Jazz. Part 5, Swing: Pure Pleasure / Public Broadcasting Service (U.S.).

As the Depression dragged on, jazz came as close as it ever would to being America's popular music. Now it was often called swing, and, as this program illustrates, it became the defining music of a generation. Suddenly, jazz bandleaders were the new matinee idols, with Benny Goodman hailed as the "King of Swing," while teenagers jitterbugged just as hard to the music of his rivals: Tommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Glenn Miller, and the mercurial Artie Shaw. But viewers will discover that the spirit of swing wasn't limited to the dance floor. In New York, Billie Holiday emerged from a tragic childhood to begin her career as the greatest of all female jazz singers. And in Chicago, Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson proved that, despite segregation, there was room in jazz for great black and white musicians to swing side-by-side on stage.

8 & up.

Title from distributor's description.