Moten Swing

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Moten Swing is a 1932 jazz standard by Bennie Moten and his Kansas City Orchestra. It was recorded on December 13, 1932, in Camden, New Jersey, and released by Victor. The song is credited to Bennie and Buster Moten, though Count Basie later claimed he and Eddie Durham deserved credit for it.

The tune helped push jazz toward a freer, more orchestral swing sound. The Moten Orchestra included Count Basie on piano, and although the piece is most closely linked with Basie’s later orchestra (which recorded it in 1940), Moten’s group helped make the style famous.

Moten Swing grew out of an earlier piece called Moten Stomp, written in 1927 by Buster Moten and trombonist Thamon Hayes. Basie joined the band in 1929, and he later said he and Durham deserved much of the credit for the song, even though he wasn’t in the band when it was first created.

The 1932 Camden recording created a big stir. At the Pearl Theatre in Philadelphia, audiences loved the tune so much they asked for seven encores. The original recording is 32 measures long, in 4/4 time, and in AABA form. Some historians note a connection to the chord progression of You’re Driving Me Crazy in Eb major.

Musically, the piece opens with Basie soloing in his famous minimalist style, giving each note strong meaning. A strong interlude and a swinging, laid-back brass-and-reed exchange follow, with a key change from Eb major to Ab major that brings in Hot Lips Page on trumpet. The piece then moves into a loud, shout-filled chorus that is a hallmark of Basie’s swinging style.

Moten Swing became even more popular in 1938 when Benny Goodman’s orchestra recorded it during a Kansas City radio session, and Fletcher Henderson also recorded it the same year. In 1940, Basie’s Orchestra, with Eddie Durham on guitar, helped spread its fame further with a Boston performance noted for Basie’s eight-bar piano intro and strong brass and reed play.

Today, Moten Swing is most closely associated with Count Basie and has been recorded by many artists, including Oscar Peterson, Cal Tjader, Harry James, Shorty Rogers, Ernie Watts, the Barrett Deems Big Band, Kenny Burrell, Claude Williams, and others.