Meh. I feel like this article misses the point. Swing is 3 against 2, metrically speaking, but it is also folklore, tradition, and a tremendous amount of micr

Meh. I feel like this article misses the point. Swing is 3 against 2, metrically speaking, but it is also folklore, tradition, and a tremendous amount of micro-information in where each note is placed relative to the beat. The "cutting edge of jazz swing theory" video in the article ticks off most of the boxes: * There's micro-information in whether a note is ahead of, on top of, or behind the beat. * The swing ratio can vary, and it tends to straighten out at higher tempos. * Drummers tend to play at a higher swing ratio than soloists. All that said, it's been said that jazz is the marriage of African rhythm and European harmony, and that's not too far off. But the article neglects the Africa/tradition part of it entirely. Search for "Africa" in that article and you find one match. Search for "Black" and you find three matches, all in regard to the color, not the race. But that's where it comes from, and that's the context in which you need to understand it. Why are those patterns found across so many drummers listed in the "cutting edge" video (Art Taylor / Connie Kay / Billy Higgins / Elvin Jones / Tony Williiams / Carl Allen / Jeff 'Tain' Watts / Jack DeJohnette / Max Roach / Dennis Chambers)? It's because they're coming out of a common tradition, speaking the same musical language. The writer of the article seems to like swing music around the late '30s, and claims that the rules fit well with that music because those people were playing swing without the influence of bop, soul-jazz, rock and roll, and other modern music. I would argue that the rules fit that period of music better for a different reason. This is when it was pop music, and when simplified / whitened versions of it (Dorsey brothers / Glenn Miller / etc.) were most common.