Song of the Week by Ben and Sheri
by Carl Nelson
Song: St. Louis Gal
Album: Maiden Voyage
Artist: Titanic Jazz Band
http://titanicjazzband.com/
A bit about the Titanic Jazz Band. These guys are a local Dixieland band here in Los Angeles. These guys are really talented at what they do and have gained quite a loyal following here in the local Dixieland scene. None of them are what I would call “famous”, not even in the Lindy scene as most Lindy Hoppers that I know of (me included) wouldn’t want to dance to Dixieland the whole night and so these guys don’t get booked for Lindy events. However, it is fun to dance to a few Dixie tunes every night, when we DJ we usually will pull at least one or two songs from the Titanic CDs to play.
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We first “discovered” them when Ben went shopping at Canterbury’s in Pasadena prowling around for more music. He saw Titanic’s “Mostly Jelly” CD in the used bin and took a listen to it. And he loved it! He bought it specifically for their version of “Shimmy Like My Sister Kate” (Ben’s favorite version of that song). Soon after, we purchased their other CD “Maiden Voyage”. We then found out they were local and attended a few of their performances and even booked them for one of our dances. These guys are definitely a talented group of musicians!
The song we chose, St Louis Gal, is our favorite song of theirs. From a listening and dancing experience, this song builds and ebbs subtly giving the listener (and dancer) quite a fulfilling experience. Not to mention that St Louis Gal is a very versatile song to dance to. We find there are so many feels of this song: a bit showy, a bit bluesy, a bit groovy, and a bit Dixie/Ragtime. Depending on what kind of dancing mood you’re in, you can let the song take you in so many different directions. And Titanic accomplishes this with just piano and percussion!! Amazing! A lot of the time when there are only one or two instruments it seems that the musicians overcompensate and tend to unnecessarily fill up space with notes resulting in a rushed or hectic feeling. It’s good to see two musicians (Ragtime pianist Robbie Rhodes and percussionist Lloyd Byassee) so secure in their talent and their musical relationship together that they are able to let the music just flow.
We hope you all enjoy our pick.
Thanks Ben and Sheri! Check out their One2Swing’s California Rolls team routine at ALHC last year.
