Week six! We’re into the top fifty… and this week, it’s different!
To celebrate the fact that I’ve reached the top fifty tracks – I’ve decided to accompany the remaining posts in this series with a radio show on MixCloud – and you can listen to it here!
I’ve also 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 find it here!
| Track | Artist | Album | Time | BPM | Plays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | Sad Sap Sucker Am I | Fats Waller | You’re My Dish | 3:07 | 145 | 105 |
| Starting off the top fifty, a fun, gentle, Fats Waller classic. Listen on Spotify |
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| 49 | A Vipers Moan | Willie Bryant | Dope & Glory – Reefer Songs | 3:24 | 152 | 106 |
| A nice mellow dancers’ favourite. I’m sure the fact that ‘Viper’ was a slang term for ‘dope smoker’ has nothing to do with the mellow side of things. Moving on… Listen on Spotify |
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| 48 | Potomac Jump | Harry Parry’s Radio Rhythm Club Sextet | Crazy Rhythm | 3:19 | 161 | 106 |
| Harry Parry that rarest of breeds – a great Welsh jazz clarinetist. I’ve always loved this track, both for Lindy and Balboa. Listen on Spotify |
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| 47 | Shufflin’ and Rollin’ | Buddy Johnson | The Very Best of Buddy Johnson | 3:11 | 154 | 108 |
| High energy, mid-tempo jump blues, great for getting a dance floor really fired up. Just make sure you have a good follow-up ready. Listen on Spotify |
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| 46 | Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop | Lionel Hampton | Complete Jazz Series 1945 – 1946 | 3:19 | 137 | 110 |
| Speaking of high energy numbers, here’s another from the great vibes player Lionel Hampton. Listen on Spotify |
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| 45 | Whatcha Know Joe | Tommy Dorsey & Jo Stafford | The One and Only | 3:26 | 163 | 110 |
| Tommy Dorsey – a punchy little tune, with Jo Stafford’s wonderful rhythmic swinging vocals on call and response. These days, I’d probably play more of Lunceford’s version, but this one’s still greaty. Listen on Spotify |
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| 44 | I Like Pie, I Like Cake | Jeter – Pillars “Club Plantation” Orchestra | The Territory Bands, 1935 – 1937 | 2:53 | 158 | 111 |
| The Four Clef’s version is an overplayed swing dance staple – but these days, this is the only one I play I love the little subtleties in it – it’s gentler, but far more fun, and the … extra overtones sound a little less overdone. Watch on YouTube |
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| 43 | Shoot the Sherbert to Me, Herbert | Tommy Dorsey | Historic Jazz Recordings, Volume 4 | 3:14 | 145 | 111 |
| Yes – this song is definitely about confectionary. No drugs references here. Moving on… Listen on Spotify |
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| 42 | I Diddle | Dinah Washington | The Essence Of Dinah Washington | 3:03 | 140 | 112 |
| This goes on the list of ‘stuff I used to play before I knew more about swing’ – but it’s still a great tune. Listen on Spotify |
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| 41 | Your Feet’s Too Big | Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen | The Very Best Of Kenny Ball | 3:09 | 136 | 112 |
| A fun version of the Fred Fischer classic from the late great Kenny Ball. Supposedly, “pedal extremities” lines were initially ad-libbed by Fats Waller. 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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