Category Archives: djing

because trev is a little baby

Last night I DJed for the second time since… well. I’ve only DJed three times this year, since November 2006 really. The last time was actually very ordinary and I wasn’t very happy with it (see earlier comment). Thing is, when I’m not DJing a lot, I’m dancing a lot. So it’s a trade off.
Anyways, last night I DJed a set which made me very, very happy. Practicing yesteday afternoon for the first time in ages probably helped (practicing = going through my music and doing ‘test’ sets, re-familiarising myself with all my music… well, most of my music).
Partway through the first or second or third (can’t remember which) song I had that crazy pulse-thumping ‘this freakin’ RAWKS’ feeling. I said to Dan about ten times “God, this sounds so GREAT on a big sound system!” Which was kind of duh, because it was either the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, from an album that every swing dancer and DJ must own – fabulous live recording of a fabulous band doing fabulous Ellington music, or it was Basie. And Basie is the best.
The night started kind of strange when a girl I thought knew my music asked if I could play some ‘old school’ music. And I thought she might be joking because I said “That’s like asking me if I like to lindy hop”. But she thought… well, who knows what she thought. Anyways, the upshot is that she really wanted to hear some Cats and the Fiddle. I showed her a short list of stuff I’d put together that afternoon with plenty of CATF, Slim and Slam and the Mills Brothers – male vocal groups which feature lots of guitar. And are, incidentally, from the late 30s and 40s for the most part. ‘Old school’ to me means early 30s, late 20s – serious scratch. It’s not difficult to convince me to play that stuff – I loves that action (and I’d probably add some select Fats freakin-wonderful Waller and Cab Calloway to that particular subgroup – sillier vocals, smaller groups (though not necessarily with Cab… though his earlier stuff has the right sort of sound), chunking rhythm section.
Despite the impression I might have given here, it was actually quite nice to be asked to play stuff I adore. I had to stop myself suddenly go through my music and revising my plans for the set. I had to stay cool and just work with the plan.
As it turns out, I didn’t play any of that stuff (not even any Cab!), nor did I play any serious old school, though I did have Who Stole The Lock (On The Henhouse Door) by Jack Bland and his Rhythmakers with Henry ‘Red’ Allen (1932, 243bpm) on my short list. In fact, I think it’s time for a little gratuitous lindy hop pr0n.

That’s Todd Yanacone and Naomi Unami (blowing all my arguments about ethnicity to shit right there) kickin’ it old school at the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown in 2005 (linkage). Dat is where it’s at.
But I didn’t end up playing that either. That’s the sort of music that I think of as old school, and I’d add people like Willie Bryant (oh Willie, how do I love thee?), Henry Red Allen, Mills Blue Rhythm Band, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, early Cab Calloway and early Ellington to that group). I really freakin’ love that action – it sounds crazy and fun and you can really hear the transition from ‘charleston’ music to ‘lindy hop’ music – ie this is where the swing is actually getting into jazz. It’s not quite right for hard core lindy hop, a la Frankie, but it has the crazy energy of the music that makes you dance de charleston and other ol’ timey dances. This is the sort of stuff that I associate with the breakaway – precursor to lindy hop (which you can see in the After Seben clip – Shorty George does the breakaway with an unknown partner right there at the end before the solo stuff (and that solo stuff, incidentally, was my obsession for a while – I love that crazy eccentric dance stuff)).
Though I adore this stuff, it’s not terribly general-audience-friendly. The tempos are generally very high (above 200 at least) for lindy hoppers… for Melbourne lindy hoppers – I’m sure Trev could offer some nice examples of lindy hoppers in other Australian cities and their tempo-comfort. And the lack of swinginess can actually make for quite tiring dancing when you’re doing lindy. It almost demands a more upright position and you don’t get that ‘flying’ lindy look. But, as Todd and Naomi demonstrate, it still makes for freakin’ amazing dancing.
Anyway, back to me and me and my stuff and me.
I think I’ll just cut and paste from my comment over on Swing Talk. Here’s my set list and commentary on how the set went:
[song title – artist – bpm – year – album title – song length]
Happy Go Lucky Local – Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – 110 – 1999 – Live In Swing City: Swingin’ With Duke highenergy – 6:57
Moten Swing – Count Basie – 125 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue – 5:17
Blues In Hoss’ Flat – Count Basie – 142 – 1995 – Big Band Renaissance Disc 1 – 3:13
Shoutin’ Blues – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 148 – 1949 – Kansas City Powerhouse- 2:38
Four Or Five Times – Woody Herman Orchestra – 141 – The Great Swing Bands (Disc 2) – 3:09
Shout, Sister, Shout – Lucky Millinder – 140 – Apollo Jump – 2:44
Back Room Romp – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – 155 – 2000 – Ken Burns Jazz: Duke Ellington – 9:07 PM
A Viper’s Moan – Mora’s Modern Rhythmists – 143 – 2000 – Call Of The Freaks – 3:30
Savoy Blues Kid Ory – 134 – 2002 – Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 3 – 3:00
Perdido Street Blues – Louis Armstrong – 144 – 1997 – Priceless Jazz Collection #3 – 3:08
Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jericho – Kid Ory And His Creole Jazz Band – 160 – 1946 – Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band 1944-46 – 3:12
Lavender Coffin – Lionel Hampton, etc – 138 – 1949 – Lionel Hampton Story 4: Midnight Sun – 2:47
Cole Slaw – Jesse Stone and His Orchestra – 145 – Original Swingers: Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips vol 2 – 2:57
Solid as a Rock – Count Basie and His Orchestra with The Deep River Boys – 140 – Count Basie and His Orchestra 1950-1951 – 3:03
Joog, Joog – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – 146 – 1949 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 – 3:00
B-Sharp Boston – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – 126 – 1949 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950 – 2:54
Jive At Five – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 147 – 1960 – The Count Basie Story (Disc 1) – 3:02
Six Appeal – Jonathan Stout And His Campus Five – 141 – 2004 – Crazy Rhythm – 3:29
All The Cats Join In – Peggy Lee and Frank DeVol’s Orchestra – 150 – 1998 – Complete Peggy Lee & June Christy Capitol Transcription Sessions (Disc 2) – 2:18
Flying Home – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 159 – 1940 – Tempo And Swing – 2:58
Blues In The Groove – Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra – 205 – 1939 – Lunceford Special 1939-40 – 2:35
Hop Skip and Jump – Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander – 192 – 2004 – Crazy Rhythm – 2:48
For Dancers Only – Jimmie Lunceford and His Harlem Express – 178 – 1944 – 1944-Uncollected – 2:22
Till Tom Special – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 158 – 1940 – Tempo And Swing – 3:23
Jumpin’ At The Woodside – Count Basie – 235 – The Complete Decca Recordings (disc 02) – 3:10
Rundown:
I always begin with something ‘safe’ and hi-fi at CBD so I can fuss over the tech set up (because it always sucks). Happy Go Lucky Local went down really well (which surprised me). I’m not sure if I actually played Moten Swing or not – it was on my list but I think I was deciding between it or HGLL and didn’t actually play it. Whatever.
Keith tried to suggest the one-in-a-row rule to me at about Blues in Hoss’s Flat but I scoffed. I derided. Basie is such a great opener for a set – he really is the best lindy hopping music. Nice, high energy, kind of straight up and nothing too scary or difficult, you can get nice quality recordings and people know a lot of his stuff.
I consciously played a lot of favourites during the set – sort of speckled them in there between other ‘mini-sets’ (the mini-sets in order: the norleans set, the shouty-clapping set, the ‘chilling’ set, the ‘finally you’re warmed up, so let’s kick your arse’ set). Perdido Street Blues is one of my old faves which I actually DJ very rarely (it’s also actually a song I think of as ‘Sidney Bechet’ rather than Armstrong). I can’t play Blues My Naughty Sweety Gave To Me again – it make me want to hurl. Even though people love it, I’m over it. PSB was my BMNSGTM substitute.
The ‘mini set’ thing wasn’t deliberate – it just kind of worked out that way as I tried to play songs in a logical order (ie matching styles and then moving between styles using the clutch rather than just hacking them in there).
I did scew up at one point, doing a dreaded double click 3/4 of the way through Til Tom Special, which sucked, as I was building them into a frenzy for the last song. But no one seemed to mind and an jam circle formed instantly. It was the first spontaneous jam I’ve seen in Melbourne for ages. There were a couple of grumbles from people who wanted to dance to that song, but I say – get in there and DANCE to it.
I think I have to add for the non-dancers reading, that that last song Jumpin’ at the Woodsideis an iconic one. It’s hardcore Basie, doing the very best Basie action. It’s fast (though this wasn’t the version I thought I played, which is about 270 odd bpm), it’s fun and it’s crazy. It’s also been stamped as a ‘jam song’. I didn’t intend a jam, I just wanted to play an arse-kicking, fun, crazy fast song to close my set. As bigpants comments in that Swing Talk thread, though (and I really like this line):

“We interrupt the regular broadcast for this important jam announcement”
Maybe you shocked the jam into us. It worked.

If only I could say that I planned this. But I’m afraid it was sheer fluke.
One of my favourite parts of the night was playing Blues in the Groove (I’m on a(nother) Lunceford kick atm) and seeing people run to the floor. I blame that version of Flying Home – it’s slower but gets people all worked up. And you have to love balboans – they get in there and work it at all tempos.
Another highlight was playing that version of For Dancers Only – it’s off a new album I saw pimped on SwingDJs recently and which I absolutely LOVE. I think Gracenote has the wrong name for the album, but it looks like that to the right there.
As you can see from the Amazon link, it’s crazy cheap. And worth it for that version of FDO alone (incidentally, Dan played a version of Wham last night – I am currently loving that song atm. Lunceford and Hamp are my men).
Then Dan played his first Melbourne gig and did a neat job. We had a bit of a scuffle over who’d play what. The best bit of DJing first is that you get to play what you like, while the second DJ can’t repeat anything. Tough luck if you dig the same stuff (though that rocks because you get to dance to the stuff that way). But then, the first DJ has to suffer through thinking ‘why didn’t I play that?!’ in the second set. Actually, I enjoyed DJed with Trev at the Speegs at MLX – we have similar tastes, but different collections, and of course, different ways of putting a set together. I played the first set, he the second, me the third, and it was really nice rubbing in/bewailing our choices.
And just in case you thought I was the nerdiest DJ in the whole world, go look at this link and see I’m not. WHY didn’t I find that clip before I wrote that stuff about youtube?
Rightio. Enough postage for you there, Trev?
I have a job application to write, so I’m outy.
LCJO image stolen from here.

hm

I’m doing a set this Friday night (second set, if you’re interested, preceded by one of my least favourite DJs) and I’m not really on top of my music. I have been too busy reading and writing and haven’t spent enough time listening to music. I don’t listen to music when I’m working because it either distracts me or I just stop hearing it after a while.

it’s difficult to not think ‘oh, this Basie song would be good here’

It’s always difficult DJing for a crowd of lindy hoppers on a very hot night in a very hot room. Especially when they’re Melbournians, who tend to forget how to deal with hot weather, even though we have really hot summers. I think it’s all the rain and wind and cold in the winter.
But last night I was up for the first set, and over the course of yesterday revised my loose plans for the set. I had a quick look through my slower stuff – I knew I wouldn’t get terribly high bpms – but reminded myself of my favourite highenergy, fun slower stuff. Just because you’re playing slower music, don’t mean you should let the dancers get too lethargic. My goal was to keep the energy up so the dancers continually felt like they really wanted to dance fast and crazy. I wanted to build them up gradually, kind using the smaller wave idea, not only in terms of tempo (where you move from slower to medium to faster stuff in a general progression) but also in terms of mood (where you build up the energy and excitement, then quieten it down, progressively). But at the same time as I was working on these shorter waves, I also wanted to work on a broader, ‘big picture’ type wave, where I was gradually working up the energy in the room, even though I was giving them rests with the down parts of the mini-waves. It worked quite well, I think.
This was the first set, as I’ve said, and that means that the crowd was largely beginners from the class (though not super-beginners – more people with some lindy who’re loving dancing, but can’t quite hack mega tempos or really complicated melodies and rhythms yet). The more experienced dancers came in about a third of the way through the set, and that always builds the energy in the room, in part because their example invigorates the newer dancers watching them, but also because they really use the music (meaning, they’re beyond just thinking ‘move-move-move’ and can build in extra responses to the music within a move). Newer dancers can hear this stuff, but they don’t often have the physical ability to make this feeling flesh).
I do find, though (unfortunately) that the newer dancers tend to cede the floor to the more advanced dancers as they feel a bit intimidated. I guess that’s one aspect of a scene with more advanced dancers, but it’s also one of the less pleasant parts of the Melbourne scene – there’s a very clear heirarchy enforced by the system of performance troups, competitions, teaching cadetships and teaching roles, and of course, the supporting emails, websites and other assorted media and discourse. Nor do many of those more experienced dancers work to undo that heirarchy by asking newer people to dance.
So you can see on the set list below that the more experienced dancers came in at about Everyday I have the Blues.
There were a couple of eggs in there – If it don’t fit don’t force it just sounded shit on the sound system. CBD sucks arse – all my piano-only or sparser arrangements end up sounding like shit. It has to have a big, full orchestra to fill the room. I do not know why – I try to fix it with the levels, but that doesn’t work. I guess I need to get onto the whole equaliser thing, but…
I really wanted to play a bit of Jay McShann after I’m just a ladies’ man man by Witherspoon, because I liked the way Witherspoon’s dirtiness responded to Barrel House Annie’s crudeness, and because they’re both kind of solid, uptempo blues tracks – good stompin’ dancing fun. Witherspoon also got his start singing with McShann’s band, so it seemed appropriate. I did want to play a bit more McShann, as he passed away recently, but the little section kind of faltered with the poor quality. I’m just a ladies’ man did go down really well, though.
I pulled a few stunts during this set… stunts, as in DJing tricks. I played some old favourites, speckled through the set. These included Blues in hoss’s flat which we haven’t heard in a while, and which was overplayed earlier this year (mostly by me), Shout Sister Shout (whose unnoticed vulgarity and double entendre work really pleases me and seemed a good lead in to If it don’t fit), Be Careful (even if you can’t be good) which was me having a joke with myself – it’s an old favourite, I regard it as a ‘safety’ song as it’s good quality, is good, easy dancing (and has some nice musically bits), but I really like the synchronicity of the lyrics (“be careful… even if you can’t be good). This track is also edging into jump blues/early rock n roll in 1951, which kind of worked as a musical progression from the styles of the previous songs (a sort of timeline of the development of blues to rock n roll) – a point only a supernerd DJ would care about, but which actually works really well with dancers, as it leads them naturally between styles, rather than sort of dumping a nasty stylistic shift on them.
I wanted to get to Six Appeal, which is a Campus Five song I’m busily overplaying, and have noticed goes down really with dancers, and figured Shoo Fly Pie (another song riddled with overlooked inuendo) was a nice step. I had toyed with playing the Campus Five version of Why don’t you do right (the ‘Jessica Rabbit song’), but that’s too low a tempo and kind of kills it. Six appeal is more fun anyway.
I really like the way Campus Five play that older, echoes-of-Orleans style in Six Appeal – I think it’s the trumpet and the clarinet that make me think this way. Plus the odd bit of interesting percussion/drum work. From here the obvious choice seemed Bechet – he’s got that revivalist trad jazz sound that still swings. And Blues my naughty sweetie gives to me is very popular with Melbournians today so I figured it was a good choice.
From there, I had to play Joshua fit de battle of jericho as it really develops that New Orleans sound, and I really like that combination of songs. I like the way Blues my naughty sweetie works the crowd up, energy-wise with the stompy piano/base, but adds in a bit of sauciness with the trumpet (no, it’s not Louis Armstrong, though I always think it is). This song is great. It kind of feels like Western saloon honky tonk, but with a bit of saucy (and terribly cool) bluesy swing to give it a sense of humour. When the clarinet comes in (it could be a sax – I can’t be arsed checking), its work with the trumpet really lets you know where the naughty is at.
And Joshua really takes up the energy blues my naughty sweetie has been gradually building up and works it up a level – kind of the climax, really. Though it depends on the crowd. This combination of songs has gone arse up for me in the past, but the mellow tempos and the general vibe was working with me – I think the Campus Five got people in the mood, in a less confronting, twenty first century way, which made people more amenable to the quite-in-your-face yelling and shouting and almost unswingness of Joshua.
I’m generally not a big fan of Jesus songs (I do not like Wade in the water, for example) but Joshua seems a little more irreverent – I think funeral march rather than baptism. Kind of the way Lavender Coffin (another crowd pleaser I dropped in earlier to score cheap points) does. It’s about death and martyrs and saints and the bible, but in an old testament way. Kind of gloriously bloody, and with a bit of gospel-as-used-by-African-American slaves – a bit of tactical resistance from within an institution, where you know dark humour is the flip side of that slap stick clowning for the white folks.
Of course, Jericho has some sweet trumpet and clarinet as well. And you really feel like stomping along with this song – it has a nice, stompy rhythm. The ‘improvised’ bit at the end feels nicely chaotic and wild, but still purposeful and organised (if that makes sense).
And then I rounded it off with Ridin’ on the L&N, which I love dearly – I love the lyrics in these Hampton track (fuck, I LOVE Hamp more than anything – no one does stompy, going somewhere rhythms like him):

A man named Mose,
With (was?) a great big nose,
Was sleepin’ on a pile of clothes,
Conductor came and rang the bell,
The porter hollered ‘well well well’
I’m riding,
Riding on the L & N
Ain’t jivin’
Riding on the L & N
So long!

I did play this song particularly for a couple of balboa nuts I saw just getting into their groove with Jericho, and I know this song goes down well with balboa doods. That wide-handed piano and driving rhythm pleases them. I had considered Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, the version by the Goodman small group (which features Hamp as well) with Martha Tilton, but that’s a little light and tinkly and I was getting a bit of a stompy groove on.
Basically, I wanted something with that ‘building up’ feeling, to work on the existing energy, but not a crazy all-out speeding lindy hop track. It was too hot, and I didn’t want the dancers spent on a track just before the end of my set – I wanted them all hot and ready and worked up.
Savoy Blues brought the tempos down again, but got all the less experienced (and post-christmas indulgant types) back onto the floor. It’s a song that’s kind of getting pretty popular, I love it (Kid Ory again, though a later period I think (at least a later feel – I don’t have the date for that song unfortunately)), and it kept up that stompy move yo ass! feel.
People were pretty much going nuts in that last bracket, which was impressive, as they’d not been able to hack a lot of pounding earlier on in the set.
That version of Splanky was a birthday dance, and was right for the people dancing in the circle.
Overall, it was nice to work from the enthusiastic newer dancers to the old sticks who can be much pickier, but can like a wider range of tempos and styles (if I’m lucky – depending on the crowd). Those newer doods just love to dance, and for whom I like to play some of the old faves, or play the better quality stuff so they can really hear swinging jazz at its best.
[rant] I do not, at all, in any way, subscribe to the idea that we should play neo swing for new dancers. That stuff sucks arse for dancing, doesn’t swing at all, and encourages bad dancing habits. It’s technically pretty poor musicianship (for the most part), and I refuse to add any to my collection. Beyond that, it’s more the case that people take up swing dancing for swing music and the influence of people like Jamie Cullen and (sigh) Robbie Williams than Royal Crown Revue or Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.[/rant]
I began with the Campus Five because I quite like that song, I needed something hifi and safe to test the set up before I got hardcore, and because it feels like the band are kind of ‘testing’ a melody, over a solid, obvious beat – good stuff for a warm up dance. I played Jump Ditty then because I’m very fond of it, even though I suspect that cooler types than I think it’s naff. And it always goes down well with a crowd of newer dancers – it feels like fun. The lyrics are a good thing – I’ve found that dropping in vocals is a good idea with newer dancers.
I played Massachussetts because it feels really swingy and gets me in the mood for dancing – Maxine really swings, and yet the rhythm is really clear and swingingly nice. It’s a nice bridge between the groovy and the solidly swinging old school. The musicians are top notch, and as a smaller combo, you can really appreciate each instrument individually. Unfortunately, everything on this album sounds like shit at CBD – all base and treble. Even when I up the mids. I think this is indicative of the problems with CBD generally – you lose definition in the middle range. And it SUCKS. I will work on learning how to fix it.
I like B Sharp Boston a whole lot, hi fi Ellington, feels like it’s going somewhere, kind of sassy. Still a good warm up song (ie not too challenging or fast or scary), but really great, musically. Blip Blip was a crowd-pleaser, and because I was thinking of Ellington (he did a great original version with Ray Nance on vocals before this Ella one). Slip of the lip sounded like arse – same problem of too much high, lows… but I think it’s indicative of many of the Ellington recordings I have from this period, only made worse by CBD’s system. It’s a shame as it’s a really fun song. Too fast for that crowd in that temperature at that time of night, though. So I went back to hifi (a safety strategy), with the wonderful Jive at Five, then thought I’d follow with a Basie track by a big band other than Basie’s orchestra. Which was a good thing, as I then played two Basie tracks in a row – two very safe, crowd-pleasing favourites.
But really, Basie makes for such great dancing music, it’s difficult to not think ‘oh, this Basie song would be good here’ – his stuff is so varied, so swingingly great for dancing.
After all that DJing, I tried to dance like a fool, but the temperature, post-christmas fatness and unfitness and so on prevented. Needless to say, riding home was difficult.
Fuck it was hot yesterday (and my laptop is burning my legs now!)
Oomph Fa Fa – Jonathan Stout And His Campus Five- 129 – 2003 – Jammin’ the Blues
Jump Ditty! – Joe Carroll and The Ray Bryant Quintet – 134 – Red Kat Swing 1
Massachusetts – Maxine Sullivan – 144 – 2006 – A Tribute To Andy Razaf
B-Sharp Boston – Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – 126 – 1949 – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra: 1949-1950
Bli-Blip – Ella Fitzgerald – 132 – 1956 – Ella Fitzgerald Day Dream: Best Of The Duke Ellington Songbook
A Slip Of The Lip – Duke Ellington with Ray Nance – 150 – 1942 – The Duke Ellington Centennial Edition: Complete RCA Victor Recordings (disc 13)
Jive At Five – Count Basie and His Orchestra – 147 – 1960 – The Count Basie Story (Disc 1)
Easy Does It – Big 18
Every Day I Have The Blues – Count Basie – 116 – 1959 – Breakfast Dance And Barbecue
Blues In Hoss’ Flat – Count Basie – 142 – 1995 – Big Band Renaissance Disc 1
Walk ‘Em – Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra – 131 – 1946 – Walk ‘Em
Back Room Romp – Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – 155 – 2000 – Ken Burns Jazz: Duke Ellington
Lavender Coffin – Lionel Hampton, etc – 138 – 1949 – Lionel Hampton Story 4: Midnight Sun
Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee – Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra – 130 – 1949 – Lionel Hampton Story 4: Midnight Sun
Le Jazz Hot – Jimmie Lunceford and his Orchestra – 144 – 1939 – Lunceford Special 1939-40
Shout, Sister, Shout – Lucky Millinder – 140 – Apollo Jump
If It Don’t Fit (Don’t Force It) – Barrel House Annie – 148 – 1937 – Raunchy Business: Hot Nuts and Lollypops
I’m Just A Lady’s Man – Jimmy Witherspoon – 144 – 2002 – Goin’ Around In Circles
Be Careful (If You Can’t Be Good) – Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra – 121 – 1951 – Walk ‘Em
Shoo Fly Pie – June Christy – 128 – Red Kat Swing 1
Six Appeal – Jonathan Stout And His Campus Five – 141 – 2004 – Crazy Rhythm
Blues My Naughty Sweetie – Sidney Bechet – 140 – 1951 – The Blue Note Years
Joshua Fit De Battle Of Jericho – Kid Ory And His Creole Jazz Band – 160 – 1946 – Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band 1944-46
Ridin’ On The L&N – Lionel Hampton and His Quartet- 170 – 1946 – Lionel Hampton Story 3: Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop
Savoy Blues – Kid Ory – 134 – 2002 – Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 3
Splanky – Count Basie – 125 – 1957 – Complete Atomic Basie, the

very un-cultural studies of me

I’ve been writing a bit about women and blues music and dance lately, my ideas fed in part by my research for the thesis, but also (and perhaps more importantly), stimulated by my own experiences as a woman in the swing dance community.
I’ve been asked to do a guest spot on a fairly spec online culture blog, writing specifically about my own research. I’ve had a bit of a think about it, not much, I must admit, as I’ve been a bit distracted, and really, I just can’t seem to put anything together in my head. I mean, I have no idea what I’d like to write about. I’ve kind of got stage fright. This is the first mass-public airing of my work where I’m likely to get/see immediate feedback (in the form of comments), and unlike academic journals or conference papers, I feel there’s a bit of pressure to write well and accessibly. I do think that the format is quite different – shorter, lots of linkage, etc etc.
And while I just know that this is a fabulous opportunity, I can’t seem to put my ideas together.
I’d quite like to do something like this hot and cool entry (with some tidying and a more coherent structure and, well point), but I’m not sure how to start.
I actually got to the hot/cool entry by way of this entry on women, blues and dance, which developed from this (fairly ordinary) entry on the same topic. And of course, that was a response to Kate‘s responses to a CD I sent her with a copy of a blues set I did a few weeks ago.
Of course, for me the most interesting part of this whole chain of thinking is the fact that we began with a set list posted on the internet, which is something I have started doing recently as a replacement for the fairly fizzly thread on the Swing Talk board where we did list our set lists ages ago, but which has recently fallen out of favour.
I found that thread particularly useful as a beginner DJ – I could see what sorts of songs different DJs in Australia are playing, the ways they’re combining them, and then (perhaps even more interesting) I could read their own comments on the sets and how they went. I read that thread in conjunction with this DJ bubs thread (which gets interesting on the second page) and the Swing DJs board, where I’m too scared to post. And of course, I also spent a great deal of time clicking between amazon.com (or cduniverse.com) and allmusic (a site which used to be better) for sound clips and musicans’ bios respectively. Radio programs like Hey Mr Jesse, which are only delivered online as podcasts have recently become really important to me (I don’t think it’s a coincidence, as Jesse has been producing this show since January 2006 and I started DJing in February of this year).
Talking about DJing in person, with real, live DJs has played a suprisingly small part in my learning to DJ. I think this is in part because I prefer to dance when I’m not DJing, dance venues generally aren’t too good for talking about DJ, and I’m not really interested in getting together to talk DJing – I’d rather talk about other crap. I do discuss levels and technology when I’m DJing or when someone else is DJing – I ask knowledgeable friends questions like “why does that sound like shit?” and then do a little hypothetical problem solving.
These were the sorts of resources that I was using to help me learn how to DJ. I was full of ideas about DJing (in part prompted by my thesis work and chapter on DJing, but not entirely – I found that most of my theoretical ideas about DJing were actually bullshit and needed to be revised post-practical experience), and feeling creative and inspired. The fact that DJing is nine tenths compulsive CD collecting and song cataloguing no doubt helped me along (I can stop whenever I want. I don’t have a problem. I don’t need to organise things. No way).
Posting set lists (and posting my discussions of them), getting feedback from more experienced DJs, and learning about DJing from reading their posts, in combination with all those other sources helped me get a handle on DJing. I must add, without the practical experience of DJing, none of these things would have been any good to me at all. And of course, most of my ideas about DJing and how to DJ are in turn fostered by my own dance experience – both in Melbourne over the years and overseas – and and by listening and dancing to other DJs’ sets.
I think it’s also important to note that all this online toing and froing is a really interesting aspect of swing DJs’ activities generally – I wrote about this in the chapter on DJing. Because we live so far apart (particularly in Australia), the internet has developed as a fabulous tool for networking between DJs, for the development of skills (and increasingly for me), networking with event organisers for scoring gigs. Travel has also been important, as it gives me a chance to touch base with DJs from out of town.
And, of course, I have to make note of the fact that I know only one female DJ from out of state who has a decent amount of experience and comes out dancing regularly or posts on Swing Talk. Here in Melbourne, there are far more female DJs than in other scenes, in part (I think) as a result of the recent ‘opening up’ of DJing at major venues like CBD (which has so many sets to fill each month and has been organised by people who have been clearly interested in expanding the DJing base in Melbourne), and (to a degree), the importance of buddying between new DJs. Glancing over the DJing roster for CBD in January, I can see that six out of the eight DJs rostered on are female. I also note that of those eight DJs, there are only perhaps two who I’d make an effort to go dancing for. Of all these DJs, most tend to play far beyond the limits of ‘swinging jazz’, with only three (myself included) playing (almost exclusively) swinging jazz from the 1930s-50s.
I have wondered if the serious emphasis on the cultural (and material) capital required for playing swinging jazz is exclusive – does it discourage women? I would suspect so. The largely exclusive language of sites like Swing DJs requires a fair bit of dancing (and listening) experience, and most of the DJs on this one sample list have only a couple of years dancing experience. The least proficient have also travelled the least (and travel, of course, demands lots of dosh). On a further note, only two of the DJs on this list are determinedly not interested in acquiring their music by illegal or file-sharing means. They are, also, the ones with the greatest interest in swinging jazz.
How do I feel about all this? I think it’s quite clear (as I wrote in my thesis) that becoming a ‘good’ DJ (and I think that ability is a combination firstly (and most importantly) of DJing ability – combining songs, keeping the floor full, ranging across a variety of moods and styles – and musicall collection – playing swinging jazz) is restricted to those with the time, money and opportunity to invest. I feel uneasy with my personal insistence that ‘good DJs’ are those who play swinging jazz, even though I know that playing unswing results in inevitable adjustments to lindy hop technique (most of which I think are not good – they result in a simpler, musically and techically less interesting dance). I feel (on some level) that I should be ok with DJs playing unswing, as unswing is more accessible and therefore a means by which more women (and less financially well off DJs) can get access to the DJing role.
I have written at length about the ways in which the ‘recreationist’ imperative of many swing dancers is a discomforting (and selective) use of history which (as I have said before) neglects the darker parts of African American history and eventually recreates scary gender stuff.
So how am I to contribute to DJing discourse when I find so many bits of it so difficult?
There is the option of using ‘buddying’ to encourage new dancers to discover swinging jazz. But that feels condescending – who am I to tell people what ‘good’ music is, especially when many of them are patently not interested in this historical stuff? And really, when the whole history of African American vernacular dance is about cultural relevence, why should I encourage dancers (and DJs) away from the pop music of their day?
I might choose to give copies of the sorts of music I really like to other DJs – how else to be sure I get to dance to the music I like? I have reservations about this on the basis of IP, but also because I have found (in the past), that sharing really good songs with one person will see them spread out, diseminated to other dancers and DJs until I find that dancers are using that song (and that version of that song) to perform routines for paid gigs. And it’s even more frustrating to find that the artists’ name and recording details have dropped from the song, so it is circulating only as a digital, nameless file.
On the one hand, this is interesting stuff. On the other, it concerns me because (particularly when these are living artists), there are musicians being screwed. I will not go as far as some other DJs and say that I resent this illicit circulation because I’m losing some sort of cred as the ‘discoverer’ of this song who ‘brings it to the dancers’ (I’m not that naive or that arrogant – this is pop music, doods). Nor will I say that I resent this because other DJs play this song, so robbing me of my ‘ace in the hole’ crowd pleaser (and attendant status as ‘awesome DJ’), mostly because it’s cool for other DJs to hear a song, ask what it’s called, say “that frickin’ rocks”, hunt it out on itunes or amazon, then play it when they next DJ (and I get to dance to that song when they play it). That doesn’t worry me. It’s more that the song is circulated as a burnt disc or shared file, with the song title, artist, recording year and musicians’ details stripped from it. It also worries me that while I might share a song or songs as a gift, other DJs and dancers compile CDs which they then sell to others. That worries me.
As a dancer, it’s frustrating when DJs simply take a ‘found’ or ‘exchanged’ or ‘gifted’ song and play it to death, without exploring that artist’s other work. I hear one version of (for example) C Jam Blues by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and I think ‘yes – now we’re going to hear more swinging jazz. Finally. No more bullshit unswing that makes for crap dancing’ (and as a dancer, that’s how I think – I have no tolerance for unswing. I want to lindy hop to swinging jazz). But that song ends up just as one drop in anotherwise intolerable sea of overplayed pap played in clunky, unpleasant combinations that make for a night of shit dancing.
So I am in kind of a bind. My feminist instincts say ‘fight the power’ and ‘information (and music) wants to be free’. But my dancer instincts say ‘play some good frickin’ music, and learn to DJ well’.
This post has rambled on far longer than I had intended. And far beyond the original point that I wanted to make. And I kind of think it’s become a bit of a tirade against local media production and use practices in Melbourne swing culture. Which is very un-cultural studies of me.

solomon douglas’ swingtet’s swingmatism and the basie mosaic set!

I scored with two bits of music for christmas.
First, a friend’s band’s album: the Solomon Douglas Swingtet‘s album Swingmatism from The Squeeze’s mother, and second, The Basie Mosaic set from The Squeeze.
Both are, of course, really fricking great. It’s unfortunate, though, that Sol’s album arrived with the Basie one – they’re working (in a very general way) in the same sort of style* as the new testament Basie on the Mosaic set, and really, it’s cruel to set the two head to head. Basie wins, of course.
CDcover_small.jpg But Sol’s album really is very good – if this band was playing regularly in my city I’d be a very happy lindy hopper indeed. They’re certainly better than the B# Big Band who are the closest thing Melbourne has in comparison, and I prefer them to the JW Swing Orchestra, who are our other major swinging big band (there are others, but these are the only dancer-oriented/dancer-trained bands).
For lindy hoppers, this album is definitely worth the cash**.
…I’m try to write an even partially coherent discussion of this album, but I’m feeling a bit scatty.
Actually, my feelings about this album are mixed. Firstly, I really appreciate it as a present – it was a very thoughtful gift, and definitely something I really like. Well chosen, mother of The Squeeze (and Squeeze).
Secondly, as a general into-music type person, I like it very much. I like to support current day swinging bands, especially ones like Sol’s, where the band is led by a dancer, and tailors its sets specifically for dancers. I can also really appreciate this album as a dancer – this is some fun shit.
Thirdly, as a DJ, this is some good stuff. The version of the Big Apple Contest is a bit of a score, and there are some really nice songs on the album.
But, fourthly, as a picky, DJ nerd wench, I’m not sure this is my cup of tea. It’s a little hi-fi/new testament for my liking (though I MUST admit that it wanders through a fair old range of musical territory – there’s a nice version of Black and Tan Fantasy, for example), and I’m not sure how often I’d play this for my own pleasure at home. I do, however, really really like songs like Funky Blues – it feels like this is where it’s at.
As a picky DJ, I’m wondering when I’d play many of these songs. I’m not sure I’d choose this version of Shiny Stockings, for example, when there are so many wonderful versions by people like Basie, which really are fabulous. I’d definitely spin that version of the Big Apple song, though, and I might play a few of the other tracks to win over a few of the groover/US-favouring dancers in our scene. But I’m not sure if I’d play things from it if I was compiling my ideal set. Having said that, when do we ever get to play our ‘ideal’ sets?
So, thinking sensibly, this is one of those albums (like Mora’s Modern Rhythmists’) which is great for getting the pickier hi-fi dancers interested in proper swing-era bands: this is some shit-hot recreationist work. I’d put this CD on my sneak list. Which, of course, makes this a very useful album indeed.This is a band we should support by buying the album, as these guys are the bread and butter of swing dancing – without wonderful live bands who put such effort into their live sets and recordings, many local scenes would founder in their early days, and we’d really miss this sort of superior big band action at our big balls and major events.
I do regret the fact that I’ve been listening to this with the Basie set at the same time. There simply is no comparison. Which is a shame, as I do think Sol has done fabulous work, and I don’t doubt the band live are frickin awesome.
229.jpg The other CD I scored was the fabulous 8-CD Mosaic set. The Squeeze is the sneakiest beast on earth. In town doing our christmas shopping the other week, he suggested popping in to Basement Discs (where I’d seen this set) for a bit of browsing. I poo-pooed the idea in favour of goal-oriented shopping. He later (or had already – I’m not sure which) popped in to pick this up himself. And I scored big time.
This is one fabulous collection of new testament Basie action. There are some fricking awesome versions of lindy hopping favourites (including another version of Jive at Five for my collection), all in fantastic quality. I’m not the hugest late testament Basie fan, but this is such a great, solid collection of the dood’s work in the 1950s, I’m really very happy to have it. This was a period where Basie had some pretty shit-hot musicians on hand, working a band who were really cooking together. I can’t get over the quality. Though most of this later Basie stuff is pretty good quality, this is a really, really nice collection.
As I’ve already said, it’s a shame I first heard Sol’s band in such close proximity to this set.
But I do think that the two are complementary and definitely very nice additions to any lindy hopper (let alone DJ)’s collection. The Basie set is, however, a massive luxury, and Sol’s CD is far more accessible and practical for small-time collectors.
At the end of the day, I’m very very happy with these two presents – I couldn’t have asked for anything better…. though this Basie set has me hankering for the Peggy Lee set, which I do not need! 184.jpg
*As in they’re hi-fi, have a kind of late testament sound, etc.
**Incidentally, when I asked The Squeeze if I could use his paypal account to buy this album the other day, he declared “no way – I’m not wasting paypal dollars on that guy’s band”, and then immediately sneaked off to coordinate its purchase with his mother. This album is, of course, very Squeeze like, and he does actually think it was worth spending paypal dollars on this album. Even if they were his mother’s paypal dollars.

wash your hair, roady

DJing at the Spiegeltent has ruined me for the shitty sound system at CBD.
To begin my evening (I did a set there… um… a week ago yesterday?), the little sound guy (who can never ever be found when you do actually need him, and if you can find him, can’t do anything without a ladder in the middle of the (crowded) dance floor) told me off for blowing the phono channels on the piece of shit sound desk in the main room. I interrupted mid-rant with “sorry, man, I haven’t DJed here in about 8 weeks, and I always use the line out. Because that’s the rule” and pointed out that I was actually using the line out at that very moment. He tut tutted a bit and I kind of did the glib hail-fellow-well-met bullshit where it sounds like I actually really care what he thinks.
I would care, if it weren’t for the fact that that sound system is set up for the doof doods on the weekend, always frighteningly heavy on the bass, so all our music sounds ridiculous.
I wanted to raise the issue of how we’re not allowed to change the settings to suit dancers who can actually a) find the beat without having it hammered into their bones with the force of a thousand decibels, and b) actually listen to – and dance to – the whole range of instruments present in a recording. I also wanted to have a little chat with him about how it’s not actually useful to have a bunch of spotlights shining into the eyes of the DJ when your DJ is actually more interested in working the crowd than preening for the crowd. I did think about suggesting a more sensible set up for the desk than one where you have to physically lift the console thingy out of the wooden frame to insert your RCA cables, feeling all the hairs on your arms stand up in response to the stray volts floating around in there. I considered raising the issue of booth monitors and using whole, complete cables that worked and weren’t jerry-rigged into the system. And I had one, final thought about pointing out to him the fact that we were actually holding that conversation without shouting, suggesting that perhaps we swing DJs (or least I) don’t really pound the volume too greatly.
But I didn’t.
I simply took pleasure in sneering (silently) at his ill-fitting black tshirt and daggy-bum (in a pre-2005 mode) jeans.
And then I dropped way too many lo-fi tracks on a crowd who could hear everything I couldn’t at the DJ console, and consequently could only hear a sort of muddy slurry in the mids. I took a series of walks around the room to see how things sounded, and decided nothing could be done. So I had to pump it nu skewl at regular intervals.
In retrospect, it’s breaking my heart.
I used exactly the same type (and age) desk at the speegs as I do at CBD, but it all works nicely and is well cared for there. I could play what I liked and it sounded great. There’s no lifting consoles out of the frame and then trying to reinsert them without pinching wires at the speegs. There’s (one of many available) sound dood(s) who’ll cheerfully help me set up and offered useful advice (I learnt more DJing there than in any other session anywhere with anyone else), one who smiled, reciprocated cheerfully when I introduced myself and extended my hand for a shake (mateship in DJing – he is the G-O) and who was, generally, so sweet I thought about buying him a beer for his efforts (but didn’t because they were $10 a pop and I was only paid $40 for 2 hours work).
But CBD is a scarily skanky mid-80s type nightclub. The sort of place you went to when you were 16 because you could get in without an ID. The sort of place where you could score any type of drug you liked, provided it was cut with… well, you really didn’t want to know. The place where young women met men in their 40s who had interesting opportunities in the film industry available for lovely young ladies like yourself.
I shouldn’t bitch, really – it’s the longest running swing dance venue in our town. It has 3 floors which we’ve used for a range of events. And while the management aren’t nice at all, they do let us continue to dance there. Though drinking there is a challenging proposition – $5 for a bottle of Gatorade? I don’t think so.
I know I need to learn more about levels and things (and to get a decent sound card), but still. This is a blog, and if there’s one thing a blog is for, it’s misinformed, self-righteous rants. I mean, the tag is always implied, right?
But I’d at least appreciate it if the sound dood was civil. And washed his hair more frequently.

more mosaic

Browsing the Mosaic site (always a dangerous enterprise), I’ve decided I want these lovely things:

These sets are really amazing shit – they’re remastered by people who know what they’re doing, so the quality is fabulous. The selection of tracks is sensible and/or creative. And there are just so many CDs! Those prices look expensive, but when you work it out, you’re still paying less than $30 a CD (mostly), for what are limited edition and wonderful collections.
For DJs, this shit is gold because the quality is good enough to hack our amplified sound systems and dodgy set ups. While you may be able to find lots of these songs on other albums, they’re quite often crappy quality – lots of snap crackle and pop, and more horribly, lots of really nasty ‘remastering’ by people who didn’t have a clue. I have a couple of CDs I picked up recently which have the scariest ‘stereo’ sound ever – they’ve made mono recordings stereo and managed to remove all the dynamics, and energy of each recording. Which sucks, as these are actually pretty neat collections.
So I’m pining for the Mosaic stuff. Still. Is it worth cracking open my DJing money fund (I’ve saved every pay so far – and have less than $500 to show for it. Hardly a fast track to fortune (or fame, for that matter) for some of this goodness?