Swing, jazz and blues - Dance to the music

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you should already have downloaded the February podcast of Hey Mr Jesse, since it has been available for a couple of weeks. I'm sorry I haven't mentioned it until now but I figured that you maybe are hooked on the show like me and downloaded it immidiatly when it became available. Hint: You can subscribe to Hey Mr Jesse on Itunes.

Download Hey Mr Jesse, Feb 2008 (~50MB, mp3)

Alright, moving on to the contents of the current episode of Hey Mr Jesse. (Read the show notes for all details)

The 8-count swing countdown features classic swing tunes and has a favorite song of mine: "Afternoon Of A Moax" by Charlie Barnet. You can hear that tune often when Jonas or Trina are djing as well as Mary's Idea and Summit Ridge Drive.

The show has a good interview with Paul Tillotson & The Love Trio and plays one song, "Blues For Stephanie", from their new album targeted at the dancing audience: Lindy Hop Blues: Live At Jelly Roll.

I love hearing a new killer diller version of "Blues For Stephanie", especially the piano playing, mmmm! You might also be familiar with George Gee's version of the song, that is one solid version that you never can go wrong with. If you as a swing dj have played a song that really didn't go well and the dance floor became empty, put on "Blues For Stephanie" with George Gee and I'll promise you'll have a full dance floor again in no time.

As always I try to write in to Jesse and Manu and provide some comments and swing music recommendations, this is what I wrote (and what they were kind enough to feature).

Thanks for a great January podcast of Hey Mr Jesse!
I thought I would give you more tips about some swingin' European music. This time though, it's jump blues rather than pure swing.

First off, it's Joe Jackson, an Englishman who has done all sorts of music, who decided in the early 1980's to make a swing album. In 1981 he released the album Jumpin' Jive. It has songs like "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (My Baby)", "We the Cats Shall Hep Ya", "Jack, You're Dead" and of course the title track "Jumpin' Jive". It also have a very special version of Tuxedo Junction.

This was way before the swing revival in the mid 1990's (can you belive that it's 10
years since the height of the swing revival?!)

Talking about the the swing revival, I got to mention the Polish band Shakin' Dudi Orchestra which is more of a rock band but in 1999 they where inspired by the Neo-swing bands elsewhere and put out an album called "Swing revival" which has some crazy jump blues energy. Just listen to the song "Mniam, mniam, mniam".

What do you think about Hey Mr Jesse, February edition? Tell me.