Swing and big bands dominate the musical space between the 1930s and the mid-1940s.
In the early 30s, the black big bands of New York imposed their sectional work, before giving way in the second half of the decade to the white orchestras that took centre stage.

Count Basie, american jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer formed in 1935 the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and their first recording, he defined the classicism of a great jazz orchestra.

The conductor, sometimes also a composer and/or arranger, is responsible for the cohesion of the orchestra and sometimes gives the big band its name.

The Glenn Miller Orchestra or the Duke Ellington Orchestra, have outlived their creator.