Category Archives: lindy hop and other dances

mercy dee walton’s Pity And A Shame and mildred anderson’s No More In Life

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Finally, my emusic month rolled over, and there was goodness to be had. Unfortunately 50 songs doesn’t go that far when you have a wish list as long as mine. At the moment that list is divided equally between spankin’ olden days jazz from the 20s and 30s and saucy hi-fi blues from the 50s and 60s. Well, actually, the list is weighted towards the olden days stuff. Because I just can’t get enough of the Chronological Classics – it’s a little bit exciting to have them available.
Mercy Dee Walton’s Pity and a Shame is making me very happy. Hi-fi 60s blues, piano + harmonica + vocals. Kind of sparse instrumentally, but with a big, fat hi-fi sound. Perfect for blues dancing. Also, fixing my need for saucy blues.
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Mildred Anderson’s No More In Life
This woman has an amazing voice. I’m also enjoying the superior quality of these recordings: stereo! It’s been a long time since I bought something in stereo. It’s a bit exciting. And caught be my surprise, the first time something different came out of the second speaker. Both are from the Fantasy/Prestige label on emusic. This is some special stuff.
I’m also thinking of both these with blues dancing in mind. Not mine (as I am still MIA with fuckingshit injury), but other people’s.
You know, it’s actually a lot easier finding music for blues dancers. The time period is looser – I’m working between the 20s and the current day, though I’m heavier in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. There was just such a wealth of nice, fat blues action recorded. The swinging stuff I need for lindy hop (mostly late 20s, 30s and 40s, with some time in the 50s) is a lot harder to find, and it’s also a lot trickier to judge the quality. Quality as in recording quality, but also (and more importantly) quality for actual dancing. Perhaps my standards are just lower for blues dancing. Or perhaps Australian blues dancers just have lower expectations of their DJs. At any rate, with all this lovely blues music available (and relatively easy to find – both online and in music shops), why is it that we have to listen to bullshitty ‘blues fusion’, trance, etc at blues dances? I know other people are into it, but it just shits me. If I wanted that action, I’d go listen to some decent DJing by hardcore trance/fusion DJs who really knew their shit. And I wouldn’t be dancing the naff blues partner dancing to that shiz. No way.
… I guess I’m a little cranky about this stuff at the moment – I can’t dance to anything, so it’s horrible watching people waste their lucky dancingness on bullshit music.
Sigh.
I am cranky.

Introducing the Rhythm Club All Stars

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I can’t really be bothered writing about this, beyond “want!”.
From the site:

Introducing the Rhythm Club All-Stars . . . a brand new, super swingin collective specializing in jazz from the 1920s and ’30s. True to its name, the RCAS is an all-star aggregation that features some of the top professionals on the Southern California scene. Led by internationally renowned drummer Daniel Glass (Royal Crown Revue, Bette Midler, Gene Simmons), the RCAS also include guitar wizard and vocalist John Reynolds (Cab Calloway, Janet Klein), bassist John Hatton (Brian Setzer Orchestra), and horn master Corey Gemme (Johnny Crawford, High Sierra Jazz Band) on cornet and trombone.
Combining vintage instruments and a classic look with a period-perfect sound that swings like crazy, the Rhythm Club All-Stars offer an authentic, high energy retro experience that has quickly become a favorite among Los Angeles area swing dancers and corporate clients alike.
The band’s debut CD features a wide variety of classics, from the familiar (“Honeysuckle Rose,” “Blue Skies”) to the obscure (“Old Joe’s Hittin’ the Jug,” “Digga Digga Doo”). But it’s the band’s hard swingin’ approach and unique arrangements that bring new life to this material. Check out the moody cadence of “Caravan,” the fiery brushwork on “Jeepers Creepers” or the virtuosic banjo playing on “Digga Digga Doo” and you’ll find yourself screaming for more. This is one disc not to be missed!

CDbaby pleases me: wonderfully prompt service, great products. Yes.

sigh. dance torture.

Sitting here, drowning in self pity for my own inability to dance, I’ve been torturing myself watching dance clips. Of all the competition footage I saw from/during last year, this one of Stefan and Bethany at ILHC is the one I keep watching. Not so much on the lindy hop, but chock full of interesting (dare I say eccentric?) jazz. I like the way they’ve used a fairly unconventional song for a fairly unconventional routine. One of the trickiest parts of dancing a revivalist dance is coming up with new and interesting choreography (actually, I guess that’s the hardest part of any dance). But this one is really interesting. It’s not perfect – there are a few things I’d have liked to be a bit tighter – but it really reflects the dancers’ personalities. I tend to watch Bethany more than Stefan (as Pat said, all those years ago, “Don’t wear black to a performance” – you just blend into the background, especially on a night with bright lights and serious contrast between the lit and unlit parts of the floor), but Stefan’s really lovely in this as well.

Sigh. At least I’m back on the bike now, though – fitness will return and I’ll be ready for a return to uninjuredness. I am, incidentally, off for an MRI on Tuesday (tomorrow) followed by another appointment with the specialist on Wednesday. If the plantar fascia is torn (as is suspected), then I’ll be wearing a corrective boot to keep it immobile for a while. If it’s not torn, then I’m to get to some cortizone. I should be on anti-inflamatories, but I just forgot to pick them up on Friday. I am a dumbarse for that, of course. Either way, no dancing for a couple more months. This is excruciating. I haven’t gone this long (four months) without dancing in ten years. But I’m trying to be philosophical – perhaps this prolonged break will bring me back with renewed enthusiasm and inspiration. Perhaps I can come in rough and do some serious learn, side stepping my bad habits. Perhaps. Either way, I’m glad I’m back cycling, as it was killing me going without exercise. I’m also back into yoga next week (had planned last week, but the doctors’ appointments have managed to screw with my Wednesday evenings).

al minns

Here‘s an interesting clip – Al Minns dancing in 1980 in NY. I’m not sure who the dancers in the background are. There’s another one of Minns in the 80s here. It’s interesting to compare his style with Frankie Manning’s:

…and it kind of blows my brain that they’re both in about their 70s in the later bits of the clips. Frankie is 95 this year (check the site for more info) and it’s a really big deal – as you might expect.
I’m more of a Frankie fan (guess that makes me second generation) – I like the bounce and the low, ‘flying’ style Frankie has.