Week five! Half-way through the top 100 Swing countdown. More after the fold…
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. It’s just about possible I could be secretly brushing aside the worst of those – but only the very worst. Where possible, I’ll put in links where you can listen to the tracks.
These are not necessarily my all-time favourite tracks, and I would not claim that they’re all 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 i can find on Spotify anyway) – and each week, I’ll keep adding the tracks for the week. You can listen to it here!
| Track | Artist | Album | Time | BPM | Plays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | Here Comes Your Pappy (With The Wrong Kind Of Load) | Putney Dandridge | Complete Recordings Putney Dandridge 1935 – 1936 | 2:37 | 175 | 99 |
| Early swing era, with a piano / bass / drum rhythm section – a cheerful song with a real jump to it. Listen on Spotify |
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| 59 | Leap Frog | Louis Armstrong | The Decca Singles 1935-1946 | 2:58 | 158 | 100 |
| Another great jumping big band number from Louis Armstrong and his orchestra in 1941. A lot of variety and texture to this one – great for creative dancers. Listen on Spotify |
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| 58 | Meet The Band | Edgar Hayes | Complete Jazz Series 1937 – 1938 | 3:20 | 174 | 100 |
| The bass saxophone gives this one a wonderful distinctive crunchy sound – great energy, and more enough “endings” to feed a dozen songs (the sadist in my loves watching how dancers cope with that) Listen on Spotify |
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| 57 | Everything Is Jumpin’ | Artie Shaw | Very Best Of | 5:09 | 165 | 101 |
| A long, classic Artie Shaw staple. I half think I should edit this to be a little shorter, but it’s such a great song that I can’t bring myself to do it. Listen on Spotify |
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| 56 | Mr Ghost goes to Town | Hudson – DeLange Orchestra | 2:54 | 160 | 101 | |
| Mr Ghost is one of those classic swing dancing favourites – filled with fun moments that never get old. This is my favourite version. Enough said. Watch on YouTube |
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| 55 | Harlem Holiday | Cab Calloway | Complete Jazz Series 1932 | 2:52 | 145 | 102 |
| The irrepressibly cheerful Cab Calloway on top form – I love the rhythm and sense of fun he put into his voice – and the way he plays call-and-response with himself… a great track. Listen on Spotify |
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| 54 | Tuxedo Junction | Erskine Hawkins And His Orchestra | Complete Jazz Series 1950 – 1951 | 3:18 | 146 | 102 |
| Erskin Hawkins has done many great versions of Tuxedo Junction. This is the best one. Listen on Spotify |
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| 53 | Lindy Hopper’s Delight | Ella Fitzgerald & Her Famous Orchestra | Complete Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-1941) (disc 6) | 2:51 | 188 | 103 |
| This is probably the most appropriately named song of all time. This is an exciting, incredible piece of music – if you’ve ever listened to it, you know exactly why it’s a swing dancing favourite. If you haven’t listened to it, here’s your chance to find out! Listen on Spotify |
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| 52 | `Til my baby comes back to me | Blue Harlem | Talk To Me | 2:50 | 130 | 104 |
| Look – I haven’t played this in years. And – I confess – preparing this post is the first time I’ve ever actually *listened* to the lyrics. So … wonderful though Imelda May’s voice is, and though Blue Harlem were definitely one of the better UK swing bands for their time … well – if I were to play it again, I’d go with Buddy Johnson’s version, but the abuse themes running through the song have sadly killed it for me. Listen on Spotify |
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| 51 | Lavender Coffin | Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra | Lindy Hop Jamboree | 2:42 | 145 | 105 |
| Yeah – so I used to play Lavender coffin a lot. Now I play it occasionally. Sometimes songs are overplayed because they’re great. This one has absolutely been overplayed, and I am a little bored with it these days – but it still fills a dance floor. 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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