[kidd]

WSJ attribute the decline of Big Band music to a tax.

Wikipedia attributes it to:

a loss of quality (due to WWII deaths of key members) and

a 1942 musician’s strike (causing vocalists to break away from the bands, leading to an emphasis on the vocalists) and

changing tastes to non-danceable music (bebop, cuban, modern jazz)

[shineon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942–44_musicians’_strike

There was also the small problem that ascap and BMI would not allow musicians to record their music....

ha ha ha ha