5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Big Band Jazz

“Big band music” isn’t everybody’s first thought when they’re pondering what to punch into Spotify, we’ll grant you that. But if all big bands make you think of is “jazz hands” and flappers and early black-and-white films, let’s take five minutes to change that.

Of course, the best way to experience a jazz orchestra is not on a streaming platform — it’s live. The format was first built in the 1920s and ’30s to satisfy Lindy hoppers and other young dancers across the country. The real point of getting more than a dozen horn players together with a rhythm section is to blast you with layers of rhythm: A big band is a sonic engine, with interlocking gears and heat and pulse.

Still, with great writing, jazz orchestras can also be fun to hear up close on recordings. At this point, it’s been over half a century since most big bands made actual dance music, anyway. What has really kept the big band alive is its attractiveness to creative jazz composers seeking a larger canvas. The big band has been embraced over the years by jazz’s left wing (David Murray, Sam Rivers, Carla Bley, Horace Tapscott and of course Sun Ra), by innovators after something closer to a Third Stream fusing classical and jazz (Toshiko Akiyoshi and Maria Schneider), and recently by a veritable movement of under-50 composer-bandleaders like Darcy James Argue, Miho Hazama, Igmar Thomas and Anna Webber.

For a primer on the big band canon, look no further than the 12 picks below, courtesy of musicians and writers who know the medium well. You can find a playlist at the end of the article, and be sure to leave your own favorites in the comments.

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Ted Nash, saxophonist and composer

“A Tone Parallel to Harlem” by Duke Ellington

“Sing sweet, but put a little dirt in it.” Duke Ellington could say so much with very little. With “A Tone Parallel to Harlem,” a long-form piece that evokes vibrant neighborhoods in New York City, Duke, in just under 14 minutes, expresses everything I love about music: swing, grooves, simple themes, development, complex harmony, tension, release, expressive dynamics, featured soloists and the blues. Though it was originally commissioned by Arturo Toscanini in 1950, as part of a larger New York City-inspired orchestral suite, Toscanini never conducted it. In his memoirs, Duke describes composing “Harlem” on a sea voyage from Europe to the United States. I can’t help thinking about Duke’s reflections on returning to his home while composing this poignant masterpiece.

In 1999, a year after I joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, we celebrated Duke’s centennial by playing exclusively his music for that whole year. As we started the season, I was skeptical — which exposed my ignorance. Over that year I learned not only about Duke Ellington but about music. When I first heard “Harlem,” it changed me. It allowed me to discover the power of musical expression. Through his music, Duke teaches us about being human. When we listen with our hearts, we have the opportunity to become better people.