Swing or Nothing!Nathan DiasSwing Dance Teacher, DJ and Performer in San Francisco |
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Nathan was our wedding DJ and dance instructor for our very recent wedding in November and we still can't get over how fun the wedding and our first dance routine were!! Sachiko & Nate
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I hired Nathan (DJ NateDiggity) for my Move to the Groove party at Cafe Cocomo and he exceeded all my expectations. He was the perfect DJ for the party! Jeremy Sutton
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Nathan is awesome... I highly recommend taking his group classes, or hiring him for private lessons if you wish to swing dance at your wedding. Claudine & Danny
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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:
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.
Rowland Bernard “Bunny” Berigan (November 2, 1908 – June 2, 1942) was an American jazz trumpeter who rose to fame during the Swing Era, but whose virtuosity and influence were shortened by a losing battle with alcoholism that ended in his early death at age 33. He played with several notable big bands include those led by the Dorsey Brothers, Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. His solo on the Dorsey hit “Marie” became considered one of his signature performances. Berigan got the itch to lead his own band full-time and did so for about three years. Some of their records were equal in standard to the sides he cut with Goodman and Dorsey, but unfortunately they were never financially successful.
Fortunately for us, Bunny Berigan’s recordings still survive, and you can pick up some great tracks at Amazon.com mp3 downloads including some of my personal favorites off the Gangbusters album:
If you have any recordings of Benny Goodman in your own collection, I encourage you to listen to both of these artists back-to-back and notice some of the similarities in their musical styles.
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:
The Duke Box
Recommended individual tracks:
Some of my Cat’s Corner Lindy Hop students asked me to share the names of some of the tunes I often play in our classes, and I am happy to oblige! I was lucky enough to find most of them available for MP3 download on Amazon.com, and here are the tracks listed from slowest to fastest:
(Charlie Barnet)
(Nellie Lutcher)
(Louis Jordan)
That should be enough to download and burn yourself a nice little Lindy Hop practice compilation. Enjoy!
What are some of your favorite Beginning Lindy Hop and Swing tunes?
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:
Can you hear the “Lunceford Two-Beat” in any of the music?
Can you believe that one of my favorite swing artists to DJ from was a bandleader who couldn’t read music or even play an instrument? Lucky Millinder — his real name was Lucius — was a big band leader popular in the 1940s. He began his career hanging around the theaters and dancehalls of Chicago, where he learned the basics of stagecraft, lighting and music. After leading several bands in New York City on the guidance of music publisher Irving Mills, he eventually formed his own band in late 1940: Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra. Lucky was lucky to have a variety of top vocal talent sing with his band at various times including gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, saxaphonist/vocalist Bullmoose Jackson as well as rockin’ R&B singer Wynonie Harris.
Apollo Jump, the 2-disc set on the Proper Label is a good compilation of Lucky’s work and is jam packed with songs that I love to DJ from as well as use in my lindy hop classes. Here are some of my favorite tracks:
A frequent question among my beginning swing and lindy hop dance students is: “Where can I get swing music for practicing at home?” Here are some of my favorite recommendations, and links for purchasing them online:
Another great way to discover some swing dance favorites of your own is to use an online music site like Pandora Internet Radio which ask you to enter the name of an initial artist or song title and then finds music that is similar in genre, instrumentation, rhythm and feel. Try entering a song or artist from one of the compilations above and see what you get!
What are your favorite CD and music recommendations for beginner dancers?
Count Basie is easily one of my all-time favorite big band swing artists. One of the first swing CD Box Sets I ever purchased was The Complete Decca Recordings, and oh man, it was so worth it every penny. I picked up the box set right around the time I was delving into practicing my fast swingouts and the 3-CD set provided ample music to work up a sweat. The tracks included are some of Basie’s earlier recordings, what is often called “Old Testament” Basie, which you can identify not only by the old-style recording sound quality, but also by the staccato and jankier feel of the music. Later “New Testament” recordings tend to have what I like to call a smoother and more buttery sound.
The Wikipedia claims that Basie’s signature tracks are the One O’Clock Jump and April in Paris, but my guess is that is from a listening standpoint. Any real lindy hopper knows that Basie’s real anthem of swing is….piano roll please: Jumpin’ at the Woodside!
Some of my other fast lindy favorites in no particular order from the Decca Recordings are:
And if you prefer a more mid-tempo sound, here are my recommended tracks:
…really though, the entire set is awesome, so I would heartily recommend purchasing the whole box set instead of individual tracks. The Amazon.com links above are for purchasing the physical 3-CD Set vs. the equivalent MP3 Album. If you’re interested in music history, then you’ll want the former…since it’s got great liner notes to read.
From the Wikipedia:
William “Count” Basie (March 24, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Widely regarded as one of the most important jazz bandleaders of his time, Basie led his popular Count Basie Orchestra for almost 50 years. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry “Sweets” Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. Basie’s theme songs were “One O’Clock Jump” and “April In Paris“.
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