Crescent City Jazz at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress Opening

Crescent City Jazz was another nice surprise at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress yesterday. They play New Orleans Jazz, both standards and their own tunes in that style. I first saw Crescent City Jazz in March at a concert at Stabbygården.

Since a company called Nymansbolagen used to make bicycles called Cresent, the band will play tomorrow at a party arranged by a organisation consisting of people who used to work there.



The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Did you see Cresent City Jazz at the opening of Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What did you think of them? Tell me.

Silver Sextett at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress Opening

The Silver Sextett is a group of young jazz musicans that I first wrote about in connection with Youth Jazz Contest. Yesterday they performed at the opening of Uppsalas new concert hall: Uppsala Konsert & Kongress.

It's estimated that more than 10000 people in Uppsala took the chance to see what the new building was like.


The Silver Sextett played, among other songs, Night in Tunisia and It Don't Mean A Thing. It sounded very good.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Did you hear the Silver Sextett yesterday at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What do you think of them? Tell me.

TriAngel at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress Opening

TriAngel played soft vocal jazz but with a modern edgy touch. You can hear more what they sounded like on singer Anna-Karin Westerlunds Myspace page. The group also consists of Hampus Nordgren (bass) and Marko Savela (guitar).




The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Did you see TriAngel at the opening of Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What did you think of them? Tell me.

Uppsala Konsert & Kongress open the doors

In March I blogged about the new concert house in Uppsala: Uppsala Konsert & Kongress. Today the building is finished and at noon the general public will have a first chance to take a look at it from the inside. You will have a spectacular view over the city from the 6th floor.

There will be a lot of different kinds of music played there, including jazz and big bands, more about that later.

Have you visited Uppsala Konsert & Kongress? What's your first impression? Tell me.

Canal Street Syncopators at Kopphagens dansbana: Photos

Last Sunday swing dancers and jazz lovers took the steam train Lennakatten out to Länna outside Uppsala for a dance picnic. We had a wonderful weather, probably the last varm sunny day of summer.

This was the third year in a row we did dance picnic and every year the orchestra Canal Street Syncopators have played their music for us. It was great to hear that they picked up the song Cavernism, I danced with one of my favorite followers to that song.



Before the band played we had taster lessons in partner charleston and solo charleston. I was the sound technician of the day so I set up the sound system and mixed the band. After the band ended I stayed behind the sound table and dj:ed a couple of hours.



The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Where you at the dance picnic at Kopphagens dansbana? What did you think of the day? Tell me.

Hellzapoppin' to "Jumpin' at the Woodside"

A reader of the blog, Hans, tipped me about that a Russian guy had made a version of the famous lindy hop sequence from the film Hellzapoppin' where the music has been substituted to Jumpin' at the Woodside, which was the original song that Frankie Manning choreographed the routine to.
Have a look at the Hellzapoppin' lindy routine done to Jumpin' at the Woodside



Then you can compare it to the original film version of the Hellzapoppin routine:



I think the Jumpin' at the Woodside version is slightly better. You can discuss the video clip over at SwingDjs.com.

Which version do you think is best? Tell me.

Dat Dere - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers

A couple of days ago I mentioned the song Dat Dere by Bobby Timmons. I started looking for versions of that song and found this video clip of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers performing Dat Dere in 1961.



I don't usually listen to bop jazz very much but when it has such a great swinging rhythm section like in this video clip, it's a joy. I love the piano solo. I have to start looking into the music of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers to see if I can find more stuff like this. Got any suggestions?

What do you think of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers playing Dat Dere? Does it appeal to you hard core swing music fans as well? Tell me.

New Orleans T.O.R at Reginateatern

Yesterday I visited Reginateatern, a theatre in Uppsala, that had a presentation of which plays and music acts that will perform there during the autumn. Many of the artists who will perform later on were there to give a sample of what their show will be about.

From a swing and blues music perspective the most interesting act will be "New Orleans T.O.R" where the musicians Ulf Sandström (piano and vocals) and Bo Gustavsson (saxophone and vocals) will talk about New Orleans itself and their travels there (they've visited New Orleans more than 25 times). They are know from their group Jump4Joy.



The show will be in the format of a one hour lunch entertainment once a month (Sep 26th, Oct 10th and Nov 7th). From what I saw, the show will be very entertaining.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

What do you think about the show? Will you go there? Tell me.

Dance picnic with Lennakatten

On Sunday the 26th, there will be a dance picnic in Länna outside Uppsala organized by the dance organisation Swingkatten. For the third year in a row we will take the steam train, Lennakatten, to Länna and the outside dancing place known as "Kopphagens dansbana".

There will be taster lessons in lindy hop and charleston and live music will be played by the orchestra Canal Street Syncopators. After the band have finished I will dj a set with great swing music.

The theme of the picnic is the 1920s-1930s, so if you got any clothing that resembles that era, please wear it, othervise, wear your sunday best clothes.

Read more about the dance picnic at Swingkattens website.

"[A] picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors, ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape. [Wikipedia]"

Are you planning to join the dance picnic? Do you want me to play a certain song? Tell me.

Svante Thuresson & Great Sweet Orchestra: Photos

Yesterday I visited a concert with Svante Thuresson + Induss & Lagerberg Great Sweet Orchestra at Parksnäckan.

Svante Thuresson has had a long career as a singer and you can tell that he is a great artist and a great performer by the way he expresses the songs. He has more expressions during a song than other artists has during a whole concert.

Great Sweet Orchestra has many good jazz musicans which of several are professional musicians. The orchestra has high musical ambitions and the music has a lot of intricate arrangments.



The orchestra played songs like: Especially For You, Waltz For Debbie and Stockholm Sweetning. I enjoyed Pussy Wiggle Stomp which has a 7 beats/bar meter where the drummer and band leader Tobias Lagerberg showed off. My favorite from the concert was "Dat Dere" written by Bobby Timmons, Svante Thuresson sung the Swedish lyrics by Beppe Wolgers and then the song title becomes "Mamma, vad e de?". With my background in swing music I of course liked the extra number Let The Good Times Roll.

Since I'm the official photographer at Parksnäckan I took more photos from the concert, if you like you can also watch pictures from other concerts in the gallery.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Where you at the concert or have you seen Great Sweet Orchestra before? What do you think of them? Tell me.

Good News: Al Norman dances again with his fantastic footwork

Penny Singleton and "Rubber Legs" Al Norman perform this dance number to the song "Good News" from the film Good News from 1930 . The music is played by Abe Lyman and his Orchestra.

It's certainly good news to find this video clip with Al Norman with his extraordinary footwork. Copy this if you can! (Please do!)



What do you think of the video clip with Al Norman dancing to Good News? Tell me.

Rosenberg Trio - It Don't Mean a Thing

Let's jump start this week with lightning fast gypsy jazz version of "It Don't Mean a Thing (If You Ain't Got That Swing)" performed by the Rosenberg Trio at Jazz Festival of Django Reinhardt.



The Rosenberg trio consists of Stochelo Rosenberg, Nous'che Rosenberg and Nonnie Rosenberg.

What do you think of this version of "It Don't Mean a Thing (If You Ain't Got That Swing)" played by the Rosenberg Trio? Tell me.

Swing Dancing in Untamed Youth

Dance is intimately connected to music. When the music style changes so does the dance. If you dance the same way as you are used to, you not really paying attention to the music. Your dancing style should reflect what the music expresses.

When early rock and roll appeared in 1950's the music became rougher with the introduction of the electric guitar, the music was wilder and more rebellious . The dance of course reflected the music.

Here is a movie clip from the film Untamed Youth from 1957 where there is a lot of wild swing dancing going on. Mamie Van Doren sings to a song by Eddie Cochran.




When you are swing dancing to rock and roll music, you need to be aware that the music often has 4 bar breaks (and even 8 bar breaks) instead of 2 bar breaks as in classic swing music.

What do you think of the video clip with swing dancing from Untamed Youth? Tell me.

Yehoodi talk show: Herräng Dance Camp

There is a good episode available of the Yehoodi talk show where they visit the Herräng dance camp and show us around and talk to organisers, participants and teachers.

You can get a glimpse of what it's like there but as they say in the talk show: There is so much other stuff going on at Herräng Dance Camp that it is impossible to fit it all into a one hour show, you just have to be there. In the show I spotted some friends and acquaintances.

So, check out episode (4x20) of Yehoodi talk show.

What did you think of the talk show? Were you in Herräng this year? Any stories that you like to share? Tell me.

dancehistory.org: Learn about swing dance and jazz dance history

Are you interested in the history of swing dances and jazz dances that evolved from the 1920s to the 1940s? Then you should visit dancehistory.org which is a website dedicated to just that.


From the mission statement:

Dancehistory.org is a collective of dance historians and enthusiast researching, sharing and promoting the history of American Jazz dance.

Dancehistory.org got a discussion forum where you can disuss both the history as well as dancing of these dances today. You can also learn about jazz and swing music.

This is a great resource that dancer and dance historian Peter Loggins has founded. Yay!

What do you think of dancehistory.org? Tell me.

Dean Martin - Forever Cool

Today a new album with Dean Martin called "Forever Cool" has been released. You may wonder how that's possible since Dean Martin died in 1995 but what they have done is to take old tracks with Dean Martin's song and pair them with new arrangements and new duet singers like Robbie Williams, Martina McBride, Joss Stone, Shelby Lynne, Kevin Spacey and bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

The album features classic Dean Martin songs like "Ain't That A Kick In The Head", "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone" and "Baby It's Cold Outside".

See a trailer for the "Dean Martin: Forever Cool" album.


Have you listened to the album "Forever Cool" with Dean Martin? What do you think? Tell me.

A Song Is Born: How to use jazz to save a damsel in distress

A bunch of music professors somehow get taken hostage by mobsters and uses swing music to get free to save the damsel in distress from being forced to marry the mob leader. That is the setup for this video clip from the movie "A song is born" (1948).

The music professors are helped by no others than Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet and Danny Kaye.



The song is the clip is Flying Home that was written by Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman. A Song Is Born" is a remake of the film "Ball Of Fire" (1941).

Have you seen "A Song Is Born"? What do you think of it? Tell me.

Floy Floy Photography

Floy Floy Photography is my photography business. I'm a freelance photographer and I specialize in concert and dance photography.

You can have a look at my jazz and blues concert photos here at the blog. I'm also the official photographer for the outdoor summer concerts at Parksnäckan.

If you would like to use the photos, you can licence them from me. Just contact me.

If you like to hire me as a photographer, contact me at floyfloy@theheartofgold.org.

Hey Mr Jesse: August podcast

The Hey Mr Jesse podcast for August where Jesse Miner and Manu Smith talks about swinging jazz and blues that matters to dancers and is available now.

As usual they feature good solid swing music that they have found both online and in music stores. This time they also feature novelty tunes, in the sense that the tunes are not swing songs from the start but where someone has made a swing arrangement of the song. One example is "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (originally by Nirvana) by Paul Anka on the album Rock Swings.

Another example they use is songs from Richard Cheese, who is a lounge singer in Las Vegas that makes crooner versions of every kind of contemporary songs, from Snoop Dogg and Limp Bizkit to Eminem. I first heard Richard Cheese in a clothes store a couple of months ago, but I have been hesitant to blog about him because it's mostly novelty music for swing dancers, but since Jesse Miner mentions him I guess I can do it too.

Take a look at this CNN segment with an interview with Richard Cheese:



The Hey Mr Jesse podcast got lots more content, including a interview with singer Linda Hopkins and a countdown of fantastic songs for dance jams. Take a look at all the details at the show notes for the August podcast.

Download the Hey Mr Jesse podcast August edition [ 48 MB, mp3]

See what I have written about Hey Mr Jesse before.

What do you think of the August edition of Hey Mr Jesse? Tell me.

Alain's dance blog about lindy hop and jazz music

I just found out about Alain Wong's dance blog about lindy hop and jazz music that he recently started. Alain Wong is a dance teacher at Cat’s Corner in Montreal and also a swing dj.

He covers the same topics as I do: swing music and swing dance, but maybe with a little more focus on dance than I have.

Well, it's a very good start so far and I'm adding his blog in my RSS-reader.

Check out his blog.

Is there any other blogs out there that you think I should know about? Tell me.

Lars Erstrand Four: Photos

Last week I listened to Lars Erstrand Four when they played at the outdoor stage at Parksnäckan in Uppsala.




They played the songs: "Beautiful Friendship", "Cherokee", "The Things We Did Last Summer", "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans", "I Want To Be Happy", "I Found A New Baby", "Satin Doll", "It Might As Well Be Spring", "When You're Smiling", "All The Things You Are". My favorite song for the evening was "Timme's Blues". A really swinging song with great rhythm.

The featured guest, jazz fiddler Gunnar Lidberg, was great and played some songs by Svend Asmussen.



During the talk between the songs I found out that there have been an outdoor dancing place a few hundred meter south of Parksnäckan where there nowadays is a mini golf course. The dancing place was run by a woman named Saga Hedén. I would be fun to know more about this place, do you know something? Please tell me.

It would be nice to have an outdoor dancing place here in Uppsala during the summer. We dance at quayside every now and then but a place with a roof in a sunnier location would be great. A place for dancers of all kinds of dances to use. I have an idea that I would like to pitch to the city council, but that would take some work, if you're interested in helping me, let me know.



Lars Erstrand have met his idol Lionel Hampton several times and one time Lionel Hampton gave him this advice:

"If you got an audience that doesn't want to go home, just play a really slow ballad."

Consequently, the band ended the concert with "A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square".



The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Have you heard Lars Erstrand Four? What do you think of them? Tell me.

Fats Waller sings Ain't misbehavin' with Myra Johnson

Ain't misbehavin' is a classic jazz standard by Fats Waller that he wrote in 1929 and Andy Razaf wrote the lyrics. Take a look at this soundie from 1941 where Fats Waller sings Ain't misbehavin' together with Myra Johnson.



Fats Waller had a distinctive voice and a certain performing style with his running commentary all through the song. He was a great entertainer.

Do you know anything more about Myra Johnson?

What do you think of Fats Waller singing Ain't misbehavin'? Tell me.

Glenn Miller - In The Mood

If you ask a person on the street to name a swing song, many would probably say "In the Mood" performed by Glenn Miller. In the Mood is a one of the classic swing songs that everybody should know of. What many people don't know is that the main theme in the song comes from Tar Paper Stomp by Wingy Manone. The Glenn Miller version is credited to Joseph C Garland.

Here is a video clip with Glenn Miller and his orchestra performing "In the Mood" from the film Sun Valley Serenade (1941).

I always thought of Glenn Miller and his band as a quite polished band and I didn't know that they could be so showy, maybe it's because it is a film, I don't know if they did the same thing when they played for dancers in the real world (do you know?).

However, it's great to hear the energy and see the female character played by Sonja Henie get swept into digging the band. As I like to say: "The music made me do it". Resistance is futile.

I can't really tell but about 3:00 in the clip it looks like there is couple dancing balboa, but I'm not sure. What do you think?

You can read more about what other people think about Sun Valley Serenade over at Amazon.com.

What do you think about the video clip with Glenn Miller and his orchestra playing "In the Mood? Tell me.

The Nicholas Brothers perform “Lucky Numbers”

Enjoy this video clip with The Nicholas Brothers tap dancing to "Lucky Number".

The video clip is from The Black Network, a 1936 short with a fifteen-year-old Harold and twenty-two-year-old Fayard Nicholas performing “Lucky Numbers” by Cliff Hess.

About 45 seconds from the end you can hear a riff borrowed from the song Nagasaki (from 1928 written by Harry Warren, who also wrote Chattanoga Choo Choo).

If you like this clip you'll also like Jumpin' Jive with Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers and Glenn Miller Orchestra with Chattanooga Choo Choo featuring Dorothy Dandridge together with Fayard and Harold.

What do you think of the video clip with The Nicholas Brothers performing “Lucky Numbers”? Tell me.

Brigitte Bardot sings Les amis de la musique

Who would have expected to see a video clip with Brigitte Bardot singing a hot jazz song? Take a look at her singing "Les amis de la musique" where she also dance some charleston. Quite charming.



Do anyone know where this video clip with Brigitte Bardot is from? Tell me if you know anything more about it.

What did you think of Brigitte Bardot singing "Les amis de la musique"? Tell me.

Lars Erstrand Four feat. Gunnar Lidberg

Tonight Lars Erstrand Four featuring Gunnar Lidberg will play at an outdoor concert at Parksnäckan in Uppsala.

The band consists of Lars Erstrand (vibraphone), Bertil Fernqvist (guitar), Arne Wilhelmsson (bass) and Björn Sjödin (drums). Gunnar Lidberg plays violin.

The concert starts at 19.30 and costs 90 kr (70 kr with UNT-card).

The photo of Bertil Fernqvist is taken by me at Uppsala Winter Swing and may not be used elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license it.

Have you heard Lars Erstrand Four before? What do you think of them? Tell me.

Documentary: A Place To Dance

I got an email from supervising producer Jason Wehling at Arts & Labor about the documentary film: "A Place To Dance".

This is how he describes the documentary:

"A PLACE TO DANCE follows New Orleans' longest-running big band, The Pat Barberot Orchestra, and in addition to capturing the feel of big band and the swing dancing that accompanies it, we've gotten into the personal lives of some of the musicians and fans who've been involved with the Orchestra for years (some since the 1940s).

When Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005, many of our subjects lost their homes, and the dancehall the band performs in sustained major damage, but they pushed forward, and in the end, we think these folks dedication to the music speaks volumes."

Here is a video clip from the documentary "A Place To Dance":



This seems to be a wonderful documentary about swing music and dance and I would love to see the whole film. If you would like to know more about the film, take a look at the film's official website.

Have you seen the documentary "A Place To Dance"? What do you think of it? Tell me.