The Blue Dolls: Vocal group from Italy

Andrea gave me a tip that if you like the Puppini Sisters you might also like The Blue Dolls which is a vocal group from Italy.

The Blue Dolls consists of Erika Celesti (soprano), Federica Pallante (soprano), Viviana Dragani (alto) and is backed up by Marco Parodi (guitar), Paolo Volante (piano), Riccardo Vigorè (double bass), Luca Rigazio (drums).

You can listen to some songs from their album on their website.

On the album they mix swing jazz standards such as Shoo Shoo Baby, Sing, Sing, Sing and Some Of These Days with Italian songs from the swing era. They also sing a version of Charleston and even the blue grass song, Down In The River To Pray, that you might recognize as the song that the sirens sing in the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?.

If you like retro stuff, you also might want to check out one post from my archive where Christina Aguilera sings "Candy Man".

What do you think of The Blue Dolls? Please comment.

1st anniversary for Swing, Jazz & Blues

It's time to celebrate. One year has passed since I started this blog. Time flies when you're having fun!

It's time to sum up what has happened. Here is a list with most popular posts.

Most popular posts:

1. Interview with Cynthia Millman, co-author of the autobiography by Frankie Manning: Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop. The most important book in the swing dance world was finally ready.
   


2. Christina Aguilera - Music video: Candy man. Christina Aguilera realeased an album inspired by the 1930's-1940's and this video clip from the song Candyman had many references to the swing era.
   


3. Nikki Yanofsky sings Airmail Special like Ella Fitzgerald.
   
   The young singer Nikki Yanofsky knocked out everybody with her singing. I think she has a brilliant career ahead of her. Also don't miss the video clip where Nikki Yanofsky sings Evil Gal Blues.
   


4. Interview with Ralph Giordano, author of Social Dancing in America
   
   I did an in-depth interview with Ralph Giordano who wrote two volumes about social dance in America. The best thing about the books are that they not just talk about the dance it self but also the social environment where dance dance was created.
   
   Part 1: How come you wrote a book about social dancing in America?
   Part 2: Which dances do you write about in the book?
   Part 3: Can you share some interesting facts about Lindy hop?
   Part 4: Do you include Balboa in the book?
   Part 5: Tell me about the next book you're writing: Satan in the dance hall
   Part 6: Contents of volume one 1607-1900
   
   
5. Video clips and photographs
   
   Equally popular were the pages where I collect all the posts that have video clips and photographs. Both are visually very important to this blog.
   
   If you just recently discovered this blog, I really encourage you to look the archive. There are a lot of gems hiding there. Also check out 5 tips: how to get the most out of this blog
   

What was your personal favorite post the last year? Tell me.

Christina Aguilera - Candy man

Christina Aguilera has released a new album Back to basics where she is influenced by the music and fashion of the 1920s-40s. This can be seen in her video "Candy man", which seems to be set in WW2 times. It has several popular culture references to that time, Christina Aguilera does a 'We can do it' pose in the end of the video.




This is probably what Andrews sisters would do if they were alive today. In WW2 artists made what was called V-discs and they were sent overseas to boost the soldiers spirit. Candy man has some similarities with the song Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy which Andrews sisters made famous.

In the video you see some swing dancing (well, mostly aerials) with Christina Aguilera and Benji Schwimmer (who won season 2 of So You Think You Can Dance). I like the video because it has high energy and nice fashion.

Now, this is hardly straight swing, more like pop-styled boogie woogie, so I'm presenting this as a novelty item, I'll be back with regular swing tomorrow.

Via Yehoodi.

What do you think of Candy man with Christina Aguilera? Tell me.