Category Archives: objects of desire

The Chronological Martha Davis 1946-1951

The Chronological Martha Davis 1946-1951. I have a couple of her songs from a great compilation of Kansas Blues singers and I play them over and over and over. There’s not a lot of Davis stuff about, but that’s what I want. I play one song, ‘Kitchen Blues’ an awful lot – she has a lovely, velvety voice.

[edit: marking these essays has apparently done irreparable damage to my language skills]

want

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And, because it’s not all want, I’m quite enjoying the Loose Marbles CD the lovely D sent me. Check out their version of ‘When I get low I get high’ (yes, a drug reference, yes one of the bestest songs evah). You can hear and watch them here, playing one of my favourite songs, ‘Four or Five Times’, heading towards the version I most prefer (a la the McKinney’s Cotton Pickers). The lyrics?
Four or Five times – McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, 1928
[scat]
I’m never about,
??
Just keep a-strolling,
Keep the ball a-rolling,
This isn’t a boast
But what i like most
Is to have someone true
Who will love me too,
four or five times.
Four or five times
Four or five times
there is delight in doing things right
four or five times
[four or five times]
Maybe I’ll sigh,
Maybe I’ll cry,
And if I die,
I’m gonna try…
four or five times.
We like to play
We like to sing
We like to go scedadilah do
Four or five times.
Bibop one
Bibop two
bibop three
Didahdiladee
Four or five times
[scat]
Yes, sure, ok!
What?
Yes. ! !
Four or five times,
Four or five times,
There is delight,
In doing things right,
Four or five times.
There’s a bunch of scatting in there I couldn’t transcribe, but you get the point.
Oh, and yes, it’s all about double entendre, yet again.
I love this song a whole lot, especially this version, though I never get to play it (too old, too fast, to obscure for mainstream lindy hoppers). I do play a pretty fabulous 1930s version by Woody Herman and his Orchestra which always really rocks the dancers. It’s a lot straighter and safer and very lindy hoppable, but still lots of fun.
There’s a version by Jimmie Lunceford (c 1935) which gets a fair bit of play in Melbourne, and I do prefer it, musically, though it’s lower energy than the Herman version. I play the Herman far more often than the Lunceford version. I also have a fully sick version by Lionel Hampton, which I never seem to play. I have no idea why not – it’s freakin’ awesome.

Jeeeeezuss!

I did a gig at the speegs during MLX which wasn’t really very great. First, there were no dancers there but The Squeeze and I. So my swingin’ jazz went down like a lead balloon. Thank heavens for James Brown, or I’d’ve been lynched. Though they booked me for a jazz gig, I just couldn’t bear the empty floor any longer. So I played the very few soul and funk songs I had. And the punters loved it.
A bit later, some dancers arrived, so I started in with some good dancing from the jazz tradition. After ‘Lavender Coffin’ and midway through ‘Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho’ some drunk prick tried to climb up on the stage (I dealt with that, quick-smart and used my scary body to move him back). “Are we going to be subjected to this gospel swing all night?” he demanded in a pleasant drunken slur. And I sort of shrugged it off with a tight smile. He kept lurking and I gave him the super snub. A few minutes later he returns with the same charming line. And I reply “If at all, possible, YES!”
What could be better than an evening of hardcore New Orleans Jeeeeezuss! music? I can’t imagine. Then I gave that prick some serious snubbing.
There’s nothing worse than a know-it-all jazznick heckler who thinks he knows better. Prick. Hope I never see that loser ever again.
But speaking of gospel, I’m quite struck on Mahalia Jackson live at Newport. I want it. At first it was just for that version of Jericho, but now I just want it. Not necessarily for DJing (though the Jericho would go down well at a blues event). The Basie Live in Antibes CD got me keen on Jackson, and I think I could well get over this swing malarkey and return to my soul and funk roots. Sigh. More obsessive collecting to come.
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So, anyway, to finish off that bit about the speegs gig, Trev and Russ came in later and played the other bits of the set for me. If you look at the pic there (courtesy of Wendy), you can see me DJing (and probably freaking) and Trev leaning over my shoulder with beer in hand (there are no DJing rules at the Speegs).
Trev played excellent party lindy, moving into formerly uncharted territory, and Russ then decided it was partyhardy time. Yes, we did hear the theme from Footloose, amongst other 80s party anthems. The punters went nuts. The lindy hoppers went nuts. The speegs staff were very happy with us (I did check with them that it was ok to move on down this motown/stax/disco anthem track, and they approved), the pay was good.
I’ve done a few sets there, and I have to say I approve. Nice people, nice gear, fun crowds. Except for the stupid pricks. And I’ve been offered other DJing gigs (fielding phone calls all over the place), but I think I’m going to keep it real and only play for dancers. Unless the pay is good. Real good.

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?

i yearn

Today I saw the Basie Mosaic set at Basement Discs for only $150. I could only let myself listen to one CD (including the finest version of Jive at Five recorded in the 50s) before thrusting the headphones away. I. Do. Not. Have. One. Hundred. And. Fifty. Dollars. In fact, I don’t have any dollars, nor any way of earning any for the foreseeable future (well, unless you count those massively lucrative DJing gigs – that’s me. Earning my way to prosperity $25 at a time).
But it was just so sweet.
I yearn.

Campus Five and Mosaic sets

Because I’m busy marking (up to 20 a day, mate – I am one speedy mofo), I can only blog really dull things.
Right now I’m pining after this:

for no real reason other than the fact that Trev said he was getting it, and now I want it too. Well, actually, I love Ellington a whole lot, and have a real passion for small group/combo swinging jazz. And we’re talking a Mosaic set here – 7 CDs worth of phenomenally good quality remastered hotness. That costs $US119. A little too rich for my blood, unfortunately. Especially since the scholarship ended (months ago) and the teaching paychecks are about to dry up. I do have a wad of cash squirrelled away from my DJing pay, but that $500 for a year’s worth of DJing… she ain’t going to go too far.
So I just think about that Mosaic set and then think about how I could arrange my life so that Trev lives in my house and lets me pretend that all his music is belong to me.
On other musically related fronts, I didn’t let that whole poverty thing stop me from buying myself these 2 Campus 5 albums:

I was convinced by the versions of Squatty Roo and Hop Skip and Jump on Crazy Rhythm (you can listen to them there on the site). I adore those songs (especially the former), and while the Artie Shaw and Ellington versions of these songs (respectively) are far superior, the appeal of a good quality recording of each cannot be ignored (particularly not when the issues I raised here are concerned).
If only I had some logic and didn’t impulse-purchase music in times of stress or overwork. I’d figure out that if I just restrained myself from these little splurges I’d have enough dosh to buy those sweet Mosaic sets.
But I don’t buy music sensibly. I am an artist – my musical selections are guided by impulse. Creative impulse.

Henry ‘Red’ Allen’s World on a String


I have my eye on Henry Red Allen’s World on a String after reading about the version of St James Infirmary discussed on SwingDJs here. The song caught my ear while watching the ULHS finals (which I talked about here).
I don’t have any Red Allen, but I’m definitely interested.
As for my stalking yet another version of SJI, alls I can say, is that if obsessing about multiple versions of particuar songs is good enough for Jesse in his October show, it’s certainly good enough for me.
Although, on a side-note, one of my reasons for seeking out the older or ‘betterer’ versions of particular songs is motivated by the current musical clime in Melbourne lindy hop. There’s been a recent rash of new DJs in our town, which I do applaud. I am particularly happy about the fact that most of (if not all of) these noobs are women. But I do have a great deal of issue with the fact that they’re all into boring old groove, and that most of the Melbourne DJs playing this sort of action don’t actually own their music – they’ve ripped it off someone else. Which is problematic not only for the fact that they’re, well, ripping people off, but just as importantly for a community of dancers, it means that the same old music is being recycled through the speakers every night. We hear no music – only poor quality versions of ordinary songs someone’s downloaded illegally (in a shitty mp3) and then shared around.
So when I hear a particularly shitful version of a song, I’m immediately motivated to play a betterer version so people can hear that there is more to the jazz world than fucked up versions of goddamn Lou Rawls goddamn version of SJI!
Dang – I am SO on my high horse here!
…the thing of it is, though, that un-groove is out of style here in Melbourne town, and even if I do play a ‘better’ version, it’s unlikely that there’ll be any dancers there who’d value it in the same way I do!
argh.
So, yeah, I’m hot for that Red Allen album, but goddess knows when I’d get to play it for dancers. Guess I’ll just have to love it on my own. Like I loves de McKinney’s Cotton Pickers and early Cab on my own…