Trinity at Uppsala Jazz Club: Photos

The jazz group Trinity played yesterday at Pub Nitton in Uppsala at a concert arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club.

The band consists of Ali Djeridi (drums), Andreas Hellkvist (Hammond) and Amanda Sedgwick (saxophone) who this time replaced Karl Olandersson (trumpet).



They played groovy jazz from the 1960's. It becomes especially groovy when Andreas Hellkvist attackes the key of his Hammond organ.



My favorite song of the concert was The Preacher by Horace Silver. Very groovy indeed.


The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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

What do you think of Trinity? Please comment.

Shim sham by Michael Jagger

Shim sham is a jazz routine that originally was a tap routine. It's know by swing dancers all over the world.

In order to celebrate Frankie Manning's upcoming 95th birthday, Michael Jagger performs the shim sham in a most amusing way by using buns and fork to show the routine.

The song in the video clip is "T'ain't what you do" by Jimmie Lunceford and his orchestra.

Great stuff, does anyone know more about Michael Jagger and the film maker John Damn? Tell me.

(Found via Finn)

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

Lars Erstrand has passed away

One of Uppsala's and Swedens best jazz musicians, vibraphone player Lars Erstrand, passed away today at the age of 72.

I liked his concerts with Swedish Swing Society and Lars Erstrand Four and I will always remember his warmth, his joy and his humour that he gave to us in the audience. Rest in peace.

Do you have any memories of Lars Erstrand that you would like to share? Please comment.

The Preacher (Jazzbacillen) - Horace Silver

The song "The Preacher" is written by Horace Silver. In the video clip above The Preacher is played by Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers. The video clip also include the song Doodlin'. I don't listen to a lot a bop but this is my kind of bop (I've mentioned before that also like Silver's tune "Filthy McNasty").

In Sweden "The Preacher" is known as Jazzbacillen (The Jazz Bug). The song became a hit when it was sung by the artist Siw Malmqvist in 1959 with new Swedish lyrics written by Eva Nordström (which I think is a pseudonym).

Below is the Swedish lyrics.

Jazzbacillen

Mitt huvud surrar av toner, säg vad kan ha hänt
och kroppen dunkar av rytmer som jag aldrig känt.
Det svänger runt och det gungar så jag blir konfys.
Omkring mig allting blir upp och ner,
vad är allt detta för nys.

Jag gick till doktorn och skildrar vad som hänt så här:
Jag är en stillsam person som ej ens har varit kär.
Men jag är nu som en köttbit på en glödhet grill.
Jag visslar jämt, slår takten på allt
och jag kan inte va' still.

Jag sa jag kanske fått hispan eller kanske fnatt
men farbror doktorn tog prover och sen sa han att:
Det här är bara en envis ganska snäll bacill,
jag skriver ut ett litet recept,
så håller den sig nog still.

Jag gick till pillerkontoret, visade min lapp,
men apotekarn han log och gav min kind en klapp:
Tyvärr så säljer vi inte alls nånting sånt här.
Gå bort till nästa hus och försök
där finns en skivaffär.

Med möda läste jag det som doktorn skrivit ner
att jag fått jazzen i blodet och behövde mer.
Det var så enkelt men doktorn hade träffat rätt.
Då blev jag arg för de' han fått
för nåt som var så lätt.

Den medicin skivaffären gav mig var perfekt.
Jag fick min jazzhunger stillad och min swingtörst släckt.
I stället åkte jag på en ny och praktfull nit,
jag intogs av en ny bacill
blev kär i en expedit.

Mitt huvud surrar av toner, som mig himlen sänt
och kroppen dunkar av rytmer som jag aldrig känt.
Jag blir så frisk av baciller om de är så här,
den bästa sjukan är nog ändå
det där att plötsligt bli kär.

What do you think of The Preacher? Please comment.

Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer): Bob Wills

Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer) by Bob Wills & Tommy Duncan is a great song especially when paired with old photos of people dancing.

I don't know much about Bob Wills, but apparently he was a big name playing western swing in the 1930's-1940's.

I like the lyrics which could describe any dance where you just don't want to leave until it's really really over.

"Stay all night, stay a little longer
Dance all night, dance a little longer
Pull off your coat, throw it in the corner
I don't see why I don't stay a little longer"

Some of the other lyrics seem to be nonsense, but it could well be the case that I don't have the cultural context (USA in the 1930's-1940s) to get the references. If the lyrics do have a meaning, please leave a comment and explain.

What do you think of Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer) by Bob Wills & Tommy Duncan? Please comment.

Jassdancer - Blog by Peter Loggins

The swing dance historian and dance instructor Peter Loggins has just launched a new blog called The Jassdancer. Peter has a collected a lot of knowledge and information about swing dances and the swing era, so it will be very interesting to follow what he writes.

One of his first posts discusses the question: What is a jitterbug?

What do you think of The Jassdancer? Please comment.

Hey Mr Jesse: March 2009

The March show of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse has just been 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.

Download the March 2009 episode of Hey Mister Jesse. (~50 MB, mp3)

Here is my tip to Jesse and Manu:

"What a surprise with the jingle you made. Thanks :)

Ok, down to business, music tip for March:

Last time you featured a live recording by Benny Goodman, I want to recommend 2 cd set called "Live Swing Sessions 1943 - 1949" with more live sessions with Goodman.

I especially like his version of "Love me or leave me".

I also like "Rattle and roll", The songs starts a little weak but then starts pumping."

They also talked a little about my post about the Folkets Hus Five. You can see the video with the Folkets Hus Five playing "All of me" they talk about above. It was during this song I took the picture of Todd Yannacone. The video is shot by Johannes Schmidt.

Take a look at what else is in the show: read the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse March 2009.

What do you think of Hey Mr Jesse podcast March 2009? Please comment.

Cats' Corner at Gotlands nation

I hope I didn't scare you with the photo above. Sometimes when I'm out taking photos unexpected things like these pop up in front of my lens. Booo! ;)

Yesterday I visited our (almost) weekly dance Cats' Corner. This season we don't have just one but several locations for the dance. This time it was held at Gotlands nation. It was there very first time we had the dance there, so there was some things to figure out how they worked.

Another debut for the night: Agnes Hjelm debuted as a swing dj and I think she played very well. She played both old classics as well as some neo swing.



One especially nice thing about Gotlands nation as a swing venue is that there are some space where people really can sit down and talk while they are not dancing. Oftentimes it's just "dance, dance, dance!" and you never get a chance to chat with people.

One other thing you could do when you're not dancing is to read the old magazines that we have bought. All the magazines are from the 1940s-1950s and it's fun to read what they thought was important to write about then. It's also entertaining to read the advertisements.



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

What do you think of Cats Corner at Gotlands nation? Please comment.

Bo Kaspers Orkester: Hon är så söt

Some late night music: "Hon är så söt" (She is so sweet) by Bo Kaspers Orkester.

This song reminds me of Jan Johansson's album, "Jazz på svenska", it has that certain melancholy that I find very Swedish.

What do you think of the song? Please comment.