The penultimate post – number nine. Mixcloud, and Spotify links are 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. Where possible, I’ll put in links where you can listen to the tracks.
These are not necessarily my all-time favourite tracks, though it’s probably not far off it, and I can’t promise they’re all the best blues 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!
| Track | Artist | Album | Time | BPM | Plays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | After Hours | Erskine Hawkins | Jukebox Hits 1940-1950 | 3:20 | 83 | 38 |
| Erskine Hawkins was an amazing band leader – but the star of this gorgeous piece of music has to be the pianist, Avery Parrish. Listen on Spotify |
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| 19 | To Hell with Love | Di Anne Price | Taking the Blues in Stride | 3:18 | 100 | 39 |
| And they say romance is dead… another Di Anne Price classic. Listen on Spotify |
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| 18 | I Heard The Angels Singin | Eric Bibb | Painting Signs | 4:28 | 107 | 39 |
| Pure class from Eric Bibb – it’s a simplistic repetitive song in many ways – but has a great build-up, and a good crowd-pleaser. Listen on Spotify |
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| 17 | Rock Me Baby | Big Mama Thornton | Sassy Mama | 6:16 | 66 | 40 |
| One of many fantastic live recordings – and I’ve been told I read a little too much into the way she ends this song… but I don’t think so. And it always gets a laugh. Listen on Spotify |
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| 16 | Apollo 21 | Gene Harris | The Three Sounds / Live At The “It” Club | 7:52 | 80 | 41 |
| I once asked a teacher at Herrang if he could tell me who a particular track was by, and he told me Gene Harris. He was completely wrong (it was actually a Lionel Hampton version of Flyin’ Home – go figure) but I’m glad about the mistake, because Gene Harris was a wonderful pianist, and I’ve listened to a lot of his music ever since. Listen on Spotify |
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| 15 | Step by Step | L. A. Blues Alliance | What a Life | 5:22 | 53 | 44 |
| I think I sought this out after seeing a YouTube video with Lucky Skillen dancing to it. Gorgeous modern blues. Watch on YouTube |
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| 14 | Back O’ Town Blues | Louis Armstrong & His All Stars | Louis Armstrong : New Orleans Function | 3:51 | 73 | 45 |
| Beautiful blues from Louis – with some wonderful heckles and banter from his band. Listen on Spotify |
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| 13 | Sinner’s Prayer | Jools Holland | Swinging the Blues, Dancing the Ska | 3:28 | 75 | 47 |
| My favourite Jools track, bar none. Listen on Spotify |
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| 12 | Blues In The Dark | Kansas City Band | Kansas City | 4:54 | 86 | 48 |
| I was incredibly lucky to buy up the two Kansas City band CDs when they were easy to get, and reasonably priced. Then they became expensive and hard to get. Right now, you can get them fairly cheap. Get them now… and watch Robert Altman’s Jazz 34, which is essentially the live recording of the albums. This track is mind-blowing and beautiful. Watch on YouTube |
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| 11 | Blues Nocturne | Johnny Otis | Johnny Otis & Friends | 2:49 | 79 | 49 |
| A gorgeous heartbeat song – I first heard this on a book trailer, of all places, and emailed the publisher to find out what the track was (the days before Shazam) Listen on Spotify |
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