Swing, jazz and blues - Dance to the music: 1930

Showing posts with label 1930. Show all posts

Monday, February 25, 2008

If you have been a long time reader of this blog you might remember the dancer Al Norman and his rubber legs. In the video clip above Al Norman dances in the number "Dancing To Save Your Sole" together with Nancy Carroll. The band is Abe Lyman and his Orchestra.

I think the clip is from Paramount on Parade from 1930 and that the presenter is Skeets Gallagher.

What do think of the video clip with Al Norman? Tell me.

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.

Here is a video clip from the film King of Jazz where "rubber legs" Al Norman dances to Paul Whiteman's band performing the song "Happy Feet".

What an amazing display of cool footwork! He does wacky dance moves with such style and grace. After him comes a long chorus line with girls which you don't see novadays (unless you go to Las Vegas), really nice syncronization.

The King of Jazz was released in 1930 and also features Bing Crosby. Wikipedia has more information about the movie.

If you like this video clip you should also check out Melissa Mason dancing to the song Dinah.

What do you think of this video clip from "King of Jazz"? Tell me.

If you think of the song "My Baby Just Cares For Me", you'll most likely associate it with singer och pianist Nina Simone. Her version of the song has made such an impression that many people think it was her composition. But in fact the music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn in 1930. They also wrote another song that Nina Simone used to perform: Love Me Or Leave Me.

Here is a video clip with the group Cotton Club Singers that has made a version of "My Baby Just Cares For Me" that stays close to Nina Simone's version but they have added some harmony singing.

I really like the "jazz club feeling" in how this video is shot. The group is from Hungary, learn more about the Cotton Club Singers at their website.

Also interesting (maybe more) is what the song sounded like by contemporary bands in the 1930's. Here is a sound clip with "My Baby Just Cares For Me" with Harry Hudson's Band with Sam Browne on vocals.

What do you think of the video clips? Tell me.