They liked it and were happy about the variety it brought whenever we sang 'In the Mood' or 'Bei mir bist du schoen' or 'A Tisket, a Tasket' or whatever.

In 1941 the American Society of Composers and Producers ( ASCAP) demanded bigger royalties from broadcasters and the broadcasters refused. Ellington's venture back into big band jazz was encouraged by its reception at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival. However, Horace Clarence Boyer, a prominent scholar of African-American music, believed the song was about death.

Use of the string bass opened possibilities for 4/4 instead of 2/4 time at faster tempos, which increased rhythmic freedom. Developments in dance orchestra and jazz music during the 1920s both contributed to the development of the 1930s swing style. Miller's trademark clarinet-led reed section was decidedly "sweet", but the Miller catalog had no shortage of bouncy, medium-tempo dance tunes and some up-tempo tunes such as Mission to Moscow and the Lionel Hampton composition " Flying Home". Rhythmus hinter Drähten [Rhythm behind barbed wire], Weimar: archive of the KZ-Gedenkstätte Buchenwald. Swing-era repertoire included the Great American Songbook of Tin Pan Alley standards, band originals, traditional jazz tunes such as the " King Porter Stomp", with which the Goodman orchestra had a smash hit, and blues.

Jean Goldkette's Victor Recording Orchestra featured many of the top white jazz musicians of the day including Bix Beiderbecke, Jimmy Dorsey, Frank Trumbauer, Pee Wee Russell, Eddie Lang, and Joe Venuti. Rock music hitmakers like Fats Domino and Elvis Presley included swing-era standards in their repertoire, making crooning ballads " Are You Lonesome Tonight" and " My Blue Heaven" into rock and roll-era hits. After his confiscated private record collection was handed over to his parents, this jazz fan had the records sent to him in the camp.During the World War II era Swing began to decline in popularity, and after war, bebop and jump blues gained popularity. The manpower requirements for big swing bands placed a burden on the scarce resources available for touring and were impacted by the military draft. Nevertheless, jazz experienced an upturn in the years of the German Blitzkrieg, so much so that after the initial war successes, the prohibition on swing dancing, for example, was once again lifted.