Peggy Lee - Why Don't You Do Right?

"Why Don't You Do Right?" is a classic swing song that is a favorite of mine. The most classic recording of that song was done by Benny Goodman's orchestra featuring singer Peggy Lee. Enjoy Peggy Lee's version of "Why Don't You Do Right?".

According to the YouTube poster, this scene comes from a film called Stage Door Canteen from 1943.

What do you think of the video clip with Peggy Lee singing Why Don't You Do Right? Tell me.

4beat6 plays Six Appeal

Six Appeal is a great Benny Goodman song that features an electric guitar. In the Benny Goodman small group it was Charlie Christian who played the guitar.

Take a look at this modern version of Six Appeal performed by 4beat6 with Bernard Berkhout at the clarinet.

What do you think of the video clip with 4beat6 from the Netherlands? Tell me.

Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall 70 years ago

Today it's the 70th anniversary of Benny Goodman's concert at Carnegie Hall, a concert that really helped swing to become mainstream music. The climax of the concert was the performance of the song Sing, Sing, Sing.

Here is a video clip of Sing, sing, sing with Benny Goodman's orchestra from the movie Hollywood Hotel from 1937.

You'll notice Gene Krupa on drums and Harry James on trumpet.



This version is very short compared to the Carnegie hall version which is 12 minutes long.

What do you think of the video clip with Benny Goodman playing Sing, Sing, Sing? Tell me.

Benny Goodman and the art of improvising

In a tv program from 1967 Benny Goodman and some other jazz musicians talk about and show what it means to do jazz improvisation.

In the first clip they show how a new song can be born through improvisation on a another one, here they play In a Mellow Tone and Rose Room at the same time.



In the second video clip they talk about what they feel when they are playing jazz and the role of the rhythm section in a jazz band. They then decide on playing Airmail Special.

Benny Goodman also refers to Airmail Special as Good Enough To Keep. I suppose there is a story behind those names, does anybody have more info about that?



The other musicians are Clark Terry (trumpet), Zoot Sims (saxophone), Ed Shaughnessy (drums), Hank Jones (piano), Gene Bertoncini (guitar) and Milt Hinton on bass.

Some of the things they say can be applied at dancing as well, for example Ed Shaughnessy says: "Even when I play simple things, I try do do it with feeling". I belive that often you don't have to do very fancy moves, you can have a fantastic dance just by doing basic stuff with feeling.

I think that the leader in a dance couple is similar to the rhythm section in a band, the leader provides the pulse and basic structure and upon that the follower can improvise.

A band got to have a good rhythm section if they are going to be great, I have several examples of bands that have very good soloists that plays the melody, but the drummer plays in a mechanical way without feeling and that destroys the tune once you notice that.

What do you think of the video clips with Benny Goodman talking about jazz improvisation? Tell me.

Benny Goodman theme at Cats Corner

Tonight first time swing dj Per Wirback will make his debut at Cats Corner. His set will have a Benny Goodman theme. Also this night, you will hear swing dj David Kågedal.

Before the dance, there will be a taster lesson in lindy hop at 19, so if you'd like to try, get down there. The whole night costs 20 kr. How about that! The dance starts at 20 and ends 23.

The dance is run on voluntary basis, where small groups takes care of one or two evenings each semester. Every group could use additional persons, so if you'd like to be part of making Uppsala a really swingin town, talk with an organizer (or by all means, send me a mail and I'll forward it) and join us. Of course, you can band together with some friends and form a new group.



I think it's fantastic to be able to have a weekly dance. Had you asked me two years ago, I would have said that it was just a dream. But thanks to many peoples efforts a weekly dance night is now a reality.

One thing that is great about the group system is that the night can be a much or little work as you make it. If you only have a dj that's ok, but you can also have theme nights like tonight. Last time Johan organized a Jack'n'Jill-competition and there have been balboa themes and beginner nights. It's all up to what you like to do.

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

Do you have ideas about what could be done at Cats Corner? Tell me.

4beat6 plays Benny Goodman songs

I just discovered the swing band 4beat6 from the Netherlands which plays swing in the style of the Benny Goodman sextet.

I think they play really tight: Listen to these songs from their site (mp3)

• Airmail Special
• Bennie's Bugle

4beat6 consists of Jacco Griekspoor (vibraphone), Martien Oster (guitar), Joop van Deuren (piano), Frans van Geest (bass), Barry Olthof (drums) and David Lukacs on clarinet.

What do you think of 4beat6 playing Benny Goodman songs? Tell me.

A Song Is Born: How to use jazz to save a damsel in distress

A bunch of music professors somehow get taken hostage by mobsters and uses swing music to get free to save the damsel in distress from being forced to marry the mob leader. That is the setup for this video clip from the movie "A song is born" (1948).

The music professors are helped by no others than Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnet and Danny Kaye.



The song is the clip is Flying Home that was written by Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman. A Song Is Born" is a remake of the film "Ball Of Fire" (1941).

Have you seen "A Song Is Born"? What do you think of it? Tell me.

Peggy Lee sings "He's a Tramp" from Lady and the Tramp

A few days ago I wrote about the The Firehouse Five Plus Two playing Tiger Rag. The Firehouse Five consisted of members of the Walt Disney Studios animation department so I started to think about that there are a lot of animated Disney movies that has jazz songs.

One of the lesser known jazz songs is "He's a Tramp" from "Lady and the Tramp" which is sung by jazz singer Peggy Lee in the original film version. Peggy Lee was also a song and lyrics writer for the movie. Here is a behind-the-scenes video clip that shows how "He's a Tramp" was recorded. I can't but smile when I see the guys from The Mellomen sing the dogs' harmonies, what hilarious facial expressions, got to love that.



In her early jazz career Peggy Lee sang with the Benny Goodman Band with popular songs as "Why Don't You Do Right?". Maybe that's a good question to ask the Tramp?

What do you think of the video clip with Peggy Lee singing He's a Tramp? Tell me.

Swedish Swing Society: Concert at Katalin tonight

Upcoming concert

Tonight the swing jazz band Swedish Swing Society will play at a concert at Katalin and all that jazz. They call the concert: "A Tribute to the Benny Goodman Quartet".

This will be a good concert since the band consists of Swedens (and Finlands) best jazz musicians: Lars Erstrand (vibraphone), Ulf Johansson Werre (piano, trombone), Björn Sjödin (drums) and Antti Sarpila (clarinet).

Back in the swing era, the Benny Goodman Quartet was made up of Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa, Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman.

Swedish Swing Society enters the stage at 19:30 and the tickets cost 180 kr. The photo above of Ulf Johansson Werre is taken by me and may not be used elsewhere without my permission.

Have you heard Swedish Swing Society before? What do you think of them? Tell me.

Hey Mister Jesse March 2007 podcast

The March episode of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse where Jesse Miner and Manu Smith talks about swing music is now available. Great show as always.

This time they feature an interview with band leader George Gee of The Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra. His band is releasing a new cd later on this spring (sometime in April). In the show they play some not yet released songs and you can get even more songs from the coming album if you go to George Gee's MySpace page.

One of the songs on the new album is "All the cats join in" which was made popular in a animated cartoon where Benny Goodman played the song. Here is the video clip with the "All the cats join in" cartoon:




Read the show notes to get all the details and the links to more information about the songs och websites they talk about.

On the radio show Jesse and Manu had picked up the video clip with Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald performing One O'clock Jump that I wrote about earlier. Thanks guys for reading this blog, it's really an honor for me.

I don't know how they produce the podcast but Jesse and Manu should do something about the echo you hear if you listen carefully. (That is the problem with listening, you start to hear things).

Today you can also listen on Yehoodi radio to Rob Moreland from Raleigh, NC, who is the guest swing dj for March. You can hear his music every Thursday through March.

Here is all my posts about Hey Mr Jesse.

What do you think of the March episode of Hey Mister Jesse? Tell me.

Benny Goodman playing Roll Em from The Powers Girl

Here is a video clip with Benny Goodman playing "Roll 'Em" from the movie The Powers Girl and also some high energy dancing.

Here you really can talk about dancing in the rain! When the music is this good, you simply got to dance, no matter what.

This reminds me that I got to play Roll ´Em the next time I dj. What a great swinging tune. Yeah!

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

How do swingdjs find the next song to play?

A dj always thinks: What would be a perfect song to play after this one? I always get some association between the songs.

Often the songs are played in the same style of swing, for example if it is played by a big band I'll continue with another song played by a big band. Other styles may be Kansas city style or a soft style like Oscar Peterson trio.

Other times it is an instrument that gets my attention, "Yeah, the trumpet is this song is sooo cool, lets have more trumpets". So I maybe transition from Louis Armstrong to Harry James.

It can also be a musician, lets say I just played a song with Gene Krupa, I know he also played with Benny Goodman, so then I play a song with one of Benny Goodmans small groups.