As we have at least ten weeks of lockdown to enjoy, it occurred to me to do a series of posts of my most-DJ’d music – so I’m starting a weekly series of posts, where each week I’ll post another ten tracks from my most-played list. Here’s the first ten swing tracks to get things started.
As I’ve been DJing since 2007, and have had a pretty steep learning curve in that time, this will probably throw up some bizarre choices and guilty secrets. Mind you – I reserve the right to remove any of the really bad choices that I find. Where possible, I’ll put in links where you can listen to the tracks.
These are not necessarily my all-time favourite tracks, and they’re not necessarily the ones that I’d be recommending as the best dance tracks ever. They’re just the ones I’ve played the most over the last thirteen years.
I’ve created a Spotify playlist to host all the tracks (or all the ones on Spotify anyway) – so each week, I’ll add the tracks for the week. You can listen to it here!
Swing Tracks 100 to 91
| Track | Artist | Album | Time | BPM | Plays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | Roc City Stomp (EDIT) | Gordon Webster | That New Old Sound | 3:38 | 155 | 69 |
| This track is great fun, very accessible, great energy, and a good track for beginners. It’s also fairly long, and the ending feels cut short – so much so that I used to feel a bit cheated when I was dancing to it and the track ended. So I edited it, shortened it slightly, then extended the ending. Sorry, Mr Webster, but needs must… Listen on BandCamp |
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| 99 | No More Love | Buddy Johnson | The Walk ’em Rhythm Band | 3:05 | 125 | 72 |
| Buddy Johnson played a great selection of dance music, ranging from Rock and Roll to Jump Blues to swing. He and his sister Ella were favourites among dancers, and amongst other places, were regulars at the Savoy. Listen on Spotify |
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| 98 | One O’Clock Jump | Ben Webster & Johnny Otis | Ben Webster: Jazz Explosion, Vol. 1 | 3:35 | 145 | 72 |
| An unusually slow but high energy and amazing version of One O’Clock Jump. Another recent pick-up – so if it’s on the list so soon, I’ve probably been overplaying it like crazy. Listen on Spotify |
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| 97 | The Fox | Ray Anthony | 2:32 | 164 | 72 | |
| The track that has a bit of everything. Great energy, and a whole lot of fun. Listen on Spotify |
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| 96 | Wailing Interval | Duke Ellington | Swingin’ With The Duke | 3:27 | 160 | 72 |
| This is basically an insanely wild three minute sax solo, which happened when Ellington told Paul Gonzales to take a solo in the middle of Crescendo in Blue. Challenging to dance to, but oh so much fun… Listen on Spotify |
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| 95 | Hawk | Kyoichi Watanabe | Swingers, Anyone? | 6:00 | 126 | 73 |
| Modern, slow and gentle, but with a lot of fun musical quirks to play around with. I like to play this during low energy sets where everyone is tired, but still after those magical dancing moments. Listen on Spotify |
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| 94 | I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead | Cab Calloway | Jumpin’ Jive | 2:30 | 167 | 74 |
| Nobody can sing as mean a song as this in such a fun cheerful fashion as Cab Calloway. There’s a lot of great versions of You Rascal You – and this is definitely one of my favouites – although a little harder to find than some. Sample on Amazon |
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| 93 | A Smooth One | Artie Bernstein, Benny Goodman, Charlie Christian, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton | The Yale University Archives, Volumes 11 & 12, NBC Broadcast Recordings, 1936-1943 | 3:36 | 173 | 74 |
| An unusually fast version of A Smooth One. great fun for Lindy and for Balboa – and a leading contender for the Most gratuitous use of the word “Mop” during the Swing Era award. Try to Listen on Spotify (Not available on Spotify in the UK. You can probably listen to this from some parts of the world) |
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| 92 | Buckin’ the Dice | Fats Waller & His Rhythm | 053796 BLUEBIRD -11102 | 3:27 | 160 | 74 |
| Vintage Fats. Gleeful, silly, full of energy and musically brilliant. Listen on Spotify |
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| 91 | I Feel Like Steppin’ Out | Willie Dixon | All the Famous Masters | 3:00 | 155 | 74 |
| More Blues / Jump Blues than swing, which definitely puts it on the Guilty Pleasures list – but a lot of fun to dance to. Listen on Spotify |
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Footnote: – For anyone who doesn’t know the term, BPM is short for Beats Per Minute, and is a standard way for DJs to measure track speed.
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