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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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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #100: Livery Stable Blues

Written by on 30.01.2012 · Leave a Comment
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #100: "Livery Stable Blues" by Original Dixieland Jass Band

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. [...]

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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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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #97: Some Of These Days

Written by on 09.01.2012 · Leave a Comment
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #97: Some Of These Days by Mario "Harp" Lorenzi | Shuffle Projects

“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 [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #96: Flaming Reeds and Screaming Brass

Written by on 02.01.2012 · Leave a Comment
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #96: "Flaming Reeds And Screaming Brass" by Jimmie Lunceford

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. [...]

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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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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #94: Petite Fleur

Written by on 19.12.2011 · Leave a Comment
DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week: "Petite Fleur" by Sidney Bechet | Shuffle Projects

During this week, my son will celebrate his first birthday! I dedicate this Song of the Week to him. Petite Fleur means “Little Flower” and I think, it suits perfectly to him. This beautiful and sentimental song was composed by Sidney Bechet, my personal king of the soprano saxophone. He recorded it several times in the fifties with different formations. After performing as a soloist at the Salle Pleyel Jazz Festival in Paris, Bechet decided to move to France in 1950 where he spent the rest of his life. There he was a major celebrity and national hero. Before his [...]

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