The Swingle Singers Bending Jazz with Classical Nuances

Air Date:
Heard On The Odyssey Series
A publicity photo of The Swingle Singers in Concert with a performance of selectons from their 2010 Album, “Spotlight On Bach” – no copyright infringement intended.

Jazz is a music that originated at the beginning of the 20th century within Southern African-American communities in the United States. Its roots lie in the African-American embrace of Eurocentric harmonic compositional structures generally referred to in classical music.

Equally influential to the genre of Jazz are its ancient African musical and rhythmic elements where the links are evident through the use of so-called blue notes, swung notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, and syncopation as experienced in the music of the Swingle Singers.

Episode Credits

  • About Executive Producer and host, Dr. Jonathan Øverby Host
  • Joe Hardtke Technical Director