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

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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

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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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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #93: Moonglow

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #93: "Moonglow" (Take 2) by Benny Goodman Quartet

I’m a big admirer of Benny Goodman’s small group recordings from 1935 to 1939. He recorded with different group sizes and what I like is the relaxness in the songs, there is so much joy of play hearable. The sound is full and often, you get the feeling, there were many more musicians involved than actually were. Most of the recordings were done as a quartet, with Gene Krupa on drums, Teddy Wilson on piano and Lionel Hampton on vibes. Please note, that two of the musicians (Wilson and Hampton) were black. It was quite uncommon at that time to [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #92: Little Sir Echo

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week: "Little Sir Echo" by Rex Stewart & Dickie Wells | Shuffle Projects

With “Rexatious” [SOTW #89] we have learned, that Rex Stewart was famous for his talkative style (among other styles). This week I would like to feature a song where this technique is more hearable. But before, I need to introduce another jazz musician who had perfected a similar sound but with a different instrument. William “Dickie” Wells (10.06.1907/09 – 12.11.1985) was a leading black American trombonist noted, especially in the swing era, for his melodic creativity and expressive techniques. [source: biography.com] Scott Yanow on allmusic.com describes Wells as follows: “One of the more adventurous trombonists of the swing era, the distinctive [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #91: ‘Tain’t What You Do

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #91: "'Tain't What You Do" by Jimmie Lunceford

When you are an experienced dancer, then you know this song for sure. If you are a beginner, then here is a song you have to know! It was one of Frankie Manning‘s favourite songs and it is very often used for the Shim Sham. It Ain’t What You Do (It’s The Way That You Do It) was composed by Melvin “Sy” Oliver and co-written with Trummy Young. It was first recorded in 1939 by Jimmie Lunceford and his orchestra. Sy Oliver (17.12.1910 – 28.05.1988) was a trumpeter, vocalist, composer and arranger. In 1933 he joined Jimmie Lunceford’s orchestra to [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #90: Stompin’ At The Riverside

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #90: "Stompin' At The Riverside" by Spade Cooley

A genre I haven’t touched so far is Western Swing, the forerunner of American Country music. One of its big stars was Spade Cooley – self proclaimed as the “King of Western Swing“. Donnell Clyde “Spade” Cooley (17.12.1910 – 23.11.1969) was an American Western Swing violinist and big band leader. He also was a successful actor in western films and TV host. Unfortunately, he was convicted of murdering his wife Ella Mae Evans in 1961. In 1969 he suffered a fatal heart attack. You can find a biography on Wikipedia or on biography.com. Stompin’ At The Riverside is great tune [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #89: Rexatious

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #89: "Rexatious" by Rex Stewart & His 52nd Street Stompers

Sometimes, it’s really difficult to explain in words why I like a certain song so much. Rexatious is one of them. Nevertheless, I’ll try it anyway. It must be the rhythm section! This steady ongoing beat “boom-ta-boom-ta” by the drums and then the bass, first only on 1 and 3 and after the break at ca. 0:40 on every beat, is like a heart beat going through that song. Of course, this is always the sense of the rhythm section but here it sounds differently! I don’t want forget the other instruments in this song, but this rhythm is just [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #88: Honeysuckle Rose

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #88: "Honeysuckle Rose" by Fats Waller

Another very influential jazz pianist I haven’t written about so far, was Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller (21.05.1904 – 15.12.1943). He was a master of stride piano, but also organist, composer, singer and funny entertainer. Waller’s father was a Baptist lay preacher and his mother played piano and organ. He started to play piano at age six. When he was ten, he learned playing organ in his father’s church. Five years later, he composed his first rag called “Squeeze Me“. In 1922 he made his first record for Okeh at age 18. After that he backed various blues singers, worked as [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #87: Troubled

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #87: "Troubled" by Frankie Trumbauer with Glenn Miller

This gem was introduced to me by Kyle Smith while his Music Madness at this year’s The Experiment. Frankie “Tram” Trumbauer (30.05.1901 – 11.06.1956) was a leading saxophonist (mainly C-melody saxophone, and alto saxophone) and one of the major bandleaders during the 1920s and 1930s. He is regarded as grandfather of modern jazz and influenced many following jazz musicians. Lester Young was one of them. After playing in different dance orchestras he became a member of Jean Goldkette’s Orchestra of which he eventually became the musical director. In the late 1920s, he cut some of the definitive records of the [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #86: Postcard To Fere

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #86: Postcard To Fere

I just realised that this is the first Song of the Week coming from Switzerland and it’s a song, which title is requested a lot, when I’m spinning it for dancers. Erich Nussbaum (born 11.12.1953) is a rhythm and lead guitarist. There is not much information available about him. He is a self-made man who arranges and produces his CDs himself. Postcard To Fere is a self-composed song in the gypsy swing tradition inspired by Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli. It is a greeting to Fere Scheidegger, another Swiss guitarist and bandleader of Fere’s Hot Strings. Line-Up: Erich Nussbaum – [...]

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