djing – Page 16 – dogpossum

lists and canons in jazz

An interesting discussion has cropped up on SwingDJs called “30 Good Hot Records” from LIFE. This is what I’m about to post in response.
I love lists of iconic or ‘good’ songs/books/films/texts. I love them because though they are presented as definitive, they are always[ more effective as a provocation than a definitive answer to questions about what counts and is important enough to be listed. Discograhies work, pretty much, as definitive ‘lists’ or ‘canons‘.
I’ve come across a few different uses of ‘hot’ in articles and books from the 1930s, particularly in reference to discographies. Kenney’s discussion of jazz in Chicago outlines the differences between ‘jazz’ or ‘hot’ bands and music and ‘dance’ bands. These differences are not only musical, but also inflected by race, class, the recording industry, live venue management and ownership, gender… and so on. I’ve also come across quite a few discussions in an academic (rather than populist or ‘music critic’) sources about the expression ‘hot jazz’. The most useful sources point out that any attempt to finally define ‘hot’ or ‘jazz’ is not only difficult, but also problematic.
Krin Gabbard discusses the cultural effects of constructing canons – in which discographies play a key role – and points out that lists of ‘hot’ or ‘important’ or ‘real’ jazz records aren’t neutral or objective lists of songs – they are highly subjective and negotiated by the author’s own ideas about music and place in society generally.
Kenney (who’s written some absolutely fascinating stuff about jazz music in Chicago in the 20s) discusses Brian Rust’s discographies, making the point that Rust distinguishes between ‘hot’ and other types of jazz recordings. Friedwald talks a bit about Rust (and other discographers) in his jazz.com articles. Kenney’s research into the recording and live music industry in Chicago suggests that who got to record or play what types of music was actually dictated in large part by record companies’ ideas about race and class and markets rather than musicians’ personal inclination. That last point suggests that you could make some interesting observations about the correlation between race, class, recorded songs, ‘popularity’ and ‘jazz’ in Chicago jazz during this period. I don’t know enough about it, though, so all I’ll say is that you could, but you’d better have some badass sources to support your arguments. And you’d also better be prepared to accept the idea that though America had a national music industry, different state legislations and music cultures resulted in quite different local practices: it’d be tricky to generalise Chicago’s story across other cities and states. Not to mention countries.
Life and other magazines’ comments on and participation in music promotion in the 30s is also pretty interesting – these guys had ideological barrows to push, just as did Rust and other discographers. One of the effects of publishing this type of list (which was no doubt as hotly contested then as it is now – except by a wider audience :D) is that it does stimulate discussion and debate. And, hopefully, record and ticket sales. One thing I’d be interested in knowing is who owned LifeGreat Day In Jazz photo, I think about the fact that it was a photo for Esquire magazine, and that Esquire also produced a series of live concerts, recordings… and of course, photo spreads in magazines. While GDIJ works a fabulous representation of jazz it also serves as a canon, and as such is also subjective, ideologically framed and interpreted (eg asking why are there so few women in this photo leads us to questions about gender and jazz?) Canons are fascinating things, and can be the jumping off place for all sorts of great discussions and debates. I think this is why I was so excited by Reynaud’s session on Yehoodi Radio where he used the GDIJ photo as an organising structure for the music he chose. In that case, the photo became a listening guide for a radio program. I’d just rather not use them as definitive, fixed lists; I like them more as provocations, or a place from which to begin discussing (and arguing about) a topic.
If I saw a list like the one in Life today, I’d be extra-suspicious. Songs on So You Think You Can Dance, for example, are owned by the company which produces that tv show. There’s been quite a lot written about the Ken Burns’ Jazz series and its role in cross-promoting sales of records from catalogues owned by the same media corporation. The Ken Burns example is an especially interesting one: that series does not present an ‘objective’ list of important artists and songs. It is a jumping off place for a very successful marketing project surrounding back catalogues and contemporary musicians like Marsalis. George Lipsitz has written quite a bit about histories of jazz (including Burns’), and he makes this point:

…the film is a spectator’s story aimed at generating a canon to be consumed. Viewers are not encouraged to make jazz music, to support contemporary jazz artists, or even to advocate jazz education. But they are urged to buy the nine-part home video version of Jazz produced and distributed by Time Warner AOL, the nearly twenty albums of recorded music on Columbia/Sony promoting the show’s artists and ‘greatest hits,’ and the book published by Knopf as a companion to the broadcast of the television program underwritten by General Motors. Thus a film purporting to honor modernist innovation actually promotes nostalgic satisfaction. The film celebrates the centrality of African Americans to the national experience but voices no demands for either rights or recognition on behalf of contemporary African American people. The film venerates the struggles of alienated artists to rise above the formulaic patterns of commercial culture, but comes into existence and enjoys wide exposure only because it works so well to augment the commercial reach and scope of a fully integrated marketing campaign linking ‘educational’ public television to media conglomerates. (17)

Lipsitz is interesting because he says thinks like Why not think about jazz as a history of dance? Why not look into the lives of musicians who gave up fame and fortune in massively famous bands to work in their local communities?
Friedwald, Will. “On Discography” www.jazz.com, May 27, 2009 http://www.jazz.com/jazz-blog/2009/5/27/on-discography
Gabbard, Krin. “The Jazz Canon and its consequences” Jazz Among the Discourses. Duke U Press, Durham and London 1995. 1-28.
Kenney, William Howland. “Historical Context and the Definition of Jazz: Putting More of the History in ‘Jazz History'”. Jazz Among the Discourses. Duke U Press, Durham and London 1995. 100-116
Lipsitz, George. “Songs of the Unsung: The Darby Hicks History of Jazz,” Uptown Conversation: the new Jazz studies, ed. Robert O’Meally, Brent Hayes Edwards, Farah Jasmin Griffin. Columbia U Press, NY: 2004: 9-26.
References for my posts on Esquire.

twitter continues to swallow up my intertubes brain

Things are kind of rolling along here in Sydney.
It rained all last week, every single day, and that was terrible. But today it’s sunny again. SUN!
This is what it was like last week (and this is WHY I couldn’t go out running yesterday morning when it was raining, TWITTER):

I’ve started doing the couch to 5k, which is really just an interval training approach to running 5km. So far I walk/run about 4km. It makes me feel like a gun. I didn’t think I’d like running this much, but the endorphines are fabulous and helping me stave off a case of the unemployed-understimulated-uninteresting-s. It also helps me keep my mood stable – no ‘what am I doing with myself?’ introspection and anxiety… well, a little bit. But mostly that sort of thinking is under control. I’m also delighted by the effect just a couple of weeks of the program has made to my dancing. That, as well as finally ditching the wedding-exchange cold has me feeling fit, collected and energetic on the dance floor. Yay.
In other news, I’m all signed up for a pgrad diploma in Information Management. It will cost a ridiculous amount of money, but at least this degree will get me a job. I’m especially interested in digital archiving and increasing the accessibility of public collections like the Powerhouse’s, the National Archives, the State Library, etc etc etc. It’s all a bit exciting. I was asked to teach some undergrad subjects when I contacted the postgrad coordinator, but I said no because a) that’s too weird, and b) I want to focus on my own study and to (brace for ridiculously over-achieving ambition) do really well and kick arse. There’s a complicated online enrolment process (not like in my day, when we had to line up at the office to hand in our forms in person) and a heap of screwing about to do yet, but it’s all happening.
This is a fairly demanding course, so I’m not sure just how much traveling for dance I’m going to be able to do this year… not that we could afford much, what with the zillions of dollars this course will cost. But I will make do with local Sydney and Canberra stuff and a mid year trip to Melbourne and November trip to Melbourne for MLX. The latter are combined with family visits, of course. This means, sadly, that I won’t be able to go to Hullabaloo, which I tend to think of as one of the Big Australian Events, both in terms of DJing and dancing. The dancing is good and the music is good at Hullabaloo, and Perth always puts on a quality event with lots of attendees. I’d also have liked to DJ at Hullabaloo (if they’d have me), but we simply can’t afford $1000 in plane fares plus assorted expenses. That’s a subject and a bit of my course right there.
In other news, I’ve been experimenting with bread baking. I’m not hugely good at it. It looks ok, but it tends not to taste too good. Sort of sweetish and overly yeasty. I’m going to try some sourdough next (as inspired by Tammi to see if that improves the flavour. A different sort of yeasty taste. But I’ve not had a chance to get the starter going, yet, so that’s a way off. In other food thoughts, we’ve been eating well, but the shitty humidity has sapped our appetites. Lots of boring salads and little interest in anything else.
On the DJing front, things continue as usual. Lately Sharon has been DJing like a demon, inspired by international travel and an unfortunate laptop theft. I think the theft was actually a good thing, as she’s been going through her music, re-adding CDs and transferring files from her other computer, rediscovering forgotten stuff and adding new things. It’s meant that her DJing has suddenly had a burst of inspiring energy, and is absolutely great for dancing. She’s a madkeen balboa dancer, and much of the music she loves dancing bal to is my perfect cup of lindy hopping tea. Yahoo.
The tempos in Sydney have also jumped up quite a bit (interstate visitors over the wedding exchange weekend last month commented on the speediness), and I have to say that this also delights me, as I really do prefer the higher tempos for dancing. By higher, of course, I mean over 160bpm. Tempos at other Sydney venues remain ridiculously low. I’m not interested in a majority of songs below 120bpm (srsly) with the odd dodgy ‘faster’ song for ‘balboa’. Egads.
We’ve also got a Swiss DJ in town who’s also a bal nut and a solidly swinging classic jazz fan, so nights at the Roxbury have been really, truly great dancing. For me. One thing we’ve noticed, though, is that the beginners have sort of dropped away a bit. In part, I think because the first half hour (8.30-9 or so) is super-fast tempoed for bal-nuts and crazyjazzlindyhopfools. By 9, things return to normal, but the tempos over all have been a bit higher.
This is great for me, and great for the scene as a whole, I think, as Sydney really needed a wider range of tempos in the classic swing vein. There’s lots of superfast neo at Jump Jive and Wail, but that’s not much good for lindy hop (well, for my lindy hopping taste). So we just needed some faster stuff. Right now, though, I think we could perhaps re-administer a little more at the lower end of the spectrum (120-140) just for variety’s sake, and then we’re laughing.
When I DJ I’m very conscious of working the wave (moving up and down the range from 130->200 and down again), and the mega-humidity and heat have made this even more important. My last few sets have seen me working a fairly predictable wave: 140-160-180-200-180-140- etc. It feels as though I’m covering the tempo bases pretty well and managing dancers’ energy levels more effectively. I think in the recent past I’ve tended to clump at specific tempos, neglecting the wave. I’ve also tried hard to manage energy levels as well. Though dancers are more interested in higher tempos, now, they simply can’t hack the physical demands of fast lindy hop in 90% humidity (which is where we’ve sat for the last two Roxbury nights) and mid 30s temperatures. It’s just too draining – the humidity in particular.
I think that balboa has, once again, to be thanked for many dancers’ comfort, or willingness to experiment with, faster tempos. Faster tempos simply seem less threatening when you hear them more often. And when you hear really fast tempos, 180bpm just doesn’t seem too fast at all. Which is very nice. My own increasing fitness has made it much easier to deal with the humidity and to enjoy faster dancing again. Yay.
Though we have perfect growing weather now (warm, wet, sunny), we still haven’t put in a proper herb garden. We are feeling its lack quite seriously, but we just haven’t had time to get to the markets for plants, or to get some seeds sprouting. We must get on that ASAP, as fresh herbs are so important in our day to day cooking.
Twitter continues to swallow up my intertubes brain. It’s the instant gratification that I like. I’ll try to do better.
I’m sure there’s more to write about, but I can’t think of it. So, enough, then.

the 4 clefs

The 4 clefs version of the song I Like Pie, I Like Cake is very popular here in Sydney at the moment, played by at least two DJs. I did a little google and found this site discussing them. It’s worth a peak, as they have pics like the one above and a few songs you can listen to.
Personally, I prefer the peppier version of I like Pie, I Like Cake (But I like you Best of All) by the Goofus Five, which Trev pointed me to in late 2008, but which I still haven’t played…

a new 8track: 9 songs I might play for flappers tonight

I’m putting together some music for tonight’s set at Swingpit in Newtown. A discussion about ‘fast’ music on twitter + some low-level interest in 20s charleston and solo jazz encouraged me to revisit some appropriate music in my collection.
I put together an 8track of things I’m thinking about.

(clicky).
There isn’t as much solo charleston in Sydney as there was in Melbourne when I left, though there is a bit of solo dancing generally. Very little hot 20s or 20s-style music is played here at social events. I think we might need a rash of workshops on 20s dances generally to stimulate interest and skills… actually, there’s definitely interest, it just feels as though people don’t really feel confident or know what to do out there to this stuff.
Personally, I’d really like to learn some eccentric 20s partner dances.
At any rate, this 8track is a list of songs that I am considering playing tonight. The sound set up at this venue is very shit, so I’m avoiding the lofi action. Which is a crying shame. But there you go. I had to add the Armstrong version of Oriental Strut, though, as I LOVE it. It also makes me think about Woody Allen films as he plays it quite often in his films (especially Bullets Over Broadway) and I’m trying to get a copy of Sweet and Lowdown.
I’m also a bit hot for Jabbo Smith atm, so I had to add Jazz Battle as well. Same with Johnny Dodds.
I stole the image for the 8track from here.
Track details:
Rhythm Spasm Rhythm Rascals Washboard Band 315 1995 Futuristic Jungleism 2:33
San Les Red Hot Reedwarmers 285 2007 Apex Blues 4:45
Jubilee Stomp David Ostwald’s Gully Low Jazz Band (Howard Alden, Mark Shane, Herlin Riley, David Ostwald, Ken Peplowski, Randy Sandke, Wycliffe Gordon) 278 2006 Blues In Our Heart 3:22
Stampede Randy Sandke and The New York Allstars 260 2000 The Rediscovered Louis And Bix 2:47
Jazz Battle Jabbo Smith’s Rhythm Aces (Omer Simeon, Cassino Simpson, Ikey Robinson) 259 1929 All Star Jazz Quartets (disc 1) 2:41
Hop Head Charlestown Chasers 250 1995 Pleasure Mad 2:57
New Orleans Stomp Johnny Dodds’ Black Bottom Stompers 244 1927 Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 2 2:47
Oriental Strut Firecracker Jazz Band 228 2005 The Firecracker Jazz Band 2:36
Oriental Strut Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five (Kid Ory, Johnny Dodds, Lil Armstrong, Johnny St Cyr) 191 1926 Hot Fives and Sevens – Volume 1 3:03

8 songs from 1935 that I love

(linky).

Spreadin’ Rhythm Around Teddy Wilson and his Orchestra (Billie Holiday, Johnny Hodges, Cozy Cole) 195 1935 Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia (1933-1944) (Disc 01) 2:56

Chimes At The Meeting Willie Bryant and his Orchestra with Teddy Wilson, Cozy Cole 245 1935 Willie Bryant 1935-1936 3:01

Swing, Brother, Swing Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith and his Cubs, Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith vocal 231 1935 Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith 1925-1937 2:52

Murder In The Moonlight Red McKenzie and his Rhythm Kings (Eddie Farley, Mike Riley, Slats Young, Conrad Lanoue, Eddie Condon, George Yorke, Johnny Powell) 193 1935 Classic Sessions 1927-49 (Volume 2) 2:55

Chasing Shadows Louis Prima, Pee Wee Russell, Frank Pinero, Garry McAdams, Jack Ryan, Sam Weiss 170 1935 Louis Prima Volume 1 3:04

Truckin’ Henry ‘Red’ Allen and his Orchestra 171 1935 Henry Red Allen ‘Swing Out’ 2:54
Swingin’ On That Famous Door Delta four (Roy Eldridge, Joe Marsala, Carmen Mastren, Sid Weiss) 190 1935 All Star Jazz Quartets (disc 2) 3:00

There’s Rhythm In Harlem Mills Blue Rhythm Band (Lucky Millinder, Henry ‘Red’ Allen, Buster Bailey) 207 1935 Mills Blue Rhythm Band: Harlem Heat 3:11

I love all of these songs a great deal. Why?

Billie Holiday is the best. And in this band, Wilson not only has her gun pipes, but also Johnny Hodges and Cozy Cole. omg orsm.
Teddy Wilson was freaking GREAT stuff and turned up in all sorts of bands.
Louis Prima was actually cool, once.
I especially <3 the vocals in Chimes at the Meeting: “Goodnight sister pork chop.” Also: more Teddy Wilson.
Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith is foshiz. I like this tinkly version of a song we tend to associate with Billie Holiday.
Murder in the Moonlight pleases me with its silly, cheesy lyrics: love in the first degree and all. +1 for Red Allen.
The Delta Four are just one of a million bands featuring Roy Gun Eldridge.
That version of Truckn’ is fucking GREAT. I DJ it a lot. I love the kind of lazy pathos matched with a song about a dance fad. Madness. +1 for Red Allen.
There’s a Rhythm in Harlem is mo good. I’ve crapped on about versions of In The Mood, and this is one of my favourites. + Red Allen.
There’s quite a bit of overlap in band personnel here, not only because my tastes are fairly consistent, but also because musicians got around. Which no doubt contributed to some musical and creative cross-polination. And some broader consistencies or at least repeating patterns in music in that year.
I could have picked multiple versions of the same song from the same year, but I didn’t.

8 dirty nannas

I’ve made a little 8track of 8 of the women singers I played in my late night set at MLX9.

(clicky)
I tend to think of the women I like to DJ for blues as ‘dirty nannas’, and I’ve banged on about this here ad nauseum. This isn’t quite 100% dirty nannas. Some of the women here were younger when they recorded these songs. But all of them had attitude. I tent to play far too many vocal tracks when I DJ for blues dancers. I think it is, in part, because I’m really not a very experienced blues DJ, and because I don’t have a whole lot of music I’d play for blues dancers. But it also probably has something to do with the fact that I like my music for blues dancing to carry levels of meaning. More than just a straight out ‘grab you partner and cuddle’ imperatives. I like irony and parody and suggestion.
At any rate, this is only a small chunk of the stuff I played in that set, and when you listen to it here or on the 8track site it won’t be in the order I played them. So imagine there are other songs in between them, cushioning the changes.
A note: that version of Fine and Mellow is about the most perfect performance on earth. You can (and really should) watch it here:

(clicky)
Hound Dog Big Mama Thornton 76 Very Best Of 2:52
Rosetta Blues Rosetta Howard acc. Harlem Hamfats 103 1937 History of the Blues (disc 02) 3:00
Jealous Hearted Blues Carol Ralph 80 2005 Swinging Jazz Portrait 3:48
Kitchen Blues Martha Davis 80 1947 BluesWomen: Girls Play And Sing The Blues 3:05
Fine And Mellow Mal Waldron and the All-Stars (Billie Holiday, Roy Eldridge, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Milt Hinton) 79 1957 The Sound Of Jazz 6:22 best live on CBS TV ‘Legendary sound of jazz’ 1950s small female vocal Swinging blues 60 14/01/07 4:58 PM
3 O’clock In The Morning Blues Ike and Tina Turner 64 1969 Putumayo Presents: Mississippi Blues 2:40
Hard Times Mildred Anderson 67 1960 No More In Life 4:15
Gimme A Pigfoot Bessie Smith acc by Buck and his Band (Frank Newton, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Chu Berry, Buck Washington, Bobby Johnson, Billy Taylor) 1933 Complete Jazz Series 1929 – 1933 3:30

MLX9 set 3

Goodness me, but that 3-5am set was a bit of a push for nanna. I used to always be there right til the end, ready willing and able to play blues til the very last dancer lay down and died. But not this weekend. I was exhausted by 2. But I still managed to get it on.
The main room closed at about 2.30am, and while I and the DJ before me were rostered to do ‘blues’ sets, we both figured it was a good idea to play more transitional sets. Noni played a spankingly good set of what I think of as ‘power groove’ – hi-fi, lower tempos, but good, fat, chunking energy. It was really great to watch and listen to, but a bit of a challenge to follow. I was just blank (again). I really don’t handle these late nights very well any more. We were in the back room, which I much prefer for dancing (wooden floors, not parquetry over concrete, a smaller, more intimate setting, slightly darker lighting, etc etc etc) and the main room had closed.
The lindy hopping crowd had moved into the foyer full of couches, or started filtering into the back room. Keith, the DJ before Noni and I, had played my favourite set of the weekend: olden days stuff. Stuff I love to dance to. Small and large bands, the former of which especially suits that back room. Then Noni and I were to follow up with blues. So the crowd was still, generally, a lindy hopping group, but with a fair few blues dancers or people who dance either. It was a tricky moment, really. I’m not sure how I would have handled it as an organiser. MLX is a lindy event, so lindy should always come first, but blues is very, very popular in Melbourne and MLX has given good blues in the past.
We’d had similar issues the night before when I finished the night out in the lindy hopping main room at 4am (as requested by the organisers): people were really still interested in lindy hopping. The problem, really, was that the organisers and volunteers were just too shagged to keep going. And of course their night doesn’t end with the DJ, it continues on for an hour or two afterwards as they clean up and push dancers out.
At any rate, I feel pretty ok about my set. I didn’t know when to move to blues, though, and would have appreciated some guidance from the organisers. But they were particularly unhelpful with this sort of thing that night. So this is what I played:
MLX9 29-11-09 3-5am Blues
All Right, Okay, You Win Gordon Webster (with Brianna Thomas, Jesse Selengut, Matt Musselman, Adrian Cunningham, Cassidy Holden, Rod Adkins, Jeremy Noller) 137 2009 Happy When I’m With You 4:41
Intro / Time’s Gettin’ Tougher Than Tough Jimmy Witherspoon with Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Woody Herman, Earl Hines, Vernon Alley, Mel Lewis 134 1959 The ‘Spoon Concerts 3:35
I Ain’t Mad At You Mildred Anderson 158 1960 No More In Life 3:04
Blues For Smedley Clark Terry, Ed Thigpen, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown 137 1964 Oscar Peterson Trio + One: Clark Terry 6:57
Here I Am (Come and Take Me) Al Green 95 1975 Greatest Hits 4:15
Son Of A Preacher Man Aretha Franklin 77 Greatest Hits – Disc 1 3:16
I Got What It Takes Koko Taylor 72 1975 I Got What It Takes 3:43
Hound Dog Big Mama Thornton 76 Very Best Of 2:52
I Just Want To Make Love To You Etta James 106 1960 The Best Of Etta James 3:07
3 O’clock In The Morning Blues Ike and Tina Turner 64 1969 Putumayo Presents: Mississippi Blues 2:40
I Hate To Be Alone Roosevelt Sykes 77 The Bluesville Years Volume 11: Blues Is A Heart’s Sorrow 2:04
Telephone Blues George Smith 68 1955 Kansas City – Jumping The Blues From 6 To 6 3:03
Built for Comfort Taj Mahal 98 1998 In Progress & In Motion (1965-1998) 4:46
Sleep in Late Molly Johnson 86 2002 Another Day 2:47
Reckless Blues Louis Armstrong and his All Stars (Velma Middleton, Trummy Young Edmund Hall, Billy Kyle, Everett Barksdale, Squire Gersh, Barrett Deems) 88 1957 The Complete Decca Studio Recordings of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars (disc 06) 2:30
Perdido Street Blues The Lake Records All-Star Jazz Band 107 2009 The Rosehill Concert 6:05
Sister Kate Firehouse Five Plus Two 100 Dixieland Favorites 4:31
Wild Man Blues Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Feetwarmers (Sidney de Paris, Sandy Williams, Cliff Jackson, Bernard Addison, Wellman Braud, Sid Catlett) 88 1940 The Sidney Bechet Story (disc 3) 3:20
Winin’ Boy Blues Jelly Roll Morton and his New Orleans Jazzmen with Sidney de Paris, Claude Jones, Albert Nicholas, Sidney Bechet, Happy Cauldwell, Lawrence Lucie, Wellman Braud, Zutty Singleton 91 1939 The Sidney Bechet Story (disc 2) 3:10
Rosetta Blues Rosetta Howard acc. Harlem Hamfats 103 1937 History of the Blues (disc 02) 3:00
Gimme A Pigfoot Bessie Smith acc by Buck and his Band (Frank Newton, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Chu Berry, Buck Washington, Bobby Johnson, Billy Taylor) 1933 Complete Jazz Series 1929 – 1933 3:30
Papa Ain’t No Santa Claus Butterbeans and Susie with Eddie Heywood sr 116 1930 History of the Blues (disc 01) 3:20
You Took My Thing C.W. Stoneking with Kirsty Fraser 111 2006 King Hokum 2:51
Jealous Hearted Blues Carol Ralph 80 2005 Swinging Jazz Portrait 3:48
Riverside Blues The Lake Records All-Star Jazz Band 88 2009 The Rosehill Concert 4:47
St. James Infirmary Allen Toussaint 107 2009 The Bright Mississippi 3:51
Kitchen Blues Martha Davis 80 1947 BluesWomen: Girls Play And Sing The Blues 3:05
Fine And Mellow Mal Waldron and the All-Stars (Billie Holiday, Roy Eldridge, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Milt Hinton) 79 1957 The Sound Of Jazz 6:22
I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl Nina Simone 65 1967 Released 2:33
Hard Times Mildred Anderson 67 1960 No More In Life 4:15
Back Water Blues Belford Hendricks’ Orchestra with Dinah Washington 71 1957 Ultimate Dinah Washington 4:58
Hound Dog Big Mama Thornton 76 Very Best Of 2:52
The first few songs were very much transitions from Noni’s vibe: high energy, hi-fi power groove with a live or high energy feel. That new album by Gordon Webster (who is also a dancer) is very versatile, and I heard a lot of it this weekend. I quite like this version of All Right because it’s not the Barbara Morrison one. Then more Witherspoon live. I really, really like Mildred Anderson’s voice, and though this song isn’t what I’d think of as good lindy hopping music, it is quite fun early r n b or jump blues (I’m not sure of the distinction). I wanted to move towards blues (as briefed), but I wasn’t sure people were ready to get cuddly. I also wanted to get to New Orleans in the near future, but wanted to keep the chunky basement party feel.
Blues For Smedley was a mistake. I don’t know what I was thinking. Except, perhaps, that I wasn’t quite thinking clearly and hadn’t really decided what I was doing. I think I might have been trying to mellow the crowd out. I just bored us all with an interminable Ray Brown solo. Again.
After this, things were kind of flat/mellow. So I tried some (wonderful) Al Green because he’s touring here very soon. And because I love him. I was also thinking about that r n b/soul/ house party vibe and deciding that was what I wanted to do for the next little while.
Aretha was purely an attempt at populist easy-scores. It’s also a sing-along song. I DJ it at blues dances every now and then, and it still rides well with me. I was kind of trying to get to the soul/rnb side of Aretha rather than the soul/funk side of things.
I Got What It Takes was a test: were they ready for blues dancing? For slower, sexier stuff? This is where I got a bit confused. The floor emptied and refilled with a completely new crowd when I moved between higher and lower energy stuff over the next half hour or so. It was as though the blooz guys were moving in for the blooz, then sitting down when the kids interested in lindying on got up. So I was confused. I was a bit too tired to go survey the foyer and see what people were into. I would kind have liked to do a lindy set, but, really, I’d prepped for a blooz set, and I wanted to work that vibe. In retrospect, I could have done as a band would have: moved from each style alternatively. And an early New Orleans style would have worked for me. A brave move, I think, but could have worked.
Oh well.
This is clearly one instance where a bit of clear guidance from the organisers would have been helpful. And usually I can judge these things pretty well. But I was so freeking tired, and really having trouble focussing. I was also alternating between standing up and jiggling and dropping into my seat, exhausted.
Hound Dog was the perfect vibe for this particular moment. If I had more of this stuff, I’d have played it all night long. This is the stuff DJ Goldfoot plays. It’s early rnb, it’s gritty, it’s not, in any way, associated with Elvis Presley or that sell-out, rip-off white-wash bullshit. I have decided to blow my remaining emusic credits on lots more as soon as our internet gets unshaped.
This is an interesting stylistic moment, actually. I’d put it, clearly, in the blues music camp. It’s definitely blues music. But it’s quite high energy. A lot of this stuff is above 100bpm, though it’s really heading towards the average tempo for pop music today (about 120bpm). But it doesn’t really feel as though it’s in the jazz camp any more. We can hear rock n roll, just, sort of, in the next room. But it’s also remembering jazz and early blues. And echoed in the work of people like Sharon Jones.
I think that I’d really, really, really like to go to an afternoon or Sunday night gig at an exchange that featured this type of band in a grotty basement bar or nightclub. Beer, food, dancing, talking shit, hanging out, singing along. Not hardcore anti-social lindy hop where we all leap about like rabbits, but real party music, where people pick up and fight and get back together and laugh and drink have fun til they’re exhausted.
So then I played a Tina and Ike Turner song that’s a little mellower. I love this early Tina Turner stuff – she’s just so great. I wish I had more.
Historically speaking, I’m not sure how people danced to this stuff. I suspect it was a little like this:

(Image lifted from here. If you’re liking this Bill Steber photo, I’ve linked to a few more here.)
That’s how I dance to it. I spent about two band sets talking to a good friend about the advantages of having a whole heap of jelly to shake and being over 35. We laughed a LOT, frightened a couple of twenty year olds and talked a great deal about >35 year old boob-sag and boob-bounty. Ultimately, if there’s a pistol on the mantelpiece in act one, it’s going to get used by act three. And, really, it’s a crime to pack heat and not flaunt it.
Speaking of which, this Taj Mahal song is still a favourite. It’s a good thing I don’t DJ blues much these days, or this song would be massively overplayed. I love the lyrics. And the fact that it’s a man singing. There were actually two blokes dancing together to this song and it was a delight. I think, unfortunately, the gender-flexi subtext of the song added to the social challenge of two men blues dancing together eventually led to their abandoning the dance. I was disappointed.
Sleep in Late was my transition song. I was thinking ‘New Orleans’. And also ‘1920s.’ And ‘blues queens.’ Which, really, is where I want to be most of the time.
That version of Reckless Blues is another I overplay. But it’s hi-fi and a really useful transition track.
That version of Perdido Street Blues is super-saucy and really fucking great. And it’s live, and featuring Duke Heitger. I’d had the Bechet/Armstrong version on my shortlist all through my Saturday lindy set, and was really glad I managed to stuff it in somewhere. At this point a heap of people returned to the room for dancing. In retrospect, I think they were lindy hoppers looking for uptempo stuff, but then again, I’m not entirely sure – some of them were also hardcore blues people. Ah well. Maybe they were looking for that particular style?
I’m not all that keen on the Firehouse Five any more. They’re a bit cutesy. But I couldn’t resist another slower version of a popular fave.
And then I _finally_ got to Bechet. If you’re thinking about New Orleans, you really have to play some Jelly Roll. This is a version with cleaner lyrics, which is a good thing, as the other version is really obscene. Nothing coy or double entendre about it at all – it’s just straight up obscenity. And I kind of prefer a little clever word play.
At Rosetta Blues, I was thinking ‘tinkly piano’ and ‘dirty nannas.’ I’d had a few requests for some dirty nannas kicking arse and taking names, so I figured it was time. I play this song almost every time I DJ blues so, once again, it’s a good thing I don’t do much blues DJing these days. I fucking love it.
I’d had Bessie Smith lined up for ages, but hadn’t quite had the guts to do it. I’ve never DJed Bessie Smith before… well, I think I’ve DJed Do your duty (with Bessie Smith acc by Buck and his Band (Frank Newton, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Chu Berry, Buck Washington, Bobby Johnson, Billy Taylor in 1933), but not for a long while. It was an absolute delight to see dancers really getting into her and really responding to her performance. Smith is really incomparable as a vocalist, and even all these years later, mediated by layers of wax and crackle, she still pwns.
Pappa ain’t no santa claus was a stretch. I should perhaps have not played it. Or not have played the next song. The Stoneking song is almost exactly the same as Butter Beans and Susie, but the performances aren’t any where near as good. I have ongoing reservations about Stoneking’s appropriation of black blues performance styles and songs, and kind of wanted to show how he’s not as good as the originals. It didn’t go down as well as the preceding songs, but then it was the third or fourth in a row, and this stuff is a bit challenging for Australian dancers at the moment (in my experience, any way, and my experience certainly isn’t terribly broad).
All this annoyed me, and I was particularly irritated by Stoneking’s bullshit, so I decided to just change gears immediately. Carol Ralph’s song is another good, solid transitional track when I want to get to what I think of as ‘New Orleans’. That’s a good song, and it kind of trucks along with a nice, rolling rhythm.
Riverside Blues went down well as well, with an effect similar to Perdido Street Blues. I like it that I play the same artists for blues dancers and for lindy hoppers, just at different tempos. I like the implication (or evidence?) that you can’t have swing or jazz without the blues, that blues dances (and the blues idiom more generally) gives lindy hop and swing its backbone.
The Allen Toussaint went down as well as it usually does, and I was tempted to just play another. Or even the entire album. It’s gorgeous music, beautifully produced, and a wonderful tribute to and reimagining of the New Orleans classics. But I played it in part as a way of dropping the energy. It was time to cuddle-blues. This version of a blues dancing favourite is so lovely. I love listening to it, and it’s really nice seeing dancers work with the dynamic range, and exploring the layers of rhythm at work here.
I was also trying to make my way to the lovely version of Billie Holiday’s Fine and Mellow. I think Laylie had actually sung it with the band earlier that night (I can’t really remember, though). I love this Holiday version because it’s so, so taught with emotion and suggestion. She’s trashed, but her musicianship is flawless. It’s also a live performance.
So Kitchen Blues, with its light touch and Lutcher’s delicate piano and lovely, rich (yet restrained) vocal are a great introduction. Kitchen is instrumentally sparse – just piano and drums, I think.
Fine and Mellow did as expected. Cuddles all round. It gives me goose bumps every time I hear it in a dark room on a big sound system.
I almost played the Bessie version of Sugar in my bowl, but went with the super-sensual Simone version instead.
The more Mildred Anderson. This time slow, slow, slow, with her lovely, velvety voice really stretched and achey.
Back Water Blues is something I always play for Cheryl when she’s in the room, because she loves Dinah. And because I do too. And I figure, if I’m playing Bessie, I better play a whole lot.
And then I had to call last song because it was 4.57 and I was utterly exhausted. The kids would have danced longer, but, frankly, they would have danced til they died, so I wanted to end it before it made me hate all blues dancers. And I like to end with a full room, rather than letting it peter out.
This song’s so nice, I played it twice. There was some comment on that, but, what the fuck – it’s 5am and I’m the boss. And it’s a fucking good song. And people liked it as much as I did, so they had a fun dance with it. There were more than a few voices joining Big Mama in the howling at the end.
So, generally, it was a pretty good set. It went better than I’d thought it was. I discovered that I’m probably a bit too weak for super late night DJing these days. Though sitting down makes it easier. Blues is boring to DJ. Super boring. Because the dancers are really introverted and partner-centred. I never see anywhere near enough solo stuff (if any at all), and I don’t see enough extroverted, show-off stuff or parodic/ironic riffs on the parodic/ironic lyric content, but then, that’s blues dancers for you in general. They tend to be a bit… serious.
MLX9 is over now, and I’m kind of relieved. My ankle is pretty swollen, but it doesn’t hurt that much. I didn’t dance much, which really sucks, but then it’s kind of good because it means that I didn’t hurt myself. I spent most of my time talking to people, which was fabulous. I also made a serious effort to get to all the band gigs on time so I could watch the bands. The more I DJ, the less interest I have in listening to DJed music; I want bands. And the bands at MLX9 were really really good. A really good cross-section of styles, from recreationist 1920s hot jazz to 1950s Ella and Basie. And things in between. I have a few clips to upload at some point so you can see what I mean.
Now, I think I need to go to bed. Because it’s finally after 7.30 and I don’t feel ridiculous letting myself sleep. The Squeeze has been fast asleep beside me in the bed for ages already, and it’s very sooooothing.

MLX9 set 2

Because I <3 Timmy. Last night I did my second set, starting at 2.40am. It wasn't the best I've ever done, it wasn't as good as last night. Here's my list of excuses:

I started my period and I was beginning to feel really rough. Also, a little angry. Don’t DJ angry.
The preceding DJ was using the booth monitor which was sitting next to me where I was preparing my for my set. It was very loud and full of bass and jiggled my sore menstrual guts in a painful way. Did not want.
Everything seemed really loud. It did not please me. But I turned the volume waaay down when I started my set.
I felt really good about the job I did the night before. Quite a few people had said they were really looking forward to my work in my second set. The pressure was on, and I felt a bit under the pump. And I crumbled.
I was cold. The night before I was boiling. But last night I was cold. So I wore Scott’s (tiny, kindly leant) jacket and it squeezed me.
I really wasn’t on top of my music; I didn’t have enough badass stuff at the front of my brain.
I couldn’t really find my focus til the last part of the night

I have plenty more excuses, but these are the important ones.
MLX9 28/11/09 2.40am-4:00am
Froggy Bottom Jay McShann and his Band with Jimmy Witherspoon 155 1957 Goin’ To Kansas City Blues 2:37
Sent For You Yesterday (And Here You Come Today) Count Basie and his Orchestra with Jimmy Rushing 172 1952 Complete Clef/Verve Count Basie Fifties Studio Recordings (Disc 2) 3:13
Blues In Hoss’s Flat Count Basie and his Orchestra 144 1958 Chairman Of The Board [Bonus Tracks] 3:13
Flat Foot Floogie Carol Ralph 186 2005 Swinging Jazz Portrait 3:44
Sweet Nothin’s Midnight Serenaders 154 2009 Sweet Nothin’s 3:14
I Ain’t That Kind of a Baby Janet Klein and Her Parlor Boys 159 2008 Ready For You 2:59
Putting On The Ritz The Cangelosi Cards 195 Clinton Street Recordings, I 3:38
Shake That Thing Preservation Hall Jazz Band 157 2004 Shake That Thing 6:30
Deep Trouble Les Red Hot Reedwarmers 179 2006 King Joe 2:55
Tishomingo Blues Carol Ralph 128 2005 Swinging Jazz Portrait 4:15
Davenport Blues Adrian Rollini and his Orchestra with Jack Teagarden 136 1934 Father Of Jazz Trombone 3:14
The Harlem Stride Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra 199 1939 Live At The Savoy – 1939-40 3:29
Whoa Babe Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra (Lionel Hampton voc) 201 1937 The Complete Lionel Hampton Victor Sessions 1937-1941 (disc 1) 2:53
Everything Is Jumpin’ Artie Shaw and his Orchestra 170 1939 Self Portrait (Disc 1) 5:07
Fifteen Minute Intermission Cab Calloway and his Orchestra 165 1940 Cab Calloway and his Orchestra 1935 – 1940 vol 02 (disc 04 – New York-Chicago 1939-1940) 2:54
Just Kiddin’ Around Artie Shaw and his Orchestra 159 1941 Self Portrait (Disc 3) 3:21
Blackstick Noble Sissle’s Swingsters with Sidney Bechet 183 1938 The Young Bechet 2:46
Peckin’ Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra 165 1937 The Duke’s Men: Small Groups Vol. 1 (Disc 2) 3:10
Truckin’ Henry ‘Red’ Allen and his Orchestra 171 1935 Henry Red Allen ‘Swing Out’ 2:54
Ain’t Nothin’ To It Fats Waller and his Rhythm 134 1941 Last Years (1940-1943) (Disc 2) 3:10
Light Up Buster Bailey 189 2008 Complete Jazz Series 1925 – 1940 2:48
Chasing Shadows Louis Prima, Pee Wee Russell, Frank Pinero, Garry McAdams, Jack Ryan, Sam Weiss 170 1935 Louis Prima Volume 1 3:04
Algiers Stomp Mills Blue Rhythm Band (Lucky Millinder, Henry ‘Red’ Allen, J.C. Higgenbotham, George Washington, Edgar Hayes) 219 1936 Mills Blue Rhythm Band: Harlem Heat 3:08
Solid as a Rock Count Basie and his Orchestra with The Deep River Boys 140 1950 Count Basie and His Orchestra 1950-1951 3:04
The preceding DJ had been playing a set of favourites and crowd pleasers, all of which were at moderate to slow tempos. The set began a bit old school, but moved into a more mixed, and then more contemporary set. The floor was full the entire set. I think that this is where my personal priorities as a DJ become mixed: do you take a risk and play a mixed tempo set and really push dancers, so that the hardcore kids really stretch _and_ the newer/slower/injured/older/not full-on dancers get some fun? Or do you play a set pitched primarily at the latter group and guarantee a floor full?
I didn’t get the floor as full as the previous DJ, but I did hit the 3am kill zone, and lost a few folk. There was a full blues room with some great DJs, and blues is almost as popular as lindy at MLX, so that room was very full, and there’s not a lot of lindy/blues cross over once people are in a particular groove. Also, I didn’t really get it together. I couldn’t quite find my groove. I think, basically, I was too tired for the job. Goddess help me with my 3-5am set tonight. But I just couldn’t quite find my flow, couldn’t quite get in the zone, couldn’t really get it together. So I felt as though I wasn’t really _with_ the dancers, and it really showed. But, ah well. What can you do?
The last song of the last set was a soul/funk track, which meant that I could either change gear without the clutch or find a transitional number. I began with an old fave and my workhorse starter: Jimmy Witherspoon doing some chunking, in your face hi-fi jump blues. I should have realised when I began with that, that I wasn’t quite happening. But I had a short list of about 30 possible songs, and that also tells me I couldn’t quite get a handle on the dancers.
I wanted to get to old school, big band lindy hopping action. So I went with 50s Basie and Rushing as a transition.
Then I got distracted and confused. Rather than going straight to someone solid like Lunceford before getting into more unusual stuff, I was pulled off-course by Carol Ralph (an excellent Australian act). I think part of me was thinking about the previous DJ’s populist approach, and I wanted to maintain that general, all-crowd interest with something with vocals and hi-fi. It’s a great song – a really great version of a well-known fave – but it pulled me away from my mission.
But from there I figured wtf, and did a little Midnight Serenaders loveliness. A little saucy, but kind of quirky and accessible. Followed by Janet Klein, who does similar stuff. Then the glorious Cangelossi Cards. This little chunk of three songs (which a friend described as ‘old fashioned radio style songs’) went down really well. It was a lovely room to play at that moment. Willing to experiment with quirky stuff, interested in the more complex musicianship and arrangement, enjoying the funny/suggestive lyrics. So what did I do wrong?
At this point I thought ‘I could do an entire set of new bands.’ But I discovered that that stuff wears a little. I should have moved from the Cards to something different. But I went with the Preservation Hall. That version of Shake that Thing is fab – long, though – full of energy, lots of shouting. But LONG. And while it filled the floor, it did tire everyone out. It also tends to get a bit wearing, what with all the shouting.
The Les Red Hot Reedwarmers was positioned wrongly. It’s a great song, and goes down well, but it was too great a mood change from the Pres Hall. I should have played it directly after the Cards instead. It’s kind of a light, wacky feeling version of a really nice song. But it really conflicted with the Pres Hall. I should have gone into something solidly lindy hop or solidly big band or solidly olden days here instead.
So I figured I’d fucked up a bit. The floor was emptying. We were right in the middle of the kill-zone: 3.15/3.20. If you don’t keep them on the floor here, they go home. If you do keep them on the floor, you have to be careful with their energy. Let it get too low with too much slow or mellow stuff and they get tired and sit down. Let it get too high and full on and they get overkill and tired and sit down. And when they sit down two or three songs at that time, they go home.
Ralph was ok here, but it was just a little slow. And a bit too in-your-face, really. Which is in contrast with the way this song usually works – it’s a good floor-saver earlier in the night.
Then I played Davenport Blues. Again. Yes, I’d played it the previous night as well. I love it more than anything. And I wanted an old school medium energy song that kind of chugs along and then builds a little. But I just couldn’t think of anything else. Which means that a) I was too tired, b) I was too uninspired, c) I don’t know my music quite well enough atm, d) I was just not _on_. Sigh. It’s moments like this that I get frustrated with myself. I know I can do better, but I just don’t quite bring it off.
So here I thought: ‘ok, wench, fuck this shit up properly; get those motherfuckers dancing. Do what you do, don’t try to do what other people do.’ Thank you Ella with Chick’s band, live @ the Savoy in 1939 (not ’41, Brian :P ). Chunking fun that did what I wanted.
It did clear out some of the lagging tireder not-hardcore-lindy hoppers, but then I was thinking ‘ok, can we dance badass at this point, please?’ I figured that the earlier part of the night had been more accessible, it was time to really push things. Which is kind of dodgy thinking, I know. But we are at the biggest, most hardcore lindy exchange in the country.
Whoa Babe has a fabulous intro. But it drags in the middle. It made people crazy, but then it screwed them over and let them down instead of sustaining them with crazy energy. I should have chosen something a little more badass all the way through. This is another point where my tiredness and not-on-ness really showed.
So I decided to save it with something familiar and live and pumping. That Shaw track is great. It’s long, but it’s really worth playing because it’s so energetic and great. It’s also a very accessible tempo/energy combination. And it worked. Unfortunatey the version of Fifteen Minute Intermission was almost incoherent audio mess on the sound system. Sigh. DJfail. Again.
The next Shaw track saved me again, but then I fucked it with Blackstick. I had had reservations about that one, but I thought ‘it’s high energy, it’s a fave.’ I should have reminded myself ‘it’s squawky, New Orleans flavoured and kind of unrelenting’ a little more loudly.
Then I just thought ‘Hamface, what would YOU like to dance to right now? What do you love?’ And I decided: something lighter-feeling (ie not a wall of sound or face-punching intensity). Something musically a bit interesting. Something at an easy tempo. Something with a lovely riff that just makes you feel really good. A sort of melodic sweet-spot that makes you feel really good with its repetitive, charming gentleness. Peckin’ was just right.
I love to follow this song about a dance move (where there’s a line dissing truckin’) with this spunky Red Allen version of another song about a dance move. I love it that they’re both kind of sell-out pop song tracks about pop culture. But that I love the scrunchy vocals in Peckin and I love the kind of lazy, sardonic, vocal part of Truckin. They sort of tip the sell-out factor on its side. This version of Truckin really _feels_ like the dance step. Sort of slidey, scuff-and-drag shuffle with a quirky finger in the air – the lighter melody waggling over a chunky, drag-shuffle rhythm. And Red Allen making it all work together.
And then my fave Waller song. A slightly bigger group for him, and a nice, easy tempo. Friendly, fun, dirty lyrics. It’s a great song. And people loved it. Not quite selling out to the Waller craze because it’s a bigger band. But mostly selling out. But then: I loved Waller when all the kids were into the Soup Dragons.*
I thought Light Up was one of those Herrang-fad songs that everyone knew. Perhaps not. It’s a great little song, that did go down well. It has a big break in the middle with almost utter silence. I hadn’t been paying attention, so when it came on the crowd yelled and I was caught hopping. At first I thought ‘hey, what’s gone wrong now?’ and couldn’t figure out the error – it was still playing. All was cool. And then it started again, and everyone laughed and yelled and it was all cool.
At this point, I had them. The floor was filling for every song, regardless of tempo. I had found my groove. Lighter feel, not in-your-face. Mixing tempos. Interesting musicianship. Quirky not-big-band, mid-30s coolitude. It was also about then I was told I had to wrap it up. Which was frustrating but also a very great relief. I like to finish on a high note, and I don’t like to drag a set out to the point where there’s no one dancing but a couple of friends. There was a general outcry from the dance floor, but I was very firm. And then Cheng was very firm. I let them know we had to stop to give the volunteers a chance to clean up. It was also 4am and there were a lot of people there and a lot of junk to clean out of the room. They wouldn’t have had that room done til 5am at least.
Meanwhile the back room was continuing with blues. We went home because we were EXHAUSTED.
I have to add: Yvette Johansson and Andy Swan did their mid-50s Ella and Louis show at the evening dance, and it was just GREAT. I sat and watched and had a lovely time. I danced about four songs (I’m not dancing much – I need to keep an eye on my stupidly swollen ankle), and those four songs were fucking amazing. It was a really good show. They were so professional, Yvette has great stage presence and really commands the band, calling the solos, checking the tempos, working the crowd. She’s a gem. A lot of people commented on these things, and it was really nice to see how the dancers really responded to her/their work. There was a massive ovation at the end of their second set, and I did think they were going to demand an encore right then and there. That second set was really tops. And the third was tops. Talking to Yvette, she said that she’d planned a mellower, gentler set of favourites for the first one, then heated it up for the kids in the second. That’s a dancer/seasoned band-for-dancer speaking right there. It was also nice to see how she worked the dancers’ energy and really engaged with them, talking and interacting with them from the stage.
I have really enjoyed the MLX9 bands: I think I’d really rather there were bands at each event, and far less DJs.
But I have also heard some nice DJing. Loz Yee had only just begun DJing when I left Melbourne, and in the last year she’s really started kicking arse. I enjoyed here band break sets an awful lot. Sharon Callaghan was a gun, but unfortunately wasted on a first set to an empty room (sigh). Same goes for Sarah Farrelly. But I made an effort to be there to hear them, and I enjoyed them both.
I have also pretty much decided that the sistahs are pwning the blokes, DJing wise. Justine and Alice at SSF/SLX, then the Loz/Sharon/Sarah trifector at MLX. But there’s always tonight, and I’m sure the fellas will bring it.
*I also like their old stuff better than their new stuff. And I listen to bands that haven’t even been formed yet.

eggs @ MLX9

This is a crap way of poaching eggs. But they turned out better than our first go. We are so fucking tired. I wish we were eating nice food, but we aren’t.
Yesterday (Saturday) I managed to bully my friends into going to Bismi’s on Sydney Road for fully sick rotis. They are fully sick. I can’t remember if they’re roti chani or what.
We ate:
3 plain roti (these are served with dahl)
1 garlic roti
1 plain rice
1 indian fried rice (lamb) – this was super tasty and my fave. Lots of fresh coriander and spinach as well as other vegie bits, fried egg bits, lamb, etc.
pappadams
raita
lassi (plain and mango – I like the salty ones)
2 chicken fry (a thigh/drumstick chicken bit fried in nommy spices)
1 samosa
1 fried fish
paneer in spices (cheese blobs in red spicey nom)
goat m… something (goat curry – a bit tough, but tasty)
chicken in something (this one was chosen by sight and not name)
…and some other things I can’t remember. It cost us $18 per head. We ate til we felt strange, then we went dancing and felt even stranger.
Bismi is really really delicious. It’s cheap as chips, it’s served from bai maries (sp?), but that’s ok because it’s so popular with locals (esp Indian, Malay and Singaporean students, a table of who next to us asked for a bunch of things “make them all really spicy!”) and the turn over is really quick. It’s very spicy: spicy in that there’s often a lot of chilli (of various types), but also spicy in that the tastes are really complex and interesting. Dishes like the fried rice have all those lovely dark, lower notes, but also bright, fresh green flavours. The chicken fry is kind of dry on the outside and moist inside, perfect with lemon squeezed on it, and with a tasty dry spicy taste.
I’m sorry I’m not writing very well. I’m very tired. And, as with many of my women friends this weekend at MLX, I am riding the crimson wave. All about the jam sandwich. Having a visit from a friend/aunt. And other coy euphemisms. This has made me a bit tireder than usual. Also, quick to anger. Not really ideal DJing conditions. But I am tough.
Tonight I’d quite like to have some really good Lebanese food. Possibly at Tiba’s. We are a bit poor atm, so we are eating at cheap eatery places. Places we love. I’d like to have salads with lots of lemon: chick peas, broad beans, long beans, lentils, tomato, cucumber, greens. Yoghurt. Mint. Garlic. Lamb. Felafel. Octopus. And lots of flat, skinny pide with hommus rubbed all over it. But mostly I’m thinking about the lemon and the salads. Tiba’s is very cheap and does a range of very delicious fresh salads. That’s what I want.

yay MLX9!

I’ve just woken up, and it feels as though we’ve actually had another day in between yesterday and today. We got to bed at about 4.30am, which is actually pretty civilised for MLX. In previous years I’ve left the venue at 6am. Today I did also wake up at 9.30am, which is insane. So I ended the insanity and went back to bed.
But now I am awake, and needing to do some quick DJ prep for tonight’s set. Mostly because I played all my guns last night and am left with the same old spooge for tonight.
Here’s last night’s set:
MLX9 Friday 27th November 2009, 1am-2.30am
title artist bmp year album length
Rag Mop Bob Crosby and the Bobcats 164 1950 Bob Crosby and the Bobcats: The Complete Standard Transcript 2:15
San Francisco Bay Blues Lu Watters’ Yerba Buena Jazz Band with Barbara Dane 160 1964 Blues Over Bodega 3:42
Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jericho Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band with Barney Bigard, Helen Andrews 160 1946 Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band 1944-46 3:13
St. Louis Blues Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra 183 1939 Ella Fitzgerald In The Groove 4:46
Leap Frog Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra (Luis Russell) 159 1941 The Complete Louis Armstrong Decca Sessions (1935-1946) (disc 7) 3:00
Davenport Blues Adrian Rollini and his Orchestra with Jack Teagarden 136 1934 Father Of Jazz Trombone 3:14
Madame Dynamite Eddie Condon and his Orchestra (Pee Wee Russell, Eddie Condon, Sidney Catlett) 176 1933 Classic Sessions 1927-49 (Volume 2) 2:56
For Dancers Only Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra 148 1937 Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford 2:41
Flying Home Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra 197 1942 Lionel Hampton Story 2: Flying Home 3:11
Savoy Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra with Trevor Bacon 166 1942 Anthology Of Big Band Swing (Disc 2) 3:05
The Back Room Romp Rex Stewart and his 52nd Street Stompers 152 1937 The Duke’s Men: Small Groups Vol. 1 (Disc 2) 2:49
Sugarfoot Stomp Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra 244 1939 Live At The Savoy – 1939-40 3:09
Stomp It Off Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra 190 1934 Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford 3:09
A Viper’s Moan Willie Bryant and his Orchestra with Teddy Wilson, Cozy Cole 153 1935 Willie Bryant 1935-1936 3:26
Shortnin’ Bread Fats Waller and his Rhythm 195 1941 Last Years (1940-1943) (Disc 2) 2:41
It’s You’re Last Chance To Dance Preservation Hall 179 2007 The Hurricane Sessions 4:31
Shake That Thing Mora’s Modern Rhythmists 227 2006 Devil’s Serenade 2:58
Savoy Blues Kid Ory 134 1950 Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 3 3:01
Call Me A Taxi Four Of The Bob Cats 175 1938 All Star Jazz Quartets (disc 2) 3:13
Jump Through The Window Roy Eldridge and his Orchestra (Zutty Singleton) 154 1943 After You’ve Gone 2:42
Jumpin’ At The Woodside Count Basie and his Orchestra 235 1939 The Complete Decca Recordings (disc 02) 3:10
Keep On Churnin’ Wynonie Harris 146 1952 Complete Jazz Series 1950 – 1952 2:56
Big Fine Girl Jimmy Witherspoon with Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Woody Herman, Earl Hines, Vernon Alley, Mel Lewis 156 1959 The ‘Spoon Concerts 4:55
Every Day I Have The Blues Count Basie and his Orchestra with Joe Williams 116 1959 Breakfast Dance And Barbecue 3:49
C-Jam Blues Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis 143 1999 Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke 3:34
I followed Sarah Farrelly, who is one of my favourite party DJs. It’s a pleasure to step into the DJ seat after her: she builds the fun, and then I come and play in it.
The last song was a joke. Because I’d been trying very hard to avoid my usual party-favourites. The room was very hot and humid and the dancers, though trying very hard and full of exchange beans, were really having trouble keeping their energy up. So I tried to work a pretty sharp-angled wave. There was also a pleasingly diverse crowd – lots of noobs, lots of old sticks, all the states represented – so I tried to work those tempos. This was only the second night of MLX and the first late night, so I wanted lots of energy (this IS FUCKING MLX MOTHERFUCKERS!), but I figured the peeps wouldn’t quite be at their most lindy-crazed just yet. It was a super-prime set, and I felt very lucky and excited to have it. So I tried to do my best. I also used my ‘DJ standing up because the dancers are standing up’ policy, and it worked. I find I lose my DJing nerves faster and I feel more connected to the dancers. I also figure there’s something interesting to look at if you’re not dancing – down the front of my shirt as I bend over to check the computer.
I tended to avoid the ‘safety songs’ with simple lyrics and hi-fi familiarity (eg Blip Blip and its ilk) and to go with the big, fat swinging big band. Because this is lindy hop, yo.
Playing For Dancers Only was a tactical decision. It was nice to play it not because it’s a safety song and I knew it would work, but because I was thinking ‘ok, I need some high energy, big band classic swing of a moderate tempo, something familiar but also something with serious staying power and iconicism*’ And that song was just perfect. I like it because it makes me think about Frankie Manning. Then, of course, Flying Home also reminds me of Frankie, because of its role in the Spike Lee Malcolm X biopic. And it’s also carrying the iconic weight of twenty years of post-revival lindy hopping culture. They’re also both really great songs, and I think that sometimes we forget how great our overplayed favourites are. So I tried to use them both not as safety songs (as I’ve said), but as great songs in their own right. I also wanted to revive a tiring room after a couple of what I think of as Chicago tracks.
Basically, though, my set ‘theme’ (if there was one) was big bands playing in big ballrooms to crazy crowds. Hence the Ella live at the Savoy stuff, Flying Home and so on.
Savoy has been (re)popularised by the Silver Shadows, but it’s also a standard. But it’s not always a song every scene plays a lot, so I like to use it. And, of course – Savoy! I don’t play it that often, but the Silver Shadows reminded me of it. Which is nice.
By that stage people were kind of frazzled and hot, so I shifted gears. Back Room Romp is a song I overplay, but which not everyone else does. It has a mellower energy in the beginning – tinklier. But it has a steady, chugging rhythm with funky upenergy flourishes that make you want to dance. So it gave the kids an energy rest, but also an energy injection of a different type. This is part of my working what I think of as an ‘energy’ or ‘mood’ wave as well as a tempo wave. I like to pound the dancers with high energy songs, but I also like to mix the styles and types of high energy to move their mood around as well.
I came in with Sugarfoot Stomp just one song too early. They needed something about 160 or 180 in between to build things a little. This is a great song, but it’s a bit complicated and ‘fussy’ for such a high tempo if you’re not really ready for it. But it has great energy (live! Savoy!) and it’s familiar. But it’s not a version I hear very often. It was a bit of stunt DJing, really, because I wanted my average tempos up a bit.
Stomp It Off always sounds mellower and slower when I play it after a hardcore faster song, so I like to use it to trick dancers into higher tempos. It’s also fully sick. I had intended another build from here, but the room was HOT and people really weren’t recovering as fast as they usually do in a cooler room. So some very familiar Willie Bryant.
Shortnin Bread was my concession to the current Fats Waller fad. I love that man, but I’m not always convinced he works 100% with every crowd. But I freeking love this song. I think it’s one of his very best dancing songs. It always goes down well, and it did this time. It’s another song that doesn’t sound as fast as it. It also has that lovely chorus at the end which is kind of furiously crazy and awesome.
Here, the energy was high, but I felt as though I was just about to push that barrel over a cliff if I kept going, so I switched it up. The Preservation Hall has that lovely, chaotic New Orleans instrumentation and improvisation (which Fats heralded in that last chorus), but it’s a slower song. It’s simple, melodically and vocally – there aren’t many words, really, but they’re repeated. And the message is perfect: “it’s your last chance to dance, so get up!” It made the crowd crazy. Sweet. I have played this for crowds where it’s died. I think its in-your-faceness requires a larger, more robust crowd. I wanted to stuff in some ‘charleston’, so I played a lesser-played version of a familiar song. It was a bit too fast for this tiring crowd.
Savoy Blues was a recovery song, with more of that New Orleans flavoured style, but I think of it as a transition song, leading me from NO to classic swing. Call Me a Taxi was a strange choice in retrospect, but it has that lighter, easier feel than the previous face-kickers, and it also feels slower than it is. It has a lovely melody and really invites you to play.
Jump Through the Window is a song I used to play all the time, but had left behind for a while for a break. The recent Frida/Skye performance clip has popularised the song, so it’s a good one for the crowd. This chunked the energy up again. The Taxi song had given them a rest, and many people were ready to go again.
I didn’t play Jumpin at the Woodside intending to provoke a jam, but it has kind of Pavlov’s lindy hopper effect. I played it because it’s a really good song, and it builds on the energy of the Window song really nicely. At the end of that jam (which I didn’t watch), I moved straight to an ‘everybody dance!’ song because I don’t like to overdo jams. And that one was kind of lagging – not much crowd noise. I also like them to want more than to get tired of it. The Churning song is overplayed everywhere. But it’s a great builder/spanker. It’s at this point that people got their second wind and went insane. It was crazy. The dance floor was jammed, and people were losing their biscuits (in a non-vomit way)
So I figured it was time for more dirty southern sounds, maybe some sort of Kansas activity. Live Jimmy Witherspoon was the go. It was interesting playing him at this point, mid-set, because it changed the way I listened. It’s a live song and it’s in the middle of a performance, so it feels as though it’s carrying on existing energy, with lots of crowd energy. The lyrics don’t come in for a while, so it has that ‘holding pattern’ feel for a while. But the instrumentalists are mad-awesome.
As you can see, I was going hi-fi here. I wanted to change the energy in the room, to shake things up and kick the dancers into a different mood, so they’d be distracted and get over their hot-and-sweaty tiredness. It worked.
They were then utterly shagged, so a super slow Basie live track to let them breathe.
Then, seeing as how I was plumbing the favourites, I figured I’d play the most overplayed song in all of christendom. It went down a TREAT. And then I ended!
So I guess I did play a bunch of faves, but I used them in a different way. I was proud of myself for not just defaulting to them in a moment of panic, using them as a crutch. I actually used them for their own awesomeness and relationship with other good songs. The fact that this was also my first set of the weekend is probably another contributing factor: I like to open a weekend with faves and party songs. But it was a late night, prime lindy hopping territory, so I wanted to play solid lindy hop. Avoid the jump blues for the most part, and go a little easy on the eccentric or smaller group sound.
Tonight’s set is later – 2.30-4 – so it’ll be slightly different. I’ll see what’s happening at 2.30am, and play it by ear. I’m hoping for some slightly different stuff – the more interesting eccentric, small group and unusual songs. Earlier jazz (ie late 20s and earlier 30s) and more complicated rhythms. But I’ll really wait and see.
*Is that a word?