DESCRIPTION:
Western swing is often defined as white men playing jazz on stringed instruments, and minstrelsy is itself a white imitation of the black music that became know as jazz. Vaudeville was bringing Tin Pan Alley music into the South and also taking Southern performers into the North & the Mid-West where they could soak up other musical influences first hand. Most important was the 2-4 dance beat taken from Dixieland. - Epic Records - Okeh Western Swing double album reissue compiled and produced by John Morthland & Michael Brooks