Ok, so I’ve just checked this post that I wrote mid-exchange in a sleep-deprived haze, and realised that all of it is wrong. You can’t listen to it here. That’s a link to the image I used for the picture to go with the 8track.
Here’s the player:
Or you can go to the 8track site to listen there.
The set list:
Shake That Thing Mora’s Modern Rhythmists Devil’s Serenade 227 2006 2:58
(a warm up all-skate track that everyone knew, but not the Vince Giordano version that usually gets played)
Digadoo Firecracker Jazz Band The Firecracker Jazz Band 247 2005 5:20
(My obsession with this band continues. I bought all their other albums the other day (you can see them here). This was a challenging song to play for a comp, particularly as they were doing shines at this point, and everyone had to deal with very different solos. But they did a brilliant job – it was super cool to see people enter with the vibe of the solo before, then suddenly realise ‘oops, this is something different’ then tailor their dancing to suit the music. So they weren’t just dancing despite the music, pulling out stunts one after another, but actually dancing to the music. This is less common than you might think in a solo charleston comp, which can be a bit stunt-heavy. Anyways, this song is still one of my faves, and I’ve been playing this song for dancers for ages. It’s long and complicated, but it’s super neat.
The dancing was the best I’d seen all night, I think, and I had a lot of fun watching it.)
I Found A New Baby Firecracker Jazz Band The Firecracker Jazz Band 287 2005 4:05
(We had to do another round of shines as the crowd couldn’t decide which people they wanted pulled out. So all the competitors (six instead of four) went back at it. This song is faster and kind of crazy. It’s also kind of de rigeur to play this for solo charleston comps. Firecrackers again, because I love their crazy energy, and their ‘sophisticated street sound’. This song kicked their arses, and we ended up with a winner).
Bugle Call Rag Jim Cullum Jazz Band (Duke Heitger, Clint Baker) Chasin’ the Blues 243 3:51
(The winner, in charmingly good nature, conceded to a solo of triumph on request. This is the song I chose. It’s a bit less frantic, because he was buggered. And we faded it at 30seconds. But he did a jolly good job).
plus some other ones I had on my short list:
Oriental Strut Firecracker Jazz Band 228 2005 The Firecracker Jazz Band
(Too many Firecracker songs for 8tracks).
Hop Head Charlestown Chasers 250 1995 Pleasure Mad 2:57
San Les Red Hot Reedwarmers 285 2007 Apex Blues4:45
Jubilee Stomp David Ostwald’s Gully Low Jazz Band (Howard Alden, Mark Shane, Herlin Riley, David Ostwald, Ken Peplowski, Randy Sandke, Wycliffe Gordon) Blues In Our Heart 278 2006 3:22
Happy Feet The Manhattan Rhythm Kings The Aviator 233 2004 2:59
