Swinging Projects for Lindy Hop & Balboa Dancers
O n e H u n d r e d ! Wow! I never thought I will write 100 Song of the Week posts, and there is still no end of the series in sight! What song should be posted as the 100th song? I decided to feature a song what had made history. So, it’s not about dancing today, it’s about the first Jazz song ever recorded. Unfortunately, I have to say, the first Jazz recording was not by a black artist, it was by a white group. A black musician had the chance to be the first, though. [...]
I just stumbled upon Project Q (thanks to Jerry Salmonte’s Facebook Page!) and I would like to coordinate a group of dancers in and around Zurich to participate in this project! What is Project Q about The following description is taken from their website: “The goal of Project Q is to bring Lindy Hoppers from around the globe to illustrate, in a visual way, the power behind future technologies that are based on the laws of quantum mechanics. To pull this off we need your help. The idea is to have different scenes from around the world film themselves dancing [...]
Una Mae Carlisle (26.12.1915 – 7.11.1956) was “discovered” by Fats Waller when she was seventeen. He heard her entertaining in Cincinatti, where she used to be a live and radio performer and he invited her to play on his radio show at WLW radio station. She was very influenced by him and her boogie woogie/stride piano style was similar to his. She also took over the inclusion of comedy elements in her sets, like Waller used to do. In 1936, Una Mae left the US to tour Europe. She spent the next three years mostly in London and Paris to perform [...]
Promoting events is not the main purpose of this blog. But from time to time, I make an exception. Especially when they are happening in Switzerland and are attracting international dancers. Shuffle the House For the third edition, Marcia Bodenmann and Jonas Maggiori expanded their organization team with Tina Foppa and Coco Akerman. What stays is the idea: to organize an intimate Balboa workshop with parties in beautiful locations and venues, nestled in a quaint landscape in the northeast of Switzerland – in Schaffhausen. There will be some side attractions like a flea market and more surprises. Workshop 10 hours [...]
I have to bring this song, it’s too good, although it might be a little bit overplayed right now, especially on the Balboa dance floors. Well, some of you might know the song from “Lindy Chorus“, a routine choreographed by Frankie Manning. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is an example of “Lindy Chorus” from 2011: Now what’s the song? It’s Wednesday Night Hop by Andy Kirk. Andy Kirk took over Terrence Holder’s Dark Clouds Of Joy in 1928, renamed it first in Andy Kirk and his Dark Clouds Of Joy and then Andy Kirk and his Twelve [...]
This is my second post of the super short series “My 2 Top Swing Albums released in 2011“. If you missed the first one, then you can read here part 1. Third Album After “Swingmatism” (2006) and “Live at the Legion” (2009), The Solomon Douglas Swingtet released their third Album “Ain’t No School Like The Old School” in April 2011. This studio album was recorded at the end of a three-week tour of the eastern states and provinces (in the US), having played 16 gigs in 20 days. Led By A Swing Dancer and DJ The ten-piece band is led [...]
“Some Of These Days” was originally composed and written in 1910 by Shelton Brooks but it is associated with Sophie Tucker, because it became her signature song. It has been recorded by many other artists and it is also very popular among contemporary bands playing in the New Orleans tradition. As a regular reader of this series you know, that I like swing songs played with uncommon instruments, here it’s a harp, played by Mario “Harp” Lorenzi. I got introduced to this Song of the Week by Mitya Kuznetsov – a great swing DJ from Moscow! – at The Snowball [...]
YouTube is full of surprises. Again and again you can discover new clips and documentaries about Swing dancing. Yesterday, I’ve found (via Facebook) a documentary from 1988 about Lindy Hop, uploaded by “sabinoson”. The Call Of The Jitterbug A film by Jesper Sorensen, Vibeke Winding and Tana Ross. Edited by Rachel Reichman. Featured among others are Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, George Lloyd and Mama Lu Parks.
ENGLISH version: find this event on Facebook Lasst uns das neue Jahr shuffelnderweise willkommen heissen, an der ersten Zürich Balboa Night in 2012! Zürich Balboa Night Host Christian Bossert Zeit 21.00 – 1.00h DJs Special Guest DJ Romanoff und DJ Chrisbe die heissesten Balboa-Tunes für euch! Ort Downtownswing, Friedaustrasse 17, 8003 Zürich Kosten CHF 15/10 für die Party Stir It!-Mitglieder erhalten CHF 5 Rabatt! Latest News Es geht das Gerücht um, dass eine Berner Delegation an die Balboa Night kommt! Nächste Balboa Night 3. Februar 2012 Die Zürich Balboa Night findet in der Regel jeden 1. Freitag im Monat statt; [...]
This is a song I have in my library since a long time but interestingly I didn’t play it until last Saturday at The Snowball in Stockholm. It’s an uptempo song with unexpected breaks and sound patterns. First, you wait until the song really starts when you realize, that you are already in the midst of it. Interestingly, “Flaming Reeds and Screaming Brass” was a test recording by the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra from 1933 for Columbia and not released before the late 1960s on LP! James Melvin “Jimmie” Lunceford (6.6.1902 – 12.07.1947) was a multiinstrumentalist but mostly famous as bandleader. [...]
