Swing or Nothing!

Artie Shaw was an American jazz clarinetist, composer and bandleader. He started out playing the saxophone when he was 13, but by age 16 had switched to the clarinet, the instrument for which he became famous. During the 1930s he played as a session musician in New York City, and eventually put together his own big band that rivaled that of contemporary Benny Goodman in popularity. With Benny Goodman already laying claim to the title “King of Swing”, Artie Shaw became known as the “King of Clarinet”, although Shaw argued that the titles should have been reversed.

Artie Shaw was known to be a musical innovator, experimenting with unusual instrumentation, incorporating Afro-Cuban rhythms, and especially breaking away from the patterns of traditional big band dance music. Dancers wanting to express the breaks and accents in a piece of music often latch onto repeated themes and recognizable riffs and patterns. Artie Shaw tried to keep dancers on their toes by mixing up the riffs in less predictable ways…a way to challenge all but the best dancers.

Indeed, I remember that two of my early swing dance instructors, Kevin and Carla, loved performing to music by Artie Shaw as well as playing his music in classes…precisely because the unpredictability and surprise element in his music made it challenging and fun to dance to.

Artie Shaw was quite prolific, so I’m not going to list all my favorite songs, but here are two sets of music that you might like:

Mellower Tunes with a Nice Steady Beat:

1. Begin the Beguine
2. Stardust
3. Moonglow
4. Frensi
5. Softly as a Morning Sunrise

High-Energy & Fast Lindy Tunes

1. Traffic Jam
2. Diga Diga Doo*
3. Carioca*
4. Lady Be Good*
5. Man From Mars*
6. Scuttlebutt
7. All the Cats Join In

* indicates tunes that I’ve performed to at one time or another.

Here’s a great Lindy Hop routine that’s danced to a splice of All the Cats Join in and Traffic Jam.

One2Swing Jitterbugs

And a great Artie Shaw album on Amazon.com to help you jump start your collection:

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LaVerne, Maxene and Patricia Andrews were three sisters from Minnesota who developed a harmonic style of singing and specialized in swing and boogie-woogie styles, and rose to international fame during the WWII era. With Laverne singing contraalto, Maxene singing soprano and Patricia singing mezzo-soprano, and all of them singing at the top of their lungs, the trio modeled themselves after the Boswell sisters, an earlier singing group, and they also originally sought to imitate the sound of a blaring trio of trumpets.

The Andrews Sisters rose to fame through their 1937 radio broadcast, during which time Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen became one of their earliest smash hits. They played with nearly all of the most famous big bands of the era, including those led by Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, Joe Venuti, Freddie Slack, Eddie Heywood, Bob Crosby (Bing’s brother), Desi Arnaz, Guy Lombardo, Les Brown, Bunny Berigan. They also enjoyed a particularly successful collaboration with singer Bing Crosby — nearly half the songs they recorded with him made the Billboard Charts.

The Sisters were active and generous in helping to entertain America’s Armed Forces during WWII and support the war cause. Along with several other prominent actors and musicians, the Andrews Sisters helped found the Hollywood Canteen, a retreat for American servicemen. Indeed, many of their songs contained war related lyrics and themes. The Andrews Sisters appeared in a handful of films, especially after being snatched up by Universal Pictures. They appeared in three Abbot & Costello comedies, including Buck Privates and Universal eventually had them star in their own B-Musicals, including What’s Cooking, Private Buckaroo, and Give Out, Sisters.

Here’s a good starting compilation of Andrews Sisters tunes for dancing:

as well as some individual tunes from other albums that I really like:

1. Rhumboogie
2. Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo)
3. Shortnin’ Bread

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Okay, here’s a set of music that is essential to any serious lindy hopper’s music collection: Slim & Slam.

Slim & Slam was a 1930s musical partnership formed by Bulee “Slim” Gaillard (vocals, guitar and piano) and Leroy Elliott “Slam” Stewart (bass). They produced novelty jazz numbers featuring Slim’s distinctive vocal style with vocalese and scats, hipster argot and nonsense words. Their biggest hits were “Flat Fleet Floogie (with a Floy Floy)”, “Cement Mixer (Puti Puti)” and “The Groove Juice Special (Opera in Vout)”. Slim & Slam also provide the musical introduction to that famous clip of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers in Hellzapoppin…

If you’re out looking for CDs, look for:

…which has most of Slim & Slam’s notable hits…

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Fats Waller (1904-1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer and comedic entertainer. Widely recognized as a master of stride piano — Waller was one of the most popular performers of his era and was also a prolific songwriter. A good number of songs that you’ve been hearing Corner Pocket play each week at Cat’s Corner were originally written or co-written and performed by Fats Waller, including “Honeysuckle Rose”, “Ain’t Misbehavin’”,”‘Tain’t What You Do”, and “Yatch Club Swing.” As usual, the Proper Records label has good compilation that’s worth listening to:

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Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), known by his stage name Ray Charles, was an American pianist and singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues. He brought a soulful sound to country music, pop standards. Several songs you’ve heard from the Jelly Roll Souls playing at Cat’s Corner were popularized by Ray Charles, including “I Gotta Woman” and “This Little Girl of Mine.” Here are some collections and albums worth checking out:

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Larry Clinton (August 17, 1909 – May 2, 1985) was a trumpeter who became a prominent American bandleader. His practice of rearranging the works of famous composers like Debussy and Tchaikovsky and adding lyrics was known as “swinging the classics”. His version of Debussy’s “Reverie”, with vocalist Bea Wain, was particularly popular. Clinton also provided conventional arrangements for performers like the Dorsey brothers, Glen Gray, Louis Armstrong, and Bunny Berigan.

I recently went on a Larry Clinton buying binge after hearing the song “Chew Your Bubble Gum.” Clinton’s sound reminds me a lot of Benny Goodman, but I like that his rhythm section has a little bit more of a driving drum beat. Here are some fun tracks you can find on emusic.com:

• Chew Your Bubble Gum
• That’s Good Enough For Me
• Zig Zag
• Missouri Gambler

or on Amazon.com:

Larry Clinton at Amazon.com

Enjoy!

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This past Thursday (March 27, 2008) at the 9:20, San Francisco dancers experienced the classy and powerhouse sound of one of the great contemporary big bands: George Gee and His Jump, Jive & Wailers.

It was an interesting contrast to the sound of the 4- and 5-piece swing combos we are used to dancing to here in SF. The Jivin’ Wailers played a number of tunes from their CD “If Dreams Come True”.

I highly recommend grabbing a copy!

or the MP3 Album:

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Lionel Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. “Hamp” ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who’s who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy Rich to Charlie Parker and Quincy Jones. Tunes like Lavender Coffin and Flying Home are some of his most recognizable swing dance hits and you’ll find them and more on “the Lionel Hampton Story,” a four disc box set on the Proper label.

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Believe it or not, I was initially unimpressed by Duke Ellington when I first started collecting swing music; since then, I’ve learned the error of my ways. The Duke had such a long music career that spanned decades and many genres of jazz music, that, well, some of his music actually isn’t swing dance music…it’s Hot Jazz, Be-Bop or something else. But the stuff that swings…swings hard.

Edward “Duke” Ellington was an American pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He started playing music in Washington, D.C. in 1917. Influences on his piano style included stride pianists like James P. Johnson and Willie “the Lion” Smith. In 1923 he and some of his band mates moved to New York City and started playing as “the Washingtonians,” with Ellington eventually assuming leadership of the band. Although Ellington made several recordings and played clubs around Manhattan, it wasn’t until the Ellington Orchestra took a spot as the house band at the Cotton Club, with regular radio broadcasts of their performances, that the Duke achieved a solid claim to fame and became an American household name. Duke’s band was one of the few that successfully made the transition from the Hot Jazz of the 1920s to the swing of the 1930s, and his band grew in popularity and stature through the 40s and 50s.  Duke Ellington died from cancer in 1974.

Never No Lament

Recommended individual tracks:

• Jack The Bear (1999 Remastered)
• Cotton Tail (1999 Remastered)
• Cotton Tail (1999 Remastered)
• In a Mellotone (1999 Remastered)
• Five O’Clock Whistle (1999 Remastered)
• Five O’Clock Whistle (1999 Remastered)
• Perdido (1999 Remastered – Take 1)
• The
• Main Stem (1999 Remastered)
• Hayfoot, Strawfoot (1999 Remastered – Take 1)

The Duke Box

Recommended individual tracks:

• The Gal From Joe’s
• C Jam Blues

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Every Lindy Hopper should be familiar with at least one song by Jimmy Lunceford and his Orchestra: Tain’t What You Do (it’s the way that you do it!) That’s because it’s the song to which people around the world dance  the Shim Sham Shimmy, the classic swing line dance popularized by Frankie Manning. Fortunately for us, that’s not the only great piece of swing music by Mr. Lunceford’s band.

Jimmy Lunceford was the leader of one of the most famous black Big Bands of the swing era. The band was famous for its moderate tempo music (great for dancing) and Lunceford’s rhythmic innovation of a half bar accent on the first and third beat in the classic four beat swing. The band was most popular in the 30s playing musical arrangments by Sy Oliver. Lunceford was a perfectionist, and much of the band’s success could be attributed to their tight and almost-perfect collective performance.

A great album by Jimmy Lunceford is Lunceford Special: 1939-1940 and here are some of my favorite tracks:

• Tain’t What You Do (naturally!)
• Le Jazz Hot (smooth and buttery)
• Baby Won’t You Please Come Home (I love the jolly interaction of the horns with the oom-pah of the bass)
• Dinah, part 1 (great for Charleston)
• Lunceford Special (a nice fast tune)
• Blues in the Groove (another nice fast one with horns that will steamroll you)

Can you hear the “Lunceford Two-Beat” in any of the music?

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