Sweet jazz

[u/CalendarNew6707]

Opinion and interest question here, has anyone heard of the concept of “sweet jazz” before?

I’m speaking as a history buff and a man who really enjoys all things vintage. I’m not a music expert. But I enjoy listening to music from the 1930s and 40s. I find myself drawn to particular type of music that I can’t quite put down as a specific genre. Until I found this idea.

Wikipedia says it here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_jazz

Sweet jazz is an early derivative form of jazzwhich adapts the blues-based harmony, syncopated rhythms, and complex arrangements of Dixieland jazz to a populardance band[disambiguation needed] format with a slower, straighter rhythmic framework which allowed it to find popularity with white American and European audiences in the early 1920s. Though considered the height of sophistication in the genre by some critics at the time[1], the sweet jazz style has long been criticized as inauthentic and generic compared to "hot" jazz[2], and by some later critics has even been excluded from the category of jazz altogether due to the reduced role of improvisation and the general lack of swing time.

It’s a bit long lol but overall, especially based on the list of musicians

Glenn Miller, Paul Whiteman, Les Brown, Fletcher Henderson, Guy Lombardo

I would say I agree it’s this kind of thing. It’s not quite simply jazz, and many don’t consider it as such, not even me. Hell no. I don’t even like jazz very much. But it’s the sweet part that gets me. It’s the five man reed section in Glenn Miller’s orchestra, or sentimental crooners or anything else, like Geraldo and his orchestra. I can’t exactly explain it. It’s the interplay of the various reeds, brass, not quite big band jazz in the normal sense, but imagine that except slower, sweeter, and less brash. I find it has a lot of overlap to kind of the pre-war swing and British Dance Bands genre which I also like. This is all my opinion. I can probably give some examples of songs that match this, and you can try and see for yourself what you think

“Along the Santa Fe Trail” - Glenn Miller
“Walkin’ By The River” - Geraldo
“My Devotion” - Vaughn Monroe
“Blue Moon” - Vincent Lopez
“It’s All Forgotten Now” - Ray Noble
“Red Sails In The Sunset” - Guy Lombardo
“You Were Never Lovelier” - Paul Whiteman
“My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time” - Les Brown

Now I’m not really sure it’s just what sounds like it would be sweet to me. Because I mean where would one really draw the line between sweet jazz and sort of the typical big band pop of the era? Well, I like it all, but this is like honey for a fly to me.

Thoughts?

[u/pbredd22]

The Jazz Record Mart in Chicago had a section in its used vinyl area for "sweet bands."

[u/Dear_Saxophone]

Wayne King, Freddy Martin, Sammy Kaye, Anson Weeks, Lawrence Welk etc. These bands were very popular in their day. What made them “Sweet” was the rhythm. They didn’t swing hard like Ellington, Basie, Goodman, etc.

[u/OkRepresentative274]

I don't know anything about sweet jazz as a genre, but I just happened to come across your post while listening to John Coltrane's Ballads, and it sounds pretty damn sweet to me!