Louis Armstrong - I can't give you anything but love

What do you think of Louis Armstrong singing "I can't give you anything but love"? Please comment.

Stockholm Classic Jazz Band: Concert Sun 30 nov at Pub 19

Join me tomorrow, Sunday Nov 30th, at a concert with Stockholm Classic Jazz Band at Pub 19 in Uppsala at 15.00.

Stockholm Classic Jazz Band play trad jazz and has some of the very best musicians in that genre: Bent Persson (trumpet), Jens Lindgren (trombon, song), Göran Eriksson (clarinet, alto saxophone), Holger Gross (banjo, guitar, bandleader), Göran Lind (bass) and Christer Ekhé (drums).

The concert is arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club.

What do you think of Stockholm Classic Jazz Band? Please comment.

Jazz photography: The Great Jazz Party

Last Saturday I attended the concert The Great Jazz Party. The concert hall was almost sold out. It was a really good concert, how could it not be that way with some of Swedens best jazz musicians in the band. I'm especially thinking of Klas Lindquist, Klas Toresson, Karl Olandersson and Andreas Pettersson and of course the maestro himself: Ulf Johansson Werre.



Two vocalist were featured in the concert: Roger Pontare and Vivian Buczek. Roger Pontare is known for his songs with a strong ethnic influence from northern Sweden (which you might have guessed by his clothes in the picture above) but he has also recorded an album with Frank Sinatra songs.

Vivian Buczek comes from the other end of Sweden, from the town Malmö, in the very south of Sweden. I've heard her before when she sang with Claes Crona Trio at Katalin last year.

Both singers sang excellent.



At the concert they played a song that I heard a couple of times but never known what it's called, now I got it: Filthy McNasty written by Horace Silver. (Hear a clip of Filthy McNasty at Youtube).

If you want to see more of my photos from the jazz concert, take a look here: The Great Jazz Party at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress 2008.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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 of Great Jazz Party? Please comment.

Ondrej Havelka - Sing, Sing, Sing

I discovered Ondřej Havelka pretty much one year ago when he sang Beat Me Daddy Eight To he Bar and later on with Jingle Bells.

Today I have a clip where Ondřej Havelka performs Sing, Sing, Sing from his show "How jazz was born and reached Bohemia". As I said bfore: who wouldn't like to be multi-talented like him: singer, dancer, comedian, actor and director. Wow.

Apparently there is a DVD where all his short movies are collected: "Ondrej Havelka uvadi Temer kompletni almanach filmovych pisni".

If someone would give me this DVD, I would be so happy. If I have a fan of the blog in the Czech Republic: if you really like this blog, send me a copy, please.

What do you think of Ondřej Havelka and the Melody Makers playing Sing, Sing, Sing? Please comment.

Cats Corner at Grand tonight

The venue for our weekly dance night Cats Corner has changed for the rest of the season due to unforseen problems. Tonight and next week we will be at Grand. What a super location. Tonight's dj is Trina Dobbs.

As usual: 20-23. 20 kr. Lots of fun!

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to buy or license it.

What do you think of Cats Corner this season? Please comment.

Artie Shaw - Lady Be Good

Here is a terrific up-tempo version of Lady Be Good done by Artie Shaw and his orchestra. In the video clip you also see couples dancing collegiate shag (or possibly some other form of shag).

I spot Buddy Rich at the drums, but who are the other musicans in the clip, can you help me identify them?

What do you think of the video clip with Artie Shaw playing Lady Be Good? Please comment.

Great Jazz Party: Roger Pontare + Vivian Buczek

Tonight it's time again for The Great Jazz Party at Uppsala Konsert & Kongress. Ulf Johansson Werre has assembled a big band with professional jazz musicians. The concert features the singers Roger Pontare and Vivian Buczek.

Th concert starts at 19.

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

Will you attend The Great Jazz Party? Please comment.

Charleston dancing in Europe in the 1920's

Charleston became a dance craze in the 1920's and traveled over to Europe as well. Above is a video clip from 1929 with a British band and some dancers dancing Charleston.

If you are interested in old footage from the 1920's and 1930's, you should check out the YouTube profile for jozefsterkens, who posted the clip above. He has posted over 700 other video clips.

You can find out more about dance history at http://dancehistory.org/

What do you think of the video clip with Charleston dancing? Please comment.

Swing djing: shaping the floor

To shape the floor is to look at dance floor and see what mood and energy is and deciding in what direction to go. Faster or slower tempo? Big band or small group? Older or modern recording? Vocal or instrumental? Experienced or inexperienced dancers? Crowded floor or lots of space? Which people are dancing together? Theme of the night? Face of the moon?

You as a dj shapes the floor, the dancers respond and you adjust. What would be a good song right now and in what direction will it take us?

It's almost like a dance itself, the dj provides a lead: "Lets try this move (song)" and the crowd follows "Cool, and look at what extra styling I just added to the move". "Yeah! Ok, then you'll probably like this next move"

The photo above is from last night at Cats Corner where Jonas Pettersson djed.

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to buy or license it.

What do you think of last night at Cats Corner? Please comment.

Benjamin Ricard and Geneviève Kérouac swingin' effortless

Take a look at the video clip above where Benjamin Ricard and Geneviève Kérouac dance in the American Lindy Hop Championship (ALHC) 2006 in the open showcase division.

They took 1st place and no nobody needs to wonder why. Their dance routine seems so effortless and relaxed which tells me that it must have taken lots of hard work to make it look that way.

The song is "Swingin' The Blues" but what orchestra plays it? I haven't heard this version before.

What do you think of the video clip? Please comment.

Takin' it Back with Barack, Jack!

Today is the election for president in the USA, so I got to feature this video with Will Galison and His Orchestra singing a song they call "Takin' it Back with Barack, Jack!" which is a version of Louis Jordan's Choo Choo Ch' Boogie with new lyrics.

[Via the Hey Mr Jesse November podcast and Rich Werden]

What do you think of the song? Please comment.

Hey Mr Jesse: November podcast with Nikki Yanofsky

The November episode of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse is just released.

Hey Mr Jesse is a great monthly podcast where the swing djs Jesse Miner and Manu 'Spuds' Smith talk about swingin' music that matters to dancers.

This episode they got an interview with the Canadian jazz singer Nikki Yanofsky who just released her first album. Take a look at what more is in the show: read the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse November 2008.

Download the November 2008 episode of Hey Mister Jesse. (~50 MB, mp3)

This is my mail contribution to the November podcast:

Since I celebrate my 10th anniversary as a lindy hopper I'd like to highlight one of the songs that I associate with learning lindy hop.

The song is "Three Cool Cats" with the Swedish band Jump4Joy. The band is led by Ulf Sandström (a great boogie woogie piano player) and "Mighty" Bo Gustavsson (on tenor sax).

Their website can be found at: http://www.jump4joy.se/

I also celebrate my 500th post on my blog. Jeez, that's a lot of posts!

One of the best videos that I've featured on the blog is of Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears playing the song "Truckin" where Ina Ray also taps.

If that video don't get you in a good mood, you should probably see a doctor.

Take a look at what I've written about the previous Hey Mr Jesse podcasts.

What do you think of the Hey Mr Jesse November podcast? Please comment.

Diga Diga Doo - Paolo Conti & Sebastien Ménière

Diga diga doo is one of my favorite songs. Usually you hear versions by Artie Shaw or Benny Goodman, but you have never heard it like this when it's played by Paolo Conti (on slide steel guitar) & Sebastien Ménière (rhythm guitar) in a gypsy jazz style.

I would say that Diga diga doo is a classic swing song.

What do you think of this version of Diga diga doo? Please comment.

Let me off uptown - Gene Krupa, Anita O'day, Roy Eldridge

Let me off uptown is one of those classic swing songs, maybe it's not considered a jazz standard, but when it comes to swing dancing, you're bound to hear it every now and then.

The most known version of Let me off uptown is the one above with Gene Krupa, Anita O'day, Roy Eldridge. This was also the very first swing music tip I gave on this blog.

In the middle of the video clip there is a dance sequence, does anyone know who the dancers are?

Maybe you are as silly as Miss D and I: whenever we hear the song on the dance floor, we act out the banter between Anita and Roy.

What do you think of the video clip? Please comment.