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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #103: When I Grow Too Old To Dream

Written by on 20.02.2012 · Leave a Comment
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #103: "When I Grow Too Old To Dream" by Arnett Cobb (1959)

After last week’s song from the 1970s, here is another fantastic tune which was recorded many years after the swing era: When I Grow Too Old To Dream” by Arnett Cobb. Arnett Cobb (Aug. 10, 1918 – Mar. 24, 1989), born Arnette Cleophus Cobbs,  played briefly piano and violin before switching to tenor saxophone. His style was based between swing and early rhythm & blues. Cobb worked with Frank Davis (1933), Chester Boone (1934-1936) and the Milt Larkin Orchestra (1936-1942). The latter was never recorded, though. When Cobb was succeeding Illinois Jacquet with Lionel Hampton‘s Big Band (1942-1947), he gained his initial fame. [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #102: Rosetta

Written by on 13.02.2012 · Leave a Comment
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #102: "Rosetta" by Al Casey (1973)

Sometimes, I know exactly which song I would like to feature next and I write down the post in a short time. But at times, I only know a certain criteria the song should have – e.g. a slower tempo – but can’t decide which song. Then I change and change again and eventually, I have spent an hour or more, only to pick a song. This week, the latter was the case. However, I have found one deep in my library and here is a new song for you: comfortable tempo, groovy, quite long actually . Rosetta The song [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #101: Gift For The Club (I Found A New Baby)

Written by on 06.02.2012 · 2 Comments
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #101: "Gift For The Club (I Found A New Baby)" by Buck Clayton

After 100, there is a new 1! It’s like to push reset and start from the beginning. Now, I mean this in a figurative sense. So far, I tried to avoid too many repetitions of artists and song titles. From now on, I will be less strict with myself. Let’s start with the next bundle of 100 songs . As you may know, “I Found A New Baby” is one of my all time favorite songs and I love to collect as many versions of it as I could find. This Song of the Week is a wonderful version by Buck [...]

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Project Q – Lindy Hoppers for Science: Who’s in from Zurich?

Written by on 23.01.2012 · 13 Comments
Project Q - Lindy Hoppers for Science: Who's in from Zürich?

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 [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #99: Oh I’m Evil

Written by on 23.01.2012 · Leave a Comment
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #99: "Oh I'm Evil" by Una Mae Carlisle | Shuffle Projects

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 [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #98: Wednesday Night Hop

Written by on 16.01.2012 · Leave a Comment
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #98: Wednesday Night Hop by Andy Kirk

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 [...]

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Top Swing Albums of 2011: Solomon Douglas Swingtet “Ain’t No School Like The Old School”

Written by on 12.01.2012 · Leave a Comment
Best of 2011: Ain't No School Like The Old School by Solomon Douglas Swingtet | Shuffle Projects

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 [...]

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Documentary: The Call Of The Jitterbug

Written by on 08.01.2012 · 1 Comment
Documentary Call Of The Jitterbug

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.

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #95: Four Or Five Times

Written by on 26.12.2011 · Leave a Comment
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #95: "Four Or Five Times" by Jimmie Noone | Shuffle Projects

From a few songs, I like to collect different versions. “Four Or Five Times” is one of them and this week’s song is one of my alltime favourite swing tunes. A recording from 1937 by Jimmie Noone (23.04.1895-19.04.1944). Beside Johnny Dodds and Sidney Bechet, Jimmie Noone is considered one of the three top New Orleans clarinetists of the 1920s. Noone had a smoother tone and his style influenced many musicians of the Swing era of the 1930s and 1940s, such as Benny Goodman. As a child, he played the guitar before he started to take clarinet lessons at age 15. [...]

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Top Swing Albums of 2011: Doctor Bernard and His Swing Orchestra “Let’s Dance”

Written by on 23.12.2011 · Leave a Comment
Best of 2011: Let's Dance by Doctor Bernard and His Swing Orchestra | Shuffle Projects

Musical Hero Benny Goodman One of my favourite contemporary swing musicians, a fabulous clarinetist from the Netherlands, is Bernard Berkhout. Bernard used to play with small groups, but after reading the book “Swingin’ the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture” by Lewis A. Erenberg [Amazon.de | Amazon.com], he realized the historical importance of his musical hero Benny Goodman and he was so inspired, that he started his own big band. That was in 2008. The big band album was in the air since more than a year, but we had to be patient, until it was [...]

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