blackface.com is a useful resource for people who’re into African American dance and music of the early 20th Century (ie, us).
If you’re thinking about using some characters from 1930s or 40s films for your choreography, you may want to read up and avoid offending folk and looking like an insensitive (ignorant) clod.
(NB this image is the logo for the blackface.com website)
I love small swing groups, and Riverwalk Jazz are doing a show on them this week called Goodman, Shaw & Dorsey: Big Band Leaders and Their Small Combos. It features a few of my favourite small groups, most of which make for good (though fairly precise, and dare I say it, uptight) dancing.
That Riverwalk Jazz show reminded me of an 8tracks I did a while ago, which is mostly small groups. I’m really a fool for a small group, I think mostly because I dance to small groups more often IRL. But also because I like the way you can hear every instrument in a small band, and the smaller format lets musicians work together in a team, yet still as individuals:
The Riverwalk Jazz discussion of small groups has also made me think about the Ozcats, who’re a very good Bob Crosby and the Bob Cats tribute band in Sydney. I’ve only seen them play twice, and not for over a year, but they were the best Australian band I’ve ever danced to. A heap of older blokes staring at their scores from seats on the stage, rocking out. I’d love to have them at a dance event again. They play this sort of music:
(linky)
A very famous February 1926 Life cover by John Held Jr.
(hook up from chewy chewy, linky c/o of William Packer’s ‘The Art Of Vogue Covers 1909-1940’)
This is pretty much my fashion atm, except with trousers rather than a skirt. I love this sort of stuff, but I do have trouble with pictures from fashion mags, pattern covers, etc – they don’t actually represent real women’s bodies. This can make things a bit tricky when you’re trying to reproduce them in real life, because you can’t be sure of the way these things were worn by real women in everyday situations.
But still. Nice.
We’ve been teaching with this song a bit lately, and it is the WORST EAR WORM EVER. This is a fun clip, though.
George Balanchine, Katherine Dunham and two other blokes on the set for Cabin in the Sky
Geoff Bull and the Finer Cuts play a very nice version of Lay me down a pallet on your floor
Illinois Jacquet and Harry Edison on set for Gjon Mili’s film Jammin’ the Blues.
From the Google collection of Life Magazine photos (there are heaps more – check them out!)
My favourite part of the new Coleman Hawkins Mosaic set is the little collection of 1946 recordings by the Metronome All Star Band. This particular session features Charlie Shavers, Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, Coleman Hawkins, Harry Carney, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Bob Ahern, Eddie Safranksi, Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, June Christy and Sy Oliver (arranging), recording in New York on the 15th December 1946. All proceeds from the artists’ royalties were donated to charity. My two favourite songs are ‘Sweet Lorraine’ and ‘Nat Meets June’.
Esquire All Stars (featuring Frank Sinatra) – Sweet Lorraine:
Esquire All Stars (featuring Nat King Cole and June Christy) – Nat Meets June:
These Metronome all-star bands (there were a few, and they’re listed on wikipedia), were compromised of big name stars. These musicians were chosen by polling the Metronome magazine’s readership, who were asked to compile their ‘dream team’ bands. So we’re listening to a group of big name individual megastars, who’ve come together to specifically to record just these songs. You can read a bit more about them on allmusic.com.
(cover of the 65th anniversary issue of Metronome magazine, November 1948)
Other magazines did this sort of stuff as well, including Esquire. It’s something I’ve written about quite a few times, and you can check out these posts if you’re curious.
(Herman Leonard’s 1949 photo of the Esquire All Stars featuring Charlie Parker and from the Morrison Hotel Gallery)
For more photos of this sort of jam session, you must search for ‘Gjon Mili’ in the Life Magazine collection hosted by Google.
These little Coleman Hawkins Metronome All Stars recordings are really lovely. I’m quite fond of a bit of velvety vocal and really laid back swing. Nat King Cole and June Christy are both featured on Mosaic sets (here and here respectively), but those sets aren’t in press any more. I prefer the Christy one (which also showcases Peggy Lee), but both sets are lovely and chillaxed.
[Portrait of Frank Sinatra and Axel Stordahl, Liederkrantz Hall, New York, N.Y., ca. 1947] (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress
Frank Sinatra, of course, needs no introduction, but I’m not a huge fan of his later work, particularly the crooner stuff. In fact, I really dislike it …, no I HATE it, and LOATHE dancing to it (for the most part). He did some really danceable stuff with Tommy Dorsey (including a really good version of ‘Blue Skies’), and some more palatable stuff later on, but it’s a bit harder to find. That’s one of the things I love about these 1946 Metronome recordings – he demonstrates just how orsm a vocalist and musician he was, and he shares the spotlight with other mega stars, so the vocals become just one part of the story, rather than the whole show.
I found these particular Metronome All Stars recordings on the Coleman Hawkins Mosaic set, but they’re not representative of all the material in that set (unsurprisingly – it’s an anthology of work from a twenty five year period). You can probably pick up these two songs pretty easily from other sources.