This song of the week is brought to you by Dax Hock, fellow Ninja and partner in crime of last week’s contributor Max. He and dance partner Alice Mei are world travelers, teaching next in Italy, Slovenia, France, Russia and Finland. Visit the wonderfully illustrated Dax and Alice website.

Where does Ninja-Max find all this good music? Well as it has been pointed out, I love music with the BoomChakka. Driving rhythm is the heart of my dancing but Rhythm ALONE doesn’t make great swing. Every heart must have a soul, and that is the X-factor… the undeniable feel that is harnessed in certain old swing tracks. Something that makes your body just want to do some luscious lindy hop– this is what I am talking about!

Musicians: Freddy Taylor & His Swing Men from Harlem
Song: Blue Drag
Album: Viper Mad Blues: 25 Songs of Dope and Depravity

The song I would like to share is called Blue Drag, by Freddy Taylor & His Swing Men From Harlem. Why is this so good for Lindy Hop? Well it somehow encompasses the ridiculously laid-back and cozy feel of good swing over a sweet chunking rhythm that gets you dancing, not to hard, but just right. Music is there to inspire so I hope you all have a chance to give this song a social dancing go.

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Also, for those of you who play music, you can find the sheet music for a version of blue drag in the Django Fake book.  Once you dance to it, take the next step and learn to play it, then share the love.
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Filed Under: Song of the Week | Monday, March 2nd, 2009

This Song of the Week is brought to you by Max Pitruzzella, Lindy hopper extraordinaire and one-armed Charleston dancer. He will be teaching and performing with partner Annie Trudeau at the upcoming Lindyfest 13 and Boston Tea Party in March, as well as at the Canadian Swing Championships and Frankie’s 95th birthday in May.

Artiste: Boots and his Buddies
Titre de l’album: Boots and His Buddies 1937-1938
Titre de la chanson: The Raggle Taggle
Genre: Swing

I love this song because I can Hear the Badass “Boom Cha-Ka”, hein Dax?!!

Max is indeed a man of few words - he usually lets his dancing do the talking. This song can be found on the Chronological Classics Boots and His Buddies 1937-1938. You can find Ninja Max DJ’ing regularly in Montreal.

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Filed Under: Song of the Week | Monday, February 23rd, 2009

This Song of the Week is brought to you by Carl Nelson, contributor, editor and vagabond for Lindybloggers.

Song: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
Artist: Don Redman All Stars
Album: Star Dreams

I stumbled across this tune on eMusic a couple months ago and have been listening to it constantly since.

Don Redman was one of the first great arrangers in jazz working with Fletcher Henderson and then McKinney’s Cotton Pickers.  Notable arrangements included Sugarfoot Stomp, The Stampede, Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You. He played clarinet, alto saxophone, and oboe while occasionally singing vocals including the first recording of a scat vocal piece, My Papa Doesn’t Two Time.

This mid-tempo song is really laid back in its groove with an ominous mood given by the horns, this song doesn’t make me want to throwdown but to chill out and jazz it up.  The prominent back-and-forth between the horns gives layers to play between while the wire brush shuffle on the snare keeps the whole song rolling.

It features some excellent sidemen including Coleman Hawkins, Jo Jones and Hank Jones.

This is definitely my latest jam.  You can find it as a single track on Amazon.com downloads.

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Filed Under: Song of the Week | Monday, February 16th, 2009

This week we feature our very own Alain Wong from Montreal, QC, Canada. He has DJ’ed at such events as the Canadian Swing Championships, the Albany Chill (Lindy Hop exchange), the MTLX (Montreal Lindy Hop exchange), the Mike & Casey weekend in Toronto, the Steven & Virginie weekend in Rochester and most recently at the Quebec Swing Rendez-Vous. You can find him DJ’ing regularly in Montreal.

Song: Stomp, Stomp
Artist: The Cats and the Fiddle
Album: We Cats Will Swing For You

For my song of the week, I’m choosing an obvious song that has been stuck in my head and that of many other dancers this past year.

Since our team The Northern Lights performed a team routine to it, dancers occasionally run into me with a simple “Stomp Stomp” and then walk away. You can watch an inspiring performance by The Mop Squad to the same song. For those who are wondering, we had chosen our song without having seen this performance. To Manu Smith’s credit, he did a great job interpreting the music, and if we had seen this routine, we might not have chosen the same song. In any case, it’s nice to see how a song can be interpreted as a solo jazz routine and as a group choreography.

About the band

Who hasn’t heard “Gangbusters” or “Killing Jive” at a dance? The Cats and the Fiddle are easily recognizable because of their infectious rhythm and vocal harmonies. Originally composed of Austin Powell (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy Henderson (tenor, tipple), Chuck Barksdale (bass vocals, upright bass), and Ernie Price (tenor, guitar, tipple), the group underwent many formation changes over the years.

The song Stomp Stomp is credited to tenor vocalist and guitarist Tiny Grimes, who had in 1940 replaced Herbie Miles, who himself had been a replacement for original quartet member Jimmy Henderson (who died of meningitis). It’s a swinging tune that reflected the popularity of vocal harmonies made popular by the Mills Brothers in the early 30’s.

If you don’t own any The Cats and The Fiddle songs, I highly recommend buying this album on Amazon. It has most of the songs you’ll hear played by swing DJs, and is a great introduction to their sound. Also check out Dax and Alice’s classic routine to the title track “We Cats Will Swing For You”.

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Filed Under: Song of the Week | Monday, February 9th, 2009

This week we feature Freddie Dickinson from Seattle, WA.  He comes highly recommended by last week’s Song of the Week DJ Mike Faltesek and his song choice is solid proof of his excellence.

Duke Ellington Men Small Groups

Song: Jazz a la Carte
Album: Dukes’s Men: Small Groups Vol. 1
Artist: Duke Ellington

BARNEY BIGARD AND HIS JAZZOPATORS: Rex Stewart (cor), Juan Tizol (vtb), Barney Bigard (cl), Harry Carney (bari), Duke Ellington (p), Fred Guy (g), Billy Taylor (b), Sonny Greer (d).
NYC, April 29, 1937 (2:15pm start)

Ellington’s small group sessions are widely known as killer recordings of Duke with his various side men.  Of course one should own all of these recordings, but Jazz a la Carte is certainly one to cherry pick out of the bunch.

I love these 1930’s small group recordings because they take simple song formats of traditional jazz standards and add just enough personality and subtlety to make them seem like a higher evolution of swingin’ “trad jazz”.  This song has a 12 bar chorus that get’s played through twice at the beginning and twice at the end, with solos in the middle.  This makes for a very basic arrangement on paper, but the musicians take you on a journey that’ll make you anything but blue.

Rex Stewart opens with an intro and then launches into the main theme of the song.  The melody is more of a rhythmic chant and not so much a sing-song kind of melody, which appeals to my dancing ears.  Each of the three solos that make up the creamy center of this recording has a different sound and feel to it.  The background riffs played by the other guys in the band lend a unique attitude to each section.  Barney Bigard’s solo (cl.) has a meandering curiosity to it, with the backup riff popping in every 8 beats (lindy hop serendipity).  Harry Carney’s baritone sax solo has an arguing tone to it, and the background riff adds to that feeling by adding dynamic waves to sustained 8 beat chordal tones.  Duke’s solo conjures up the famous image of him with a black top hat, upright and cocked to the side.  The song ends with the full group playing the main theme in harmony, first reserved, then with full flying colors.

I love these recordings a lot, but I’ve yet to hear a contemporary band play many of these arrangements, Jazz a la Carte included.  Until that happens, you can pick up your own copy of Ellington’s small group sessions from various compilations.

You can find it on Amazon as Duke’s Men: The Small Groups Vol. 1 but the gold standard for these recordings can be purchased here Mosaic Records: Duke Ellington: 1936-40 Small Group Sessions.

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Filed Under: Song of the Week | Monday, February 2nd, 2009

This week we bring you Mike Faltesek as our guest DJ.  Mike has been interviewed here in the past, teaches all over the world, and is covered in a variety of tattoos.

Song: Egyptian Ella
Artist: Fats Waller
Album: The Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2: A Handful Of Keys
Composer: Walter Doyle 1931

I have really been digging on this song lately, and almost any version of it.  Fats is the man, so I have picked his version which is really his playing with the Ted Lewis & His Orchestra and also features Mugsy Spanier.  There are some modern bands that like to kick it with this song as well.  Two of my favorites are Mora’s Modern Rhythmists and The Loose Marbles.

The song was written by Walter Doyle in 1931 and even until 1945, the lyrics were too suggestive to be included in the movie “Bring On the Girls” and were rewritten.  Here are the original lyrics to the first verse and chorus:

Ella was a dancing girl who started getting fat
Every day saw three more pounds on Ella
Until one day she found she’d lost her job because of that
And to make it worse, she’d lost her fella
She took a trip to Egypt to forget
And she made such a hit that she’s there yet …

So if you hear of a gal who can quake and shake
‘Till it makes you think of a nervous snake
They’re speakin’ … of Egyptian Ella
She weighs two-twenty but that’s O.K.
They like ‘em plenty down there that way
She has the love … of every fella
And when she shakes and when she starts
Down by the River Nile
The boys all take their old sweet-hearts
And throw them to the crocodiles
And every sheik in the audience
Jumps up and yells that “she’s immense!”
They’re cheering for Egyptian Ella.

There are a few things I love about this song.  For starters, it has a hard driving rhythm that makes you pat your foot.  The song is in a minor key, which gives it that ever so wonderful dark kind of feeling to it.  To make it sound even darker and dissonant, the chorus starts out with a chromatic descent, walking down a half step from the tonic, all the way a half step below the perfect 5th and then back up to the fifth before it resolves itself back to the tonic.  That, plus the minor key signature really helps create this steadily moving, pushing, dissonant, dirty feeling.  This is the type of song that makes you want to jump up and shout out, “mercy!”.

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You can find this song for sale on Amazon.com.

Filed Under: Song of the Week | Monday, January 26th, 2009

This week we feature DJ Mike Thibault from Rochester, NY. Mike has been dancing and DJing for many years at events like Swing Out New Hampshire, Lindy Focus and he even helps to organize Stompology (an all solo jazz workshop).

Song: Just Squeeze Me / It Don’t Mean a Thing
Artist: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra
Album: Hot Summer Dance

I’m sneaking in two songs for my song of the week.  I don’t normally play medleys, but I make an exception for this exceptional case.  These two tunes come from a dance date that Ellington and his band played on July 22, 1960 in Sacramento, CA.  Both feature Duke’s resident trumpeter/violinist Ray Nance on vocals.  The quality of these recordings is exceptional and I highly recommend the whole album; it really showcases how tight Duke’s band was at this time.  Seeking out these great bands in live dance settings is especially rewarding for us as dancers since we can get a glimpse at how these legends would play to a crowd.  You can find this album on the cheap at Amazon.com, and it’s well worth the small price you’ll pay.

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Filed Under: Song of the Week | Monday, January 19th, 2009

Lindybloggers is happy to announce the start of a new weekly column: Song of the Week.

Our first Song of the Week is brought to you by DJ Allen Kerr of Washington, D.C.  Allen has DJed such events as Sugarfoot Stomp, Lindy Focus, BalJam, and is a regular DJ at Jam Cellar.  He’s known for rocking my socks anytime he DJs.

Song: Everybody Rock
Artist: Ella Fitzgerald & Her Famous Orchestra
Album: Live at the Savoy 1939-40

Everybody Rock is a track I’ve been playing frequently off of my favorite jazz album. This is Chick Webb’s orchestra shortly after Chick Webb passed away leaving the band  to Ella Fitzgerald.  Ella takes the back seat, shouting encouragement to the band, but never singing. This is swing music at it’s finest. If you don’t own this CD, buy it now (Amazon.com). You will not be disappointed.

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Filed Under: Song of the Week | Monday, January 12th, 2009