Big band music emerged in the 1930s as a spirited response to the economic problems of the Great Depression (1929–41; see entry under 1930s—The Way We Lived in volume 2). The style of music continued into the 1940s as the soundtrack to World War II (1939–45). A form of jazz (see entry under 1900s—Music in volume 1) music, big band music took jazz and swing styles from the bands of the 1920s and before and put them into arrangements for larger bands. Sometimes these larger bands had as many as twenty or more musicians. These bands usually consisted of saxophones, trumpets, and trombones; a rhythm section of piano, bass, drums; sometimes guitar; and vocalists or other soloists. Big band music could be fast and exciting or slow and mellow. Either way, it was and is great music for listening and dancing to.

The rise of big bands in...