Swing and Blues Corner Posts

Published Jun 10th, 2016 by

Spotlight on … Bob Crosby

Bob Crosby's Bob-Cats
Bob Crosby’s Bob-Cats

On of Bing Crosby’s brothers, Bob Crosby was singer for the big band, the Bob Crosby Orchestra, and the smaller trad version – Bob Crosby’s Bob-Cats, whose lineups at various times included Yank Lawson, Billy Butterfield, Charlie Spivak, Muggsy Spanier, Irving Fazola, Nappy Lamare, Ward Silloway, Warren Smith, Joe Sullivan, Bob Zurke, Jess Stacy, Bob Haggart, Walt Yoder, Jack Sperling and Ray Bauduc. These bands were founded as a cooperative, but Bob Crosby was chosen as front-man for his movie-star looks, his personality, and, of course, his name.

Their music was, in a word, spectacular.

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Artist Spotlight DJing General rambles Music

Published Mar 29th, 2016 by

Robert Altman’s Jazz 34

Here’s the clip which started it all for me.

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLgh5ZT2kOs”]

It’s an eight-year old social demo from Dax Hock and Jo Hoffberg (Emily Hoffberg back then), and when I first saw it as a relatively new dancer and DJ, it blew my mind. I loved the track, was mesmerised by the constantly changing rhythms that they were picking out of the music, and just played around with. I absolutely had to find the song, which turned out to be a relatively modern version of King Porter Stomp. It took me a while, I’m ashamed to say, but eventually I tracked it down to an album called KC After Dark, by the Kansas City Band.

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General rambles Music

Published Mar 4th, 2016 by

“Bebop Killed Us”

General rambles Music

bebop music norma miller swing

Published Jul 25th, 2015 by

Swing Summit 2015 Set List

Swing Summit 2015 - Group 3
Swing Summit

Swing Summit this year was, for me, the best Swing Summit yet. Given that Swing Summit is never anything less than inspirational, that’s a pretty big thing. If you’re focussed on learning and improving your dance, this is the one to go to – if could spend all summer there, I probably would.

Anyway – I promised I’d publish a setlist from the Sunday night, so here it is.

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DJing General rambles Music Set Lists

Published Feb 9th, 2015 by

That Rhythm Section

Basie & RhythmI’ve been talking a lot for a while now about the role of swing music in Lindy hop and the other swing dances. For that matter, for the last three years, I’ve been giving an ever-evolving talk about swing music, what it is, what it so irresistible for dancers – what makes it swing, in other words. What I haven’t really done is to distill that talk down and start putting my thoughts on it online – I’ve touched on it in a couple of posts, but no more than that.

So I want to talk about what makes the music what it is – and I want to do this with a dancers’ focus. Not all swing is great for Lindy, so my focus inevitably turns to the music that I like to play for dancers.

What better place to start than with the rhythm section? For most swing bands the rhythm section is the cornerstone of the band – a driving force, as it were, to provide basic timing and energy for the rest of the musicians, which the band can use to build on.

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DJing General rambles Live Music

Published Oct 18th, 2014 by

Guest Post by Gillian Scott: Pre-Prepared Playlists vs Live DJing

GillianI was chatting to a dancer at an event recently while I was waiting to begin my DJ slot. It turned out that she assumed that DJs have a pre-prepared set list which we play and maybe tweak a little as we go along.

Most of the DJs I know don’t use pre-prepared lists and certainly Lindy Jazz DJs me and Andy don’t. Instead we choose what we are going to play “on the fly” responding in real time to the energy in the room, the mood and previous DJ choices. You will see us watching the floor with our earphones on sifting through our music collection choosing the best track to play next. Quite often we will choose the next track and then change our mind literally seconds before it is due to start and replace it with something better!

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General rambles

Published Aug 10th, 2014 by

DJing Essentials – The External Sound Card

Epiphany e-DAC
Epiphany e-DAC

Welcome to another of the bees in my bonnet – the use of an external sound card while DJing from a laptop.

First question: what is an external sound card?

Very simply: it’s a gadget, usually USB-powered. You plug one end into your laptop. You plug the other into a mixing desk, some kind of speaker, headphones, you name it. Sound comes out.

Second question: I have a perfectly good headphone socket on my laptop – why on earth should I spend money on something like this?

Well – there’s a host of answers to this.

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DJing

Published Jul 10th, 2014 by

More Lionel Hampton

Lionel Hampton was chiefly known for his vibraphone playing and his drumming skills, which were phenomenal. What’s a little less known is that he was a a very impressive pianist… but what’s a little bizarre is that he generally played with a two-finger style – a little akin to his vibes playing. And it was still amazing.

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