Category Archives: djing

mills blue rhythm band madness

Here is an experiment with embedding media players. The trouble is, very few of these have the music I’m after. But here’s a Mills Blue Rhythm Band song, in honour of ‘going complete’ and posters on SwingDJs‘ obsession with the band.

E-36992-A Savage Rhythm (Br 6229, 10303, CJM 23, TOM 57, GAPS (Du) 130, Decca GRD2-69 [CD]
Recorded by the Mills Blue Rhythm Band in New York on the 31st July 1931. Musicians included: Buster Bailey (clarinet), Wardell Jones, Shelton Hemphill, Henry Red Allen (trumpet), George Washington (trombone, arranger), JC Higginbotham (trombone), Gene Mikell (sop, as, bar, clarinet), Joe Garland (ts, bar, clarinet), Edgar Hayes (piano), Lawrence Lucie (guitar), Elmer James (bass), O’Neil Spencer (drums), George Morton (vocal), Benny Carter (arranger), Lucky Millinder (dir).
Note: Date used here as given in Storyville #108 (Rust listed date as July 30, 1931).
Brunswick 6119, 6229 as ‘Mills Blue Rhythm Boys’.
Decca GRD2-629 [CD] titled ‘An Anthology of big band swing, 1930-1955’; rest of this 2 CD set by others.
Title also on Hep (E)1015, CD1008 [CD].
Title also on Classics 676 [CD] titled ‘Mills Blue Rhythm Band 1931-1932’.
NB: below are some very preliminary thoughts I’ve had after very little research.
I’ve been spending an awful lot of time in the library lately. It began with the Con’s copy of the Tom Lord Jazz Discography. That’s twenty-odd volumes of dry and boring nerdery. According to The Squeeze. For a jazz nerd, that’s twenty-odd volumes of orsum. I have spent hours in there already. Days. Doing what? Going through my music, adding in dates, full band names, band personnel, recording locations. Extra, extra nerdy. But also quite interesting.
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(that’s the Wolverines in the Gennett Records studio from this interesting site)
I’ve gotten much better at identifying when a song was recorded, and I’m getting to know how a band changed or an artist changed over time. And I’m recognising not-so-big-name band members now, which is fascinating. I’m also beginning to be curious about things like travel. A band might have recorded a song on one day in one city, but another song in another city on the next day. This information alone gives you and idea of just how hard these guys worked – travel, travel, record, record, live show, live show. But when you consider the fact that they usually didn’t use planes (in the early days especially) and that segregation meant that these musicians were traveling in pretty shitty conditions…
I’m also interested in the way songs were often recorded only once in a session (or ever) in the early days. No time (or money) for second takes. This makes me think about the mad skills these guys had. Or the cost or difficulty of recording. And all one track as well – everyone just playing along all at once, just recording then and there as the technician heard it.
I’ve just come across a quite from Mary Lou Williams (from a book called The Jazz Scene: an Informal History From New Orleans to 1990 by W. Royal Stokes, 1991) where she talks about just how poor Andy Kirk’s band was in Kansas during the depression. The band simply wasn’t getting paid for gigs, so the musicians went days without eating. All that, and they’re still producing truly amazing, inspired music. Or perhaps because of that?
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Though the discography is just awesome (and I will continue to make return trips as my need for detail increases – at first dates were enough. Now I need everything), I have moved on. I want to know who was where in what years. Why did people leave a city at a certain time? What was the relationship between the northern migration, Jim Crow laws and the development of jazz in Chicago, New York and Kansas? What was New Orleans like, exactly?
(that image above is of Canal St, New Orleans in the 1920s from wikipedia. If you’re a big map nerd like me, you’ll love this collection of historic maps)
So I’ve been up the university library looking at books. Now, though, I’m thinking more critical questions. How come all the jazz book are written by men? Even the later ones? And what’s the significance of jazz scholarship having its roots in jazz criticism? What role did jazz music clubs (clubs for listeners not musicians) play in the New Orleans ‘revival’ (I’m wary of that term – my thesis has made me suspect a ‘revival’ is really another word for white middle class folk appropriating black culture)? What are the effects of researching a music using only recordings? Where ARE all the women in these stories?
I’m also wondering about jazz scholarship itself, in bigger ways. Where is the critical reflection? What are the effects of research so focussed on autobiography? The emphasis on auto- and biography is interesting; it suggests that some musicians were simply so great, so awesome, so influential, they created in a cultural and social vacuum, simply churning out greatness for the rest of the world to admire. But that simply isn’t the case, of any art; art is created in cultural and social context. So to divorce a musician from the rest of his life (and it is ‘his’ – there are no women here) suggests that the rest of this life was unimportant. As I’ve read recently (and I can’t find the ref, sorry), this lack invites an immediate investigation.
One of the things that comes up time and again in the oral histories of the period is that, for musicians, listening to other musicians is as important as playing. Young musicians (no matter how ‘gifted’) would seek out experienced teachers to learn from. Musicians would spend as much time listening to other bands as playing themselves. There’s this great bit in one book (the one I ref’d above) where the musician describes listening to a band at the Savoy: there were as many musicians as dancers there, drooling over the amazing band (Savoy Sultans? I can’t remember).
And of course, every great musician needed a band. These early jazz recordings are about the relationships between musicians in the band. They don’t – cannot – work alone. In fact, no matter how great one musician, they cannot lift an ordinary arrangement or recording to greatness if the rest of the band isn’t there, or if they aren’t working with the band. At the end of the day, the goal is to produce a great song, a great bit of music. That is the point of a lot of this stuff: it’s about collective improvisation in earlier jazz (where everyone mustwork together – order out of chaos) and about collectivism in the more tightly orchestrated big band swing of the 30s and 40s (where musicians must play together, perfectly, must step in at just the right moment for their solo).
This is of course, all besides the point that being a musician was about earning money to buy food or pay rent. This point makes me think about gender and travel. Linda Dahl (in Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen) makes the point that travel, while so central to the live of post-emancipation black men (who’s right to travel had been so viciously curtailed under slavery) was impossible for many black women. Women, as the carers of children and the aged could not uproot and travel with a band or to become a musician:

It was in the years of elation, confusion and turmoil following the Civil War that jazz began to take shape. The war brought an end to slavery and to the isolation it imposed, which had prevented among blacks the free exchange of ideas that fertilizes art. With abolition came mobility, if not equality. Many black men wandered, looking for work or luck or new vistas, and music traveled with them. But black women, history tells us, were more likely to stay put and hunker down for new roots. These were women who, as slaves, had carried double, even triple burdens. Not only did they work in the ‘big house’ or in the fields – as cottonpickers, eve as logrollers and lumberjacks, – but they of course did their own housework, bore their children and cared for their men. After abolition they were hungry for stable family environments, and it was easier for them to find work as cooks, laundresses or maids than for black men to find employment. Although circumstances dictated that they were often the breadwinners, they deferred to their men, especially in matters political. Above all else they devoted themselves to the hope of better lives for their children. Great were the physical and emotional demands upon them, and most found few opportunities and little time or energy for goals beyond survival (Dahl 1992:4).

For women, cultural and social context was absolutely clear and absolutely present in everything they did. While jazz historians can imagine a Sidney Bechet leaving New Orleans and gadding off to Chicago, New York, Paris, a free agent following his art, it is a little more difficult for them to write the stories of women who played and sang music from the home or the family or their (less romantic) place of work. There are many stories of the ‘whore house pianists’ but far fewer stories of the whores, who were occasionally musicians in their own rights.
Dahl also makes an interesting point about ‘anonymous’ music:

And black women certainly contriuted their share to the development of this music [jazz]. During slavery they made up songs that both drew upon and became part of everyday experience. ‘Anonymous’ was often a slave woman who crooned lullabies to the babies she birthed and the babies she reared, who made up ditties at quilting and husking bees or while she planted in the fields and tended her garden, who created music in her capacity as midwife and healer, at funerals and dances and in church, who developed distinctive vendor calls as she sold her wares. ‘Anonymous’ invented music to meet the occcasion out of a communal pool of musical-religious traditions. Women and men stripped of their names passed on standards and tribel memory to those who came after (Dahl 1992:4).

That point, of course, leads us to a discussion of black women blues singers in the 20s. But I don’t have the time now, and I haven’t read the books I have here. But I was very interested in this link between ‘jazz history’ and race and class and gender. I need more information, though.
This anonymity was the product of domesticity and ‘everydayness’; simply made invisible through its very ordinariness and ubiquity. It was not framed or positioned as ‘art’, and so it was invisible. This reminds me of discussions about vernacular dance. It’s only when it takes to the stage (and away from its mutability and use-value in everyday life) that it becomes visible to mainstream or elite audiences. This is perhaps the greatest problem with reading white histories of black music: these observers could only ‘see’ jazz or black music when it was on a stage, or in a recording, stripped of its everydayness. And these spaces were not accessible for many black women.
Reading jazz as a history made up of one great ‘artist’ after another is, then, highly problematic. I’m also wondering about the other, dominant approach: reading jazz as a history of a series of cities (New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas, New York). What about the ‘territories’ of the midwest, a series of smaller towns and cities strung together on the route of itinerant bands which played only to these towns and rarely (if ever) recorded? Perhaps, as the territories suggest, it’s more useful to think about these cities as sites in a network of ‘jazz place/space’. I want to follow up the idea of travel in early jazz – from the northern migration to individual bands and musicians migrating between cities and countries.
(There are some nice pics in this neat little article about territory bands).
Note: I’ve just found this interesting interview with Tim Brooks, author of Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890 – 1919. This book is on my list of ‘things to find’. And of course, if you’re interested in the early days of the American recording industry, the David Suisman article ‘Co-workers in the kingdom of culture: Black Swan Records and the political economy of African American music’ is a great resource.

kids’ SF films and badass women in jazz

1. ‘ Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ with Brendan Fraser is crap. Despite Fraser trying and trying with a truly crap script.
2. ‘City of Ember’ was awesome. Really good kids’ SF. Avoids the more disturbing subtexts of postapocalyptic stories. Mum gave me the book so I’ll read it and see how it compares.
3. It’s far too long til ‘Night at the Smithsonian’ comes out. I was really surprised that I liked the first one, but I think it really snagged my museum curiousity.
4. ‘Monsters v Aliens’ actually isn’t too bad. Not only does it pass the Bechdel Test (JTTCOTE and NATM failed), but it also [SPOILER] presents a woman who decides she doesn’t want to be a boring trophy wife. She wants to be a MONSTER! The best bit is where she kicks alien arse without superpowers or size. The next best bit is where Dr Cockroach beats an alien using his PHD IN DANCE. I knew there was a good reason for doing a PhD in dance, and preventing alien invasions is obviously it. [/]
5. Two badass female jazz pianists from the Olden Days: Mary Lou Williams and Lovey Austin.
6. Another reason to despise the Ken Burns ‘Jazz’ doco (or at least the PBS site:

Williams was long regarded as the only significant female musician in jazz, both as an instrumentalist and as a composer, but her achievement is remarkable by any standards.

I’m hoping that’s a mistype, as, while Williams rocks the kasbah, she certainly WAS NOT the ‘only significant female musician in jazz’. In terms of vocalists alone, Billy Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald were really, majorly important as musicians (as well as other things)… heck, I could go on and on and on. And that’s even considering the fact that there weren’t anywhere near as many women as men in big name bands.
The text is borrowed from the ‘New Grove Dictionary of Jazz’, so perhaps they’re to blame.
7. Why are all the jazz historians blokes? I want to read New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History might have some tips. I’m interested in the New Orleans ‘revival’ – the interest in New Orleans jazz (from the 1920s) in (predominantly white) audiences (c 1940s). While the blurb for that book suggests there were male and female writers, I’ve yet to come across them. I’d be surprised – absolutely stunned – if the authors’ gender break down was 50/50 male/female. This of course makes me think about reading the little jazz publications that were flying about in the 20s, 30s and 40s. I’m also thinking about the white appropriation of black music, here. Or at the least, the effects of mainstream media/white culture’s interest in African American music in this period. I’m afraid to start on the Australian stuff.
8. Record fairs are interesting. Mostly blokes. And the blokes into the stuff I’m into (if you can find any of that stuff) are freaky. There aren’t as many female as male swing DJs (duh – what’s new), and I’m guessing the sisters aren’t getting into hardcore vinyl either. But I’d love to be wrong.
9. Let’s just revisit ae fully sick female pianist: Mary Lou Williams. She was, fully, awesomely sick. Pianist, arranger, badass.
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walking bass lines are reassuring

Listening to HCCT the other night I was struck by a particular song. Or, rather, part of one song. It had people clapping.
It’s the walking bass line. People like it. Dancers like it. I’ve heard hardcore DJs refer to the walking bass line as something for beginner dancers. But I think we all like a walking bass line. Sometimes we just like the simple, bomp-bomp-bomp of a walking bass line telling us exactly where the beat is. Sometimes it’s just reassuring to have the rhythm pointed out to us. And sometimes it’s a clever point of reference for a more complicated melody. And if you’re feeling a bit tired, you can ignore the fancy stuff going on around it, and just step with that walking bass. Walk with it.
The most-used example of a walking bass line is from Nina Simone’s version of My Baby Just Cares For Me:

i like pie

Here’s a little round up:
Western Swing is ME.
I am currently in love with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. This is in preparation for the Hot Club of Cowtown tour next month. I saw them in the UK (at the Marlborough Jazz Fest) in 2004, and they were freakin’ GREAT. The next week I saw Casey McGill’s band at a dance camp and they told me that their bass player had absconded for the HCCT. I’m not sure whether that’s a tragedy or an awesomey.
Bad foot is still ME.
My foot is still bung. I have been to see a podiatrist to strapped me up. That helped the first time, but not the second time. I am also doing exercises to strengthen the muscles in my calves/shin to help out my plantar fascia (ie so it’s not overloaded). I am down to get orthotics next week, but they mightn’t work. Basically, these fibroids in my foot are never going to go away and they can’t be cut out. So I’m looking at pain management and impact reduction. I danced two half dances on the last weekend and it HURT. The problem is not so much the impact (which hurts and hurts normally), but the fact that there’s pivoting and my foot actually twists when we do lots of turns and things. That’s where the pain is at. It sucked to find out how much it still hurt, but at least I know where I’m at. Though I think I’d have preferred to continue in blissful (and hopeful) ignorance. If I can’t dance again, I’m really not sure what I’m going to do. If it’s not lindy hop, it could have been something else – I come from a long line of dancing, lumbering folk, and I can’t fight my DNA. Perhaps I’ll learn an instrument. Any suggestions? Maybe the drums? Bass? I did a lot of singing at school, but that was a long time ago.
Allergies are GO.
I am having trouble breathing and my ear is all glued up. Again. Still, I’ve had much less trouble with my health since I moved to Sydney, so I’m certainly not complaining. It is melaluca flowering season, and there goddamn paper barks all over every street in every inner city suburb in Australia, so I need to deal. Won’t be long now, though, and I can come off the antihistamines.
Library is MINE.
I have been back to the Con’s library this week. It is a joyful place. Though it is full of students, now, and that sucks. They’re almost uniformly middle or upper class, supernerds and 70% male. Guess that’s what a career in hardcore arty music requires. The jazz section was all dusty when I first got in there. Now it has at least some use. The refec near the library is SHITHOUSE. The actual room is quite nice – it has a lovely little stage (with nice piano), and would be perfect for a dance gig. The acoustics are magical. But the food is inedible. I was reduced to pre-made sandwiches. Most of the students in this (actually quite nice) mini-refec were eating packed lunches. There you go.
emusic is not all mine. Yet.
I am blowing through my emusic downloads ridiculously quickly. Even when I ration them. There’re simply not enough.
Quickflix is suspended.
Since we moved to Sydney the DVDs have been slower to arrive, have almost always been terribly scratched, and we never get anything in the top 50 of our list. I have suspended our account until we’ve decided what to do. We’re still on one of their unlimited DVD accounts, but I’m not sure it’s worth it, as we only get about 3 a week, which isn’t much better than getting 12 a month max, is it? The video shop here is pretty good, so we might just go old school. Though using a video shop means I have no natural limit on my DVD viewing.
Dr Who and Farscape rule my world.
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Screw BSG with its upsetting gender politics and ridiculously FAILED science. I am all about rebooted Dr Who and Farscape. I didn’t dig either the first time I saw them, and never really got past the first couple of episodes. Now I love them. Farscape passes the Bechdel Test. Dr Who does not. Rose + her mum. Talking about the Doctor. Though every now and then Rose gets to discuss a drama with another female character, there’s not much woman-to-woman action. I think it’s partly to do with the newer format – story arcs only last an episode, rather than a week’s worth of episodes. There’s not as much character development. And a bit too much kissing. I like Eccleston, but I’m not struck on Tennant. His bottom jaw sticks out too far. I liked Eccleston’s big nose and ears a whole lot. And was the Doctor always this manic? I’ll have to rewatch some old ones (I liked brown, curly haired, long-scarf, jelly baby Doctor best).
I am a crocheting demon.
I should post some pictures to prove it. But I love complicated afghan patterns, and have been compulsively crocheting as I watch my way through the Commonwealth’s greatest contributions to popular culture. We went to Spotlight in Bondi Junction the other weekend so I could stock up on yarn. That joint was totally trashed on Saturday afternoon. I need another supplier; perhaps I could order online in bulk? The poor Squeeze is buried in gorgeously three dimensional flowers, in various combinations, so perhaps it’s time to stop.
…
No.
I am bike YAY!
Yesterday we rode down the Cook’s River after work for a quick ride. It was overcast, humid and coming up a storm. It was great. The sun set over the river, we saw wildlife, we dodged nonnas out walking and talking and planned a longer down-stream walk for a future date. This river goes to Botany Bay, you know.
I am still dealing with the fact that we live in Sydney.
I’m surprised by the historical weight I’m carrying in Sydney. It’s like all these suburbs and places are full of all the post-Invasion history of this country. Every bit of history I remember has something to do with Sydney. And most of it is narrated by songs from the Peter Coomb’s song book which delighted so many good little Australians in the 1980s.
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-attidy,
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-ay,
Singing too-ra-li-oo-ra-li-attidy,
And we’re bound for Botany Bay.
I’m sure that that song has celtic roots as well. One of the strangest moments of my post-MA European travel was being shut in at a Cornish pub where a heap of drunken … Corns? Cornishpeople? sang one of those sorts of ‘traditional Australian songs’. But with celtic names. My Irish grandfather used to sing The Wild Colonial Boy. So even though I’m caught up in all this Australian music, it’s just as Irish as the American folk music I dig.
I did arrive in Australia in 1982, straight into rural Wagga Wagga, so moving to New South Wales is far more familiar than moving to Melbourne did in 2001. The humidity is lovely. It’s not as heinous as Brisbane’s, but it’s nicer and wetter than Melbourne. And my skin loves it. The Squeeze declared last night, as we rode up the hill towards the lightning and iron-grey sky: “Moving here was the best thing we’ve done!” He’s delighted by the tropical storms. So am I – I’ve missed them. There’s something wonderful about a good, heavy-like-a-hot-shower rainstorm, complete with lighting and crashing thunder. Far, far better than drizzly, wingey bastard Melbourne weather. Even if it didn’t rain, it’d be cloudy and overcast forever. I don’t miss that shit. Though I’m thinking the Victorians are.
Dollhouse sucks arse, Pushing Daisies is delightful.
That’s it in a nutshell, really. I’m not impressed by DH.
1. The FBI/BSG guy is a crap actor. He’s so crap I can hardly watch him on screen. That scene in the last episode where he and the ‘dead wife’ DH client chatted in the kitchen? It was so, so, so bad. I groaned. I gnashed my teeth.
2. The opening credits are incredibly, crappily bullshit.
3. I’m still not entirely sure about the gender stuff. There’s an awful lot of talk about the women ‘dolls’ as sexualised bodies. And though there’re references to their missions which don’t involve sex, we spend a lot of time looking at them having sex or wearing very high heels or tight, booby shirts, or generally packing a whole lot of very conventional, bullshit femininity. It’s a bit too Alias for me, but with less self-determination on their part. I had hoped there’d be a clever twist to undo some of this, but I’m beginning to lose hope. Joss Whedon is hyped, but, really, Buffy was his pinacle. I didn’t mind Serenity (look, I’m losing the italics, ok?), but it wasn’t great. The film wasn’t great cinema. The series wasn’t that good – a little too heavy on the patriarchal family structure for my liking. Yes, I get the whole male captain/father parallel, and that Mal might perhaps have been overcompensating for his wartime mistakes with other people’s lives, but still… Actually, it takes Buffy an awful long time to lose her patriarch. I’ve rewatched a bit of season 5 lately, and she’s STILL got Giles there, Watchering. So perhaps Buffy isn’t so great either… God, if this is the best we can do, this string of compromises.
Anyways, I’m not impressed by DH
4. Did I mention the terrible acting by FBI guy?
Pushing Daisies, though, is wonderful.
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It’s charming. It’s clever. It’s lovely to look at. Its visual style has a lot in common with Tim Burton’s brighter, more colourful stuff. It’s a bit surreal and hyper-colour, but not dark like Burton. Well, except for the premise of the series: the pie maker protagonist can bring dead things back to life. For a minute. If he touches them within that minute, they go back to being dead. If he doesn’t, they stay alive and something has to replace them in the deadness. The point of the series: Emerson Cod (finally, a show with a not-white central character!), a private detective, works with the Pie Maker to solve murders. For profit. Pie Maker brings his childhood sweetheart, Chuck, back to life in one of the earliest eps, so they can’t touch. They love each other. The other main character is Olive, who, by the end of season two, is the very best character.
Why do I like this program?
1. The hyper-colour, phantastical mise en scene.
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2. Passes Bechdel Test.
3. Olive. With her pet pig Pigby.
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4. The male protagonist is a pie maker. There’s a lot of talk about food and baking pies and comfort food. It’s very lush. Here, have a look.
5. The singing scenes. Olive sings a couple of songs. One of which is ‘Eternal Flame’. Yes, a Bangles singing scene. The other is ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’. It’s wonderful.
Also, there’s singing.
6. Chuck’s spinster aunts (who raised her) are cheese fans and also used to be synchronised swimming super stars: Darling Mermaid Darlings. One has an eye patch.
7. Most of all, I love the dialogue. It’s very, very wordy. Lots of fast talking. But it’s all puns and onomatapeia (sp?) and all those other lovely wordnerd things. It looks good, it sounds good, and it’s funny. It makes me giggle.
8. It’s not horrid. There are some pretty gross deaths, but it’s not upsetting. Most of the programs I like these days are horribly dark. But Pushing Daisies is not. It’s lovely. The Pie Maker and Chuck love each other. Olive is tiny and super tough and awesome. She can bake pies or solve crimes. She’s great.
9. I watch it before bed, when I’m tired, and it helps me get to sleep. It’s nice.
The only thing I don’t like about it is that it was cancelled before the end of its second season. Apparently they’re screening the finale in the US in their summer, so at least we’ll get that degree of closure. But still. It’s really great telly. Here’s the first bit to prove it:

djing bal for the first time

So I DJed for balboa dancers for the first time on Thursday night. It was really interesting. I really liked the crowd, and I really enjoyed figuring out what might work with bal dancers. I don’t dance bal (well, if I’m led, but not by preferences), so it was kind of challenging.
I’m a bit tired now, so I can’t say much, but here’s the set I played.
Some songs worked (Jive at Five, plus the other bal faves), some didn’t. I misjudged a couple of times and played songs that made people want to lindy. Which can’t be too bad a thing, huh? ;D
One of the nice things about this set (and preparing for it), was being able to use a wider section of my music collection. The tempos are quite high – 160bpm is the base. I’ve been playing for lindy hoppers at an average of about 140bpm these days, and I’d like to take that higher. Sydney lindy hoppers seem less interested in higher tempos. Or I could simply be reading them wrong (which is entirely likely). With lindy hop, I often feel that I need to build the energy in the room before I raise the tempos. Most of the events I’ve been DJing have been smaller or less intense social events, so the energy level doesn’t quite get up there to critical mass.
Balboa, though, is a different animal. What does it look like? Well, it looks like this:

(Kelly and Mickey, ABW 1st place 2008)
This clip is interesting for the fact that it really emphasises the style and ‘feel’ of many balboa dancers, in contrast to lindy. It’s a ‘tighty whitey’ dance (as I’ve heard it described by bal dancers): white kids dancin’ white. The couple spend more time in closed position. It’s really amazing stuff – intricate footwork, a real ‘dancer’s dance’. I like this couple – it’s pretty good stuff. I just find them a little… cloying. And straight. Watch them dancing lindy hop here for some contrast. Bal gives you some sweet-as weight commitment, which really helps your lindy.
I like to watch bal, I quite like dancing it, but it doesn’t set me on fire the way lindy does. Lindy makes me feel crazy. Bal makes me feel a little… constrained. I also have some trouble with the fact that the follow really has to _follow_, and the trend seems to be for follows to dance a little more passively than in lindy hop. This, of course, is not always the case. But this is what I see most frequently. Probably because I simply don’t get to too many bal gigs. Can you see why it’s not really my type of dance?
While I’m talkin’ gender, I think it’s worth checking out Kate Hedin. Notice anything different about her body shape?
I think it’s worth pausing here for a little Sylvia Sykes time:

(linky)
Sylvia was one of the earliest revivalist lindy hoppers. She’s also one badass follow. She’s older than the other flibberyjibbets getting around, she’s phenomenal, technically, and she has the sort of confidence and presence that makes you think ‘why aren’t there more of the sisters getting this sort of recognition?’ She is one of the few female teachers who’s billed ‘with partner’ (though, btw, Nick is top shelf (young man) bal lead action).
From watching just those clips, you can see how bal is quite a different dance to lindy hop. It’s amazing to watch – like really fast, really sophisticated knitting. I’m just not… all that into it. I definitely prefer to lead it rather than follow it – boooring. Leading is technically challenge, intellectually exciting and physically a lot less demanding than lindy.
This is one last example, for the sake of illustrating the range of styles and approaches to balboa:

(linky)
That’s Mia and Todd. Todd is better known for his lindy hop. Mia is badass bal Sistah, who usually dances and teaches with Peter Loggins.
I quite like this clip for the way we see Todd’s phenomenal musicality demonstrated. But it’s less pleasing as an example of this couple’s communication. Todd is very much an ‘in control lead’ – Mia is _following_. Sometimes he doesn’t quite give her time to finish what she’s doing – we feel as though he’s cutting her off before she finishes her sentence. There are some points, where they’re out at maximum extension (holding just one hand in open) that I think ‘eeek’ – it goes beyond rubber band and out to too-far, too-extended. It takes a badass follow to make that sort of waaay out there extension work. Which is what Mia is. But Todd’s bal has an energy that I really like. I like the bounce, I like the flamboyance. But it’s probably a little further from hardcore balboa and a little closer to lindy hop.
FYI ‘pure bal’ is danced all in closed position. Not so much of a spectator sport, unless you’re into really hardcore technically precise, close dancing. Which I am. At times.
So you can see what bal’s about, a bit, from those clips. The music is high energy, but it feels as though balboa dancers (with their small, precise steps and footwork) have a greater capacity or – or at least interest in and emphasis on – music which is technically precise and ‘smaller’, more intricate. With bal dancers, I feel as though I don’t need to get the energy really high before I get the tempos high. Bal dancers are generally comfortable at at range of tempos, though most bal dancers dance to higher tempos (this is a local trend rather than an historical ‘accuracy’). Technically, they do the things lindy hoppers should: small steps, clear weight transfers, traveling less at higher tempos. But they can also add in lots of intricate, time-consuming stuff that most lindy hoppers just don’t have the time or skill to do at higher tempos. Also, because the follow isn’t traveling as much on her own (as in lindy), there’s less pressure on her at higher tempos.
DJing for this crowd last week, a friend made this interesting comment: music for bal is ‘less in the pocket’ (or ‘not as deeply in the pocket’ – I can’t remember the exact line). This means, basically, that the music doesn’t ‘swing’ as much – it doesn’t feel as though the musicians are as far behind the beat. This gives it a great ‘uppy downy’ feel (now I need Trev to chime in with the bit about forward/horizontal propulsion and vertical propulsion in swing being closer to equal). To me, this screams ‘lindy hop!’. But to a crowd brought up dancing to super groove (which tends to be super in the pocket), this isn’t the case. Peter mentioned a while back that ‘if it feels good to lindy to, it’ll feel even better to bal to’. But it’s not as simple as just playing stuff that ‘makes me feel like lindy hopping.’ At least not for this crowd.
There were a couple of songs which didn’t work for this crowd (who were relatively flexible) – ‘Main Stem’ and ‘Who Stole the Lock’ were two of them (both of which are, coincidentally, songs Todd and Naomi have danced to in quite well-circulated clips). They felt ‘too lindy’. ‘Jive at Five’ went down a treat, but this is a song I think of as _quintessentially_ lindy hop. Same goes for ‘Stomp it Off’ (though I have played this for both lindy hoppers and balboans and had good responses from both). Fats Waller also went down a treat, and he’s my go-to man for lindy hop. That song ‘Twenty Four Robbers’ is drilled into my brain as ‘that Frida and Skye song’, so I associate it with skankin’ly badass lindy. In summary, the songs that I think of as ‘tinkly’ or ‘light’ or ‘cheery’ work well for balboa dancers in this town. Goodman and Ellington small group stuff goes down a treat. Olden days early 30s/late 20s works well for them as well, but not all the time.
I’m looking forward to more experimenting on those poor balboa doods. :D
Also, this was the first time I’ve ridden to a dance gig since moving to Sydney. I have MISSED it!
Rag Mop Bob Crosby and the Bobcats 164 1950 Bob Crosby and the Bobcats: The Complete Standard Transcript 2:15
Call Me A Taxi Four Of The Bob Cats 175 1938 All Star Jazz Quartets (disc 2) 3:13
Mr. Ghost Goes To Town Mills Blue Rhythm Band 192 1936 Mills Blue Rhythm Band: 1933-1936 3:24
Jive At Five Count Basie and his Orchestra 174 1939 The Complete Decca Recordings (disc 03) 2:51
C-Jam Blues Duke Ellington and his Orchestra 180 1942 The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 13) 2:39
Tar Paper Stomp Mora’s Modern Rhythmists 174 2000 Call Of The Freaks 3:32
Whoa Babe Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra with Lionel Hampton, vocal 201 1937 The Complete Lionel Hampton Victor Sessions 1937-1941 (disc 1) 2:53
Stomp It Off Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra 190 1934 Swingsation – Jimmie Lunceford 3:09
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, Part 1 Benny Goodman Quartet with Martha Tilton 176 1937 RCA Victor Small Group Recordings (Disc 2) 3:27
Chris And His Gang The Cairo Club Orchestra 180 2004 Sunday 2:40
Minor Swing Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five 202 2003 Jammin’ the Blues 3:24
Jungle Nights In Harlem Charlestown Chasers 213 1995 Pleasure Mad 2:49
Swingin’ On That Famous Door Delta Four 190 1935 All Star Jazz Quartets (disc 2) 3:00
Stompin’ At The Savoy [take 1] Benny Goodman Quartet 166 1936 RCA Victor Small Group Recordings (Disc 2) 3:19
Twenty Four Robbers Fats Waller and his Rhythm 196 1941 Last Years (1940-1943) (Disc 2) 2:43
Who Stole The Lock (On The Henhouse Door) Jack Bland and his Rhythmakers with Henry ‘Red’ Allen 243 1932 I Was Born To Swing 2:40
All The Cats Join In Benny Goodman 176 All the Cats Join In 4:23
Main Stem Duke Ellington and his Orchestra 207 1942 The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 13) 2:50
Hittin’ The Bottle Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra 211 1935 Rhythm Is Our Business 2:57

recent djing

I’ve been doing quite a bit of DJing in Sydney, more than I did in Melbourne. I quite like it – I need the money for CDs (or downloads), I like keeping my hand in, DJing-wise, and DJing gets me out to see dancing people while I’m injured and not dancing.
I can’t say the actual DJing has been awesome. This is partly to do with my own less-than-awesomeness, but also to do with my adjustment to a scene which doesn’t have the sort of crowded, hard core dancing I’d DJ for in Melbourne. Sydney actually has more social dancing nights than Melbourne, it’s just that this greater number of (diverse) gigs means that the dancers are spread across more events, leaving you with fewer people at individual events. There are also the usual issues RE teachers and troupe dancers – they don’t go social dancing as much.
I suppose (though it’s impossible to generalise) that the usual factors contribute: these guys are already dancing three nights a week and not interested in another social dancing; they value performing and teaching over social dancing; they’re involved in tight knit social groups which make them reluctant to explore social events without their homeys. What this means for me as a DJ, is that there are fewer of these more experienced, hard core dancers out social dancing when I’m DJing. Which means that you’re left with a crowd who have less dancing stamina, less experience with more complex rhythms and patterns, and less interest in hard core dancing. This isn’t an entirely bad thing – I’ve always liked DJing for new dancers, if only because they haven’t developed a rigid set of dance and music preferences – they’re just in it for the fun. But it does mean that I have to take more care with the tempos and song selections. But I’m not complaining – I am still enjoying DJing. And there are still quite a few experienced dancers out there on the floor – the types of people who aren’t interested in the teaching and performing, but are interested in gettin’ jiggy on the dance floor.
I DJ one night at a pub which is heaps of fun. Pub or bar gigs are always good, as there’s alcohol involved, and that usually loosens the dancers up a bit. But at this gig there’s a larger number of older dancers who don’t really have the dance fitness required for hard core lindy hop. When I say older, I’m talking people in their mid to late 40s and higher. I know, it’s not actually ‘older’ at all, but once you get over 20, if you’re not actually dance-fit, lindy hop is really challenging, especially at higher tempos. As Frankie Manning says, “Get in shape to do lindy hop, don’t do lindy hop to get in shape.” I also find that this crowd has more interest in talking and socialising than dancing; they tend to do things like dance two songs in a row then stand on the dance floor talking rather than moving off the floor. This discourages other people from dancing, and means that I’m left with an empty floor for a song. So I have to ‘start from scratch’ with the next song. They do this regardless of the type of song I’m playing in that third spot. They just want to talk.
As you might expect, this makes this gig the most interesting and welcoming, socially speaking. As new folks in town, we’ve always preferred this gig, just for hanging out and meeting people. But it’s a very difficult crowd to DJ for. There’s also a large number of rock and roll dancers there, and these tend to be the older dancers. Who really aren’t into old school swinging jazz. And seeing as how that’s where my DJing preferences lie – right back there in the 30s, well before the shuffle rhythms and un-swingness of rock and roll. And I’ve even been easing off the jump blues lately, so I’m not really offering much to this particular crowd.
I have played some really bad gigs at this venue. But I have also done some good sets. Last gig I did there the sound set up was seriously fucked, so I had trouble getting anything to sound ok, let alone being able to concentrate on the combination of songs. But I have, finally, figured out that a combination of tempos and eras works with this crowd: old school for the lindy hoppers, 50s jump blues and later swing for the rock and rollers. I refuse to play rock and roll (mostly because I don’t own any and don’t really want to buy any), but I will play 50s Basie, Witherspoon, etc, leaning on their later, less-swingy, more-jumpier stuff. It’s not ideal, and I really hate seeing what it does to people’s lindy hop, but I do breathe a sigh of relief when the floor fills up again.
To make it work at this gig, I need a mix of dancers – I need younger, hard core lindy hoppers. I need the drinking, less-dancing rock and rollers for the social, party vibe. I simply don’t have the skills to work this crowd as-is. I find it frustrating. And while I’d usually muddle through for a paid gig, I do this one pro bono for mates, so I’m a little less happy about the deal. It’s mostly that I’m frustrated with myself for not being able to make it work. And I’m frustrated because I can’t play the sort of music I really love, all the time. I do get to play it, just not in a big, solid block. And I certainly don’t get to experiment with even early (ie late 20s) stuff or with things like recretionist New Orleans doods like later Bechet – that stuff goes down like a ton of bricks with this crowd. The problem is really that they simply don’t have the musical experience that I need to be able to play a really diverse set. But then, these sets remind me that that stuff (the 20s and NO revivalist) isn’t that great for lindy hop – it doesn’t quite swing properly, it often doesn’t have the right ‘feel’. Frankie wouldn’t like it.
So I don’t think of this gig as a ‘crap gig’. I think of it as the most challenging gig on the calendar, and I’m stretched to make it a successful one. I’m not quite there, yet.
Beyond this one, I also play a blues night. It’s once a month, and the only blues night on the calendar. It’s pretty well attended, but the venue is a little big for blues dancing, so you don’t get the right vibe in the room. Blues really needs a crowded, smaller room that feels like a crowded bar. Well, that’s what I like for blues – I like to play a rollicking, rolling blues room where people are shouting and sweating and partying hard. Lots of energy and fun. I’m not interested in playing cuddle-blues gigs at all. Boooooring. But this set isn’t too bad a gig. The dancers are new and enthusiastic, and blues is simple enough (because it’s slower and it’s taught in a simpler format), easier than lindy hop, so dancers feel more confident. I don’t have a very big collection of music for blues dancing, so I’m not actually all that specialised – I tend to play across styles. Though I avoid soul and funk (because that’s not blues, and because there are specialist soul and funk DJs in the broader music community who use original vinyl and make swing/blues DJs look like lame amateurs), I don’t lean as heavily on olden days stuff as I do for lindy. This means I have a better chance of pleasing more people. Or rather, I have a better chance of pleasing them with less effort. When you’re playing old school, I think you have to work harder to draw people in. With a mixed set, you eventually find something someone likes, even if it’s just the right ‘style’ for their tastes. This is how I started DJing lindy hop. I think it can be the mark of a newer DJ, but I also know experienced, truly top notch DJs who play fabulous mixed sets. It’s just that DJs often specialise after a few years as their own musical interests follow particular trails and historical periods or particular artists.
As a dancer, I like both types of DJs. Though I loathe a DJ who changes gears without the clutch: smooth transitions are essential for making this work.
But I like the blues sets. The crowd is enthusiastic and supportive, the set up of the room lets them get physically close enough to talk to me (and let me know whether they like what I’m playing), they like looking over my shoulder from the raised mezzanine behind me to see how I’m DJing (blokes like this especially – they like seeing the technical side of DJing), and like hearing their responses to my music and knowing whether I’m doing what they’re interested in. I would like to use a smaller room, but I’m not going to bitch about that when the crowd is so enthusiastic and welcoming. It’s also in a bar, and bar + blues = good news for the DJ.
I also play a couple of other lindy gigs. One is a twice-per-month larger event in a church hall, another is a fortnightly, smaller event in a smaller bar venue. The larger one is tricky. The sound set up isn’t adequate for the large, echoey, high-ceilinged church hall. It’s a large space, and not particularly ‘nice’. It’s fine once the lighting’s fixed, or if there’s a large crowd. But otherwise, it’s fairly ‘church hally’. There’s no bar, either, which is bad news at this event, which is already in pretty dire need of some loosening up. One of those two monthly gigs is also explicitly marketed as a ‘beginners’ night’. This is a mistake, I think. It means that anyone who doesn’t think of themselves as ‘beginner’ doesn’t turn up. And of course, with dancers being as status conscious as they are, we see no troupe members or teachers of any type at these ‘beginner’ nights. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t worry me – I quite like a packed room of beginner dancers high on their own endorphines, discovering the headiness of physical contact with strangers. But this gig doesn’t pull a large crowd at all, and it’ll have to pull a massive crowd to fill that hall. So it ends up kind of quiet and empty. Tricky stuff. I’m not all that good at working smaller crowds (though I am improving), so this night is really challenging for me.
The last social dancing night is fast becoming my favourite. The venue is the same as for the blues night, but it works better for lindy hop. It has a good set up, with the sound desk facing the speakers rather than being behind them (it makes me crazy that lindy hoppers can’t seem to grasp the fact that sitting behind the speakers sucks for DJing – I want them on the opposite wall so I can hear what’s going down!). The venue is the right size for the crowd. I can get there easily on the bus, or catch a train (rather than only having the train option for the church gig – which requires my walking to the station, which hurts my foot a lot). The sound set up is generally pretty good (not perfect, but the best in this town). There’s also a bar! I found this crowd tricky at first as it’s a mid-week, mellower gig. But I’ve gradually figured out that that does not mean that I should only play low-energy music. I need to mix it up and work the energy just as I would with any other gig. But because the crowd is smaller, it requires a little more work.
In general, this town dances to very, very, very low tempos. We’re talking between about 110bpm and about 150bpm. That’s super, super low. When we get to 155bpm, they switch to balboa. There are a number of reasons for this. 1) the DJs play a lot of groove, which is often lower in energy – the uppy-downy bounce of the big band is smoothed out by super-behind-the-beat smaller bands. 2) the DJs play the same music every set – they don’t have large enough collections to really push their DJing, and encourage them to explore new music. 3) the DJs tend to all play the same songs. This could be a result of music sharing or simply sharing similar tastes. 4) the transitions between tempos isn’t terribly smooth – there are often blocks of faster music for ‘balboa’, moving straight back down again to 110. So we hear 110, 120, then suddenly a few at 200, then down again to 110. And of course, everyone sits down at those ‘balboa’ tempos, unless they do dance balboa. I do like balboa, but it’s not as exciting to watch at 200 as badass lindy.
My comfort zone for dancing lindy hop is about 140-200bpm. I am comfortable at 180, start to work at 200, then am challenged above 200. Well, when I’m dance-fit and not injured. But I have been dancing for a while. Though I’m certainly not a badass lindy hopper or competitor extrovert; I’m actually pretty conservative. In the olden days (ie at the Savoy in the 30s), 180 was average. At Herrang the DJs aren’t to play under 160bpm. This is quite fast – most contemporary ‘disco’ music is about 120 bpm.
These higher tempos are very challenging if you’re very tight in your upper body, or if you don’t do triple steps or simply don’t have very solid technique. Smaller steps, stay relaxed, do your triple steps (because followers need them to travel!) – all that helps you lindy at higher tempos. But these are often things that are neglected in class. And many dancers don’t hear older music (which tends to be faster) in class, so they’re not used to the structures of the music. They want to do their smaller, subtler body movements, when big band 30s action and faster music want you to do larger movements (as in, swing outs rather than body rolls), and to think of musicality in terms of combinations of these larger moves, thinking of the music in terms of phrases, rather than thinking of musicality in terms of responding to each individual note or sound. But if the moves you’re taught in class are about smaller, finer movements, you’re going to be kind of at a loss when you hit the social dance floor and hear faster, older music.
At any rate, when I started DJing in Sydney, I came in swinging, just as I would have in Melbourne, starting at about 130bpm. There isn’t terribly far to go from 130 to 150bpm. I am finding that the dancers are stretching a bit, but things are still pretty slow, generally. I used to play much faster gigs at the mostly-beginner Funpit in Melbourne. But I try to ‘begin as I mean to go on’ – so if I don’t want to sit on 110 all night, I need to start higher. I like 130 as a beginning tempo, though I’d really prefer to start on 140 and not drop below that. I won’t start on 120 any more – it’s just too freakin’ slow. As you can see in the set list below, I started at 140 and was actually doing relatively higher tempos at first. This was in part because the music in the class was higher than usual (they were doing charleston).
The preponderance of balboa is both a blessing and a challenge. On the one hand, balboa lets dancers get used to dancing to faster music (they’re really not much beyond 200 for faster music here), but on the other, it means that they default to balboa as soon as they hear slightly higher tempos. And balboa is less physically exhausting than lindy at these higher tempos, so they don’t work up that dance fitness that you need for faster music. I’m not disparaging balboa here – it’s a craft. It’s a challenging dance. It’s an awesome dance. But the movements are smaller. Though I do like what balboa has taught a lot of Melbourne dancers – bounce (or pulse as they call it). Smaller steps. Leading ‘with the body’ – by moving their body to move their follower’s body (rather than using their arms to move a follower). A more relaxed upper body, especially at higher tempos. All this is fabulous for lindy too. I also have some frustrations with the type of music Sydney people hear as ‘balboa music’. Someone’s obviously been teaching a lot with Mora’s Modern Rhythmists, Campus Five and Sydney Bechet. They hear revivalist New Orleans as ‘balboa music’. This drives me nuts when I’m trying to play this stuff for lindy hoppers; the lindy hoppers sit down, the balboa dancers get up. From what I can learn, balboa dancers in the olden days were into the same types of music as lindy hoppers. So there was a lot of big band action in ballrooms. I can’t really see them getting into revivalist New Orleans action… but I could be wrong. Either way, it niggles me to see balboa dancers hear one type of music as ‘balboa music’, especially within the broader swinging jazz family: that’s way to rigid a definition, even for a purist like myself.
But this will change as balboa dancers travel more and get more experience with a wider range of music. It’ll also help the lindy hoppers to travel a bit more too.
For me, DJing, I have to take the long term view. I can’t just jump in and play with an agenda and expect them to DANCE. I have to gradually add stuff in and move the general vibe of my set in a particular direction. As a new DJ in town, all my music is ‘new’ to them – they haven’t heard me overplaying my favourites for the past few years. So I do have some liberties. But it’s also been important to find out exactly what they’re dancing to otherwise. Basic research tool? My getting out there and dancing. So you can see how my DJing might have lagged a bit since I’ve been off the floor. At any rate, because I’m DJing so much, I can start adding in ‘new’ songs, while also building up a body of music which is ‘familiar’. While I type this, part of me is shouting, “Hey! Arrogant, much?” I’m not sure I actually have a solid grasp of what dancers are into in Sydney – I can’t see them when they’re sitting down behind me. I’m not getting out to social dance and hear and see what they’re dancing to in other DJs’ sets. And I’m not in class, hearing the teachers’ music. So I’m not entirely sure my instincts are tuned in properly. It’s all a bit frustrating, and I do worry that the longer I’m out of dancing, the more my DJing will decline. I’ve seen it in other DJs: if you don’t dance, your DJing inevitably declines as you get disconnected from what actually feels good for dancing. It’s a struggle if you’re generally someone who only dances within one particular style or one particular tempo range, but it’s impossible to stay on top of things if you’re neveR dancing to anything.
In that vein, I’ll be doing my first set for balboa dancers next week. I’ve tried to score a balboa set in the past in Melbourne, but have been knocked back a few times. This could be because I suck, because I’m not a hardcore balboa dancer, or because I’m just not in the loop. But we’ll see how I go. I’m looking forward to it – I think I’m going to learn a lot. I’m putting together a list of ‘maybe’ songs (as I usually do before a gig), and I’m looking forward to playing a wider range of tempos. I have a lot of faster stuff that I rarely, if ever, get to play for dancers. Thing is, I have absolutely no idea what these guys play at a regular balboa night, so I’m not going to have any idea what their ‘normal’ music is like. I will make it clear to the dancers on the night that I have no experience, and that I’d like feedback. The organisers also know I haven’t done this before, so they’re going to be ready with suggestions (hopefully). It’s not a paid gig, either, which is good… although it’s not, really. I’m going to enjoy it, I think. Once I stop being nervous.
Anyways, here’s the set I did last week at the fortnightly gig in the smaller blues/bar venue. It’s a ‘lindy hop’ set. The tempos are higher than I usually hear at that venue. At one point a guy asked “can you play something slower?” This was while I was playing ‘Chimes at the Meeting’ which is 245bpm, so I was “of course – I was just about to drop the tempos a lot. This next block will be much slower.” And it was. I’m kind of working the wave here, but I think that these days I’m focussing a bit too much on the transitions between musical styles, and not enough on the tempos. It’s almost as though I’ve lost touch with how dancing to four songs at 150 in a row can feel (bit boring, mostly). I think this is a consequence of my not dancing these days. But it’s also a consequence of my DJing for people who like a wider range of tempos. If you’re happy at 180bpm, three songs at 150 are a ‘rest’. But if 160 is your max, then three 150 songs is a real stretch. Sigh. These are the little things that I’m worried about, as a DJ. And I do wonder if I’ll be able to continue DJing if my foot never recovers (which the specialist says is a real possibility – though I’m going to address that again at our appointment this week). Three months off dancing already, and I’m having trouble with the thought of no more dancing ever.
If you’ve ever seen any of my other sets or heard me DJ, you can see from the set below that I didn’t play terribly much new or challenging stuff. An awful lot of old favourites, stuff I overplay. There are a few new things that I’ve bought from emusic or on CD lately (mostly emusic, though – hence the incomplete details). That Bob Crosby song ‘Rag Mop’ is fully sick. I love that MBRB version of ‘Mr Ghost Goes To Town’ – I will never play the Campus 5/MMR version (which does it?) again. MBR’s version just has more pep and zing to it. It’s also a little faster (maybe 10 or 20bpm – enough to spice it up a little). The musicianship is certainly far better. There was a birthday/farewell dance at ‘Jersey Bounce’, hence the sudden style change. After that, I suddenly had the urge to go all groovy and hi-fi. I really like that Ernestine Anderson album atm, even though Gene Harris is involved. That version is way better than the live one we hear a lot. Then I decided I was over this slumpy, low energy groovy stuff (it was also making people sit down rather than jump about like fools). So I played ‘Smooth Sailing’ because everyone knows it, and because I like to pair it with ‘Lemonade’. Note the tempos there – boooringly 110 or so. The dead zone. So we went up a bit with the Jay McShann one. That song ‘Blue Monday’ is on my overplayed list, but it has lots of shouty energy. From there I did drop down with the Basie, but it’s another high energy, live song that’s good for building a sleepy room. The inclusion of CJam Blues there should let you know just how badly I was leaning on the overplayed list. That song is overplayed everywhere in the lindy hopping universe. The last two songs were requests. Then I had to RUN for my bus.
While I am leaning on the overplayed stuff, I’m not sure if it is actually overplayed here in Sydney. Many of these songs I know I’ve played a lot and still do play a lot. I try to avoid them at exchanges, as people are at exchanges to be challenged and to experience something new and exciting. But at a smaller gig like this, familiar stuff is often welcome, and it’s hard to resist the way people respond to something they know, especially if they’re finding the other stuff a bit challenging or unfamiliar. I do tend to DJ lazy and lean on the familiar, and I will try to fix that up. Thing is, some of these songs I know I’m the only one playing, so I never get to dance to them, so they don’t feel overplayed to me – I know them well, but I don’t know them well with my body.
Any how, here’s the set. name, artist, bpm, year, album, length, last played (the last played will vary – I did the set on the 4th, starting at 9pm, so ignore the last played times/dates on the ones I’ve listened to since).
Massachusetts Maxine Sullivan 147 1956 A Tribute To Andy Razaf 3:19 4/03/09 8:58 PM
My Baby Just Cares For Me Nina Simone 120 The Great Nina Simone 3:38 4/03/09 9:02 PM
Bli-Blip Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five 140 2007 Moppin’ And Boppin’ 2:44 4/03/09 9:05 PM
Rag Mop Bob Crosby and the Bobcats 164 1950 Bob Crosby and the Bobcats: The Complete Standard Transcript 2:15 4/03/09 9:07 PM
Savoy Blues Kid Ory 134 1945 Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 3 3:01 4/03/09 9:10 PM
Ain’t Nothin’ To It Fats Waller and his Rhythm 134 1941 Last Years (1940-1943) (Disc 2) 3:10 4/03/09 9:13 PM
Summit Ridge Drive Artie Shaw and his Gramercy Five 128 1940 Self Portrait (Disc 2) 3:21 4/03/09 9:17 PM
A Viper’s Moan Willie Bryant and his Orchestra with Teddy Wilson, Cozy Cole 153 1935 Willie Bryant 1935-1936 3:26 4/03/09 9:20 PM
Mr. Ghost Goes To Town Mills Blue Rhythm Band 192 1936 Mills Blue Rhythm Band: 1933-1936 3:24 4/03/09 9:23 PM
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 4/03/09 9:26 PM
Joog, Joog Duke Ellington and his Orchestra 146 1949 Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 3:01 4/03/09 9:29 PM
Oh I’m Evil (05-01-41) Una Mae Carlisle 158 1941 Complete Jazz Series 1938 – 1941 2:25 4/03/09 9:32 PM
Turn It Over Bus Moten and his Men 148 1949 Kansas City Blues 1944-1949 (Disc 3) 2:38 4/03/09 9:35 PM
Did You Ever See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball? (06-29-49) Count Basie and his Orchestra 155 1949 Complete Jazz Series 1947 – 1949 2:15 4/03/09 9:37 PM
Cole Slaw Jesse Stone and His Orchestra 145 Original Swingers: Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips vol 2 2:57 4/03/09 9:40 PM
Bearcat Shuffle Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy with Mary Lou Williams 160 1936 The Lady Who Swings the Band – Mary Lou Williams with Any Kirk and his Clouds of Joy 3:01 4/03/09 9:43 PM
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 4/03/09 9:46 PM
Chimes At The Meeting Willie Bryant and his Orchestra with Teddy Wilson, Cozy Cole 245 1935 Willie Bryant 1935-1936 3:01 4/03/09 9:49 PM
Peckin’ Johnny Hodges and his Orchestra 165 1937 The Duke’s Men: Small Groups Vol. 1 (Disc 2) 3:10 4/03/09 9:52 PM
Walk ‘Em Buddy Johnson and his Orchestra 131 1946 Walk ‘Em 2:53 4/03/09 9:55 PM
Hungry Man Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five 135 1949 Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five (vol 6) 3:08 4/03/09 9:58 PM
Four Or Five Times Woody Herman Orchestra 141 The Great Swing Bands (Disc 2) 3:09 4/03/09 10:03 PM
Jersey Bounce Ella Fitzgerald 134 1961 Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie! 3:36 26/01/09 9:50 PM
Goin’ To Chicago Blues Ernestine Anderson with Ray Brown, Gene Harris, Red Holloway, Gerryck King 135 1984 When the Sun Goes Down 4:53 4/03/09 10:11 PM
Smooth Sailing Ella Fitzgerald 118 Ken Burns Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald 3:07 4/03/09 10:15 PM
Lemonade Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five 117 1950 Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five (vol 6) 3:17 4/03/09 10:18 PM
Blue Monday Jay McShann and his Band with Jimmy Witherspoon 125 1957 Goin’ To Kansas City Blues 3:40 9/03/09 8:58 AM
Every Day I Have The Blues Count Basie and his Orchestra 116 1959 Breakfast Dance And Barbecue 3:49 9/03/09 9:01 AM
C-Jam Blues Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis 143 1999 Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke 3:34 4/03/09 10:29 PM
Blues In Hoss’s Flat Count Basie 144 1958 Chairman Of The Board [Bonus Tracks] 3:13 4/03/09 10:32 PM
All The Cats Join In Benny Goodman 176 All the Cats Join In 4:23 4/03/09 10:37 PM
Shake That Thing Mora’s Modern Rhythmists 227 2006 Devil’s Serenade 2:58 30/09/08 3:31 PM

bob willis and the texas playboys’ Tiffany Transcriptions

ttbw.jpg Suddenly, I want this Western Swing classic. I know most of the songs, either via jazz or my western swing faves.
Initially recorded for a furniture company to play in their shops (!), this collected set apparently has greater live and vivacity than their other recordings. I don’t much care, so long as the band continues to remind me of the Hot Club of Cowtown… though it should be the other way around.
It isn’t as hot here in Sydney as in other cities and I have largely recovered from the world’s worst stomach virus. Three days of throwing up. Two days in bed. One day partly up and out of bed, mostly sitting or lying on the couch. Today I had a real lunch and kept it in my body. For about two hours. It was pretty cool, though – I had digestion going and everything. My ps are visiting. It’s been hard. I have been foul. But then, I am ill. They’re acclimated to Hobart and think this is hot. We know it’s not in the 40s, so we think it’s nice. Apparently it’s broken 30 in Hobart this week.
I have recently begun saving water from my showers. The Sydney water restrictions aren’t as tight or as well policed and publicised as in Melbourne, so collecting water makes me feel badass and way wicked. Also, it’s free water for our new baby plants. I have plans for a rough tomato/basil patch near the compost bin. But the seeds didn’t come from Eden Seeds, which is just plain weird. I will chase it up on Monday if I’m up to it.
Bought new songs on emusic yesterday. Suspect it’s not so good to buy music when so trashed. But it could shake my collection up a little.
Just finished Alison Bechdel’s Essential Dykes to watch out for. It’s great, as you’d expect. Have eye on Fun House.
Humidity is high. But that’s ok.

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.