When Duke Ellington composed “It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing” back in 1931, he was channelling, in his own words, “the expression of a sentiment.”

Indeed, beyond the the driving rhythms and the simple, swelling harmonies, “swing” was reflective of a cultural moment. We all know the images, often seen through crackling black and white footage: the smiling host, the identical suits, the slicked-back hair, the raised horns … it’s the closest jazz has come to being America’s popular music.

Having developed in the dance halls of Harlem, swing provided the soundtrack for generations to express the ecstasy and physicality of youth against a backdrop of bleak depression and foreign conflict. This was a music that moved – not just on dance floors, but for the musicians themselves: the Swing Era of the 30s and 40s was different to the Swingin’ Pop, and big band jazz of the 50s and 60s.

This is a video playlist that captures some of the pure expressive joy of that revolutionary sound. It covers the early trailblazers, like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, as well as those who trod in their footsteps, like Quincy Jones, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and many more.