumbled into magic and charlatanry. But even wisdom crumbles.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)