1941-1950: Swing becomes dominant
By the beginning of the 40s, songs composed by African-Americans often topped the charts. The actual composers and bands that originally performed the songs would be successful among other African-Americans, but the mainstream recordings were mostly performed by white musicians.
The predominant music form of the time was swing, which reached its height in popularity at the beginning of the decade, and maintained a strong following throughout. Also during this decade, a new form of music known as bebop evolved from jazz. It was pioneered by African American musicians Charlie Christian (pictured to the left), Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie.
African Americans in the 1940s were also developing a new genre as an outgrowth from blues known as rock and roll. After swing was no longer the favorite genre of the American public, rock and roll succeeded it and attracted the dancing crowd. Bebop never became entirely mainstream as it was not intended for dancing crowds.
The predominant music form of the time was swing, which reached its height in popularity at the beginning of the decade, and maintained a strong following throughout. Also during this decade, a new form of music known as bebop evolved from jazz. It was pioneered by African American musicians Charlie Christian (pictured to the left), Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie.
African Americans in the 1940s were also developing a new genre as an outgrowth from blues known as rock and roll. After swing was no longer the favorite genre of the American public, rock and roll succeeded it and attracted the dancing crowd. Bebop never became entirely mainstream as it was not intended for dancing crowds.