Jazz  •  Big Band/Swing

Jive

Jive, a slang word meaning nonsense, also became associated with a type of vocalizing popularized by Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Slim Gaillard, Leo Watson and Harry "The Hipster" Gibson, among others, in the 1930s and '40s. Connected musically to swing, jive featured its singers making up nonsense syllables and humorous words, some of which were adopted by the youth of the swing era.