Nagasaki - Alice Mei & Thomas Blacharz

Alice Mei & Thomas Blacharz have great musicality when they dance to the song Nagasaki at the International Lindy Hop Championships 2009.

I don't know for sure which artist performs the song, but it sounds like Wingy Manone to me. Do you know?

Update: justafish provided me with the correct artist: Putney Dandridge.

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

Wingy Manone - Ochi Chornya

Here is Wingy Manone and his Orchestra performing "Ochi Chornya" in a recording from 1938.

The YouTube poster, edmundusrex has uploaded a lot of songs with artists from the 1920s and the 1930s. A goldmine to dig into and discover more about early jazz and blues artists.

I don't have time to browse through them all, why don't you take a look at his videos and recommend your favorite clips in the comments below?

You also might want to check out 100 Great Records Of The 1920s.


What do you think of Wingy Manone performing Ochi Chornya? What is your favorite clip?Please comment.

Hey Mr Jesse October podcast available

The October 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. Take a look at what is in the show: read the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse October 2008.

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

This is what I wrote in response to the August podcast:

Thanks for a great August podcast. I second Morgan Day's recommendation of the Firecracker jazz band, I wish I had their first self-entitled cd where they have a killer version of "Diga-diga-do".

My swing music tip for September is a compilation album from Japan called "The Very Best of Big Band Swingin' Jive".

Although one might be suspicious to a title like that, it's fairly correct. It got lots of good swinging music.

Seasoned swing djs already have some of the tracks, like "Did You Ever See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball" by Count Basie and "Cole Slaw" by Jesse Stone. But if you don't have those tracks the album is worth picking up just for them.

However, I got some other favorite songs from that album:

The first song is "Jazz o' jazz" by Adrian and his Tap Room Gang. I love the vocals by Jeanne Burns and Wingy Manone. (Adrian and his Tap Room Gang : Wingy Manone (tp,vcl) Joe Marsala (cl,as) Adrian Rollini (bassax,vib, xyl) Putney Dandridge (p,vcl) Carmen Mastren (g) Sid Weiss (b) Sam Weiss (d) Jeanne Burns (vcl) New York, June 14, 1935)

They also do a version of "Nagasaki" that's smokin' hot.

The second song is "Shorty's Gotta Go" by Lucky Millinder.
A groovy handclappin' call'n'response song with attitude, what more could you ask for?

"Shorty's Gotta Go" is also done by Cats And The Fiddle available at "Hep Cats Swing: Complete Recordings, Vol. 2 (1941-1946)"

I also reminded them about the amazing jam sesson scene in the movie Paris Blues with Louis Armstrong, Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier.

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

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

Glenn Miller - In The Mood

If you ask a person on the street to name a swing song, many would probably say "In the Mood" performed by Glenn Miller. In the Mood is a one of the classic swing songs that everybody should know of. What many people don't know is that the main theme in the song comes from Tar Paper Stomp by Wingy Manone. The Glenn Miller version is credited to Joseph C Garland.

Here is a video clip with Glenn Miller and his orchestra performing "In the Mood" from the film Sun Valley Serenade (1941).

I always thought of Glenn Miller and his band as a quite polished band and I didn't know that they could be so showy, maybe it's because it is a film, I don't know if they did the same thing when they played for dancers in the real world (do you know?).

However, it's great to hear the energy and see the female character played by Sonja Henie get swept into digging the band. As I like to say: "The music made me do it". Resistance is futile.

I can't really tell but about 3:00 in the clip it looks like there is couple dancing balboa, but I'm not sure. What do you think?

You can read more about what other people think about Sun Valley Serenade over at Amazon.com.

What do you think about the video clip with Glenn Miller and his orchestra playing "In the Mood? Tell me.

Wingy Manone - Vine Street blues

Often you just hear about the really big names in the jazz world like Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald but the are other musicians from that era that also should be discovered. One of those musicians is trumpet player Wingy Manone.

Here is a video clip from a soundie from 1943 where Wingy Manone plays Vine Street blues together with singer Ann Lee.



Wingy Manones moment of jazz fame is that he came up with a great riff in the melody Tar Paper Stomp. While you may not have heard about Tar Paper Stomp, the riff is used as the main riff in "In the Mood" that was made famous by Glenn Miller.

Check out the discussion thread on swingdjs.com about Wingy Manone.

What do you think about this video clip with Wingy Manone playing Vine Street blues? Tell me.