Missisippi Seven at Uppsala Jazz Club

Last Sunday the trad jazz band Missisippi Seven had a concert at Pub 19 in Uppsala. The concert was arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club.



From a listeners point of view: This is music that really makes you happy. Good musicians. Nuff said.

Well, almost. What also makes you smile is that talk inbetween the songs by drummer Bertil Ekman. He seems to have a infinite supply of entertaining useless facts.



From a dancers point of view: Missisippi Seven plays trad jazz in a moderate tempo that you could easily do lindy to. The tempo is a little slow for balboa but they could probably throw in a couple of faster tunes if you asked them.

They played two of my favorite songs: "Diga Diga Doo" (also the name of the their new album where my photos is on the album cover) and "Blues My Sweetie Naugthy Gives To Me".

Here's my own useless but entertaining fact: mostly you hear "Blues My Sweetie Naugthy Gives To Me" played instrumently by for instance Sidney Bechet but there is actually lyrics to the song which list all the kinds of blues that you can get.

One of the kinds of blues is "The blues you get from women, when you see them going swimming, and you doesn't have a bathing suit yourself".



The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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 Missisippi Seven? Please comment.

Diga Diga Doo - Paolo Conti & Sebastien Ménière

Diga diga doo is one of my favorite songs. Usually you hear versions by Artie Shaw or Benny Goodman, but you have never heard it like this when it's played by Paolo Conti (on slide steel guitar) & Sebastien Ménière (rhythm guitar) in a gypsy jazz style.

I would say that Diga diga doo is a classic swing song.

What do you think of this version of Diga diga doo? 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.

Firecracker Jazz Band plays Diga diga doo

I have written before about the Firecracker Jazz Band and their version of Diga Diga Doo and now I've found a great live version of Diga Diga Doo that they do. Great energy!

I would love to have a their cd. Anyone who would like to send me one?

What do you think about the Firecracker Jazz Band? Tell me.

Diga diga doo by Firecracker Jazz Band

I'm always looking for new versions of great songs, now I've found terrific hot jazz version of Diga diga doo by the Firecracker Jazz Band from Asheville, North Carolina. One of the best versions I've heard. Listen to Diga diga doo.

If I lived in Asheville I would definitely go out and see them perform, why don't you take a look at their MySpace page to see where they are playing next? I would love to have their cd.

There's a lot of good things in Asheville right now. Like Sugar Foot Stomp, an "old-fashioned fast-dance and hot-jazz" dance weekend that coming up July 13th-15th. They will have workshops taught by Chad Fasca and Midori Asakura Fasca who will teach dances like charleston and peabody. And of course a lot of hot jazz music.

Check out this video clip with Chad and Midori from the 2004 American Lindy Hop Championships where they won the Fast Dance division dancing a combination of peabody and charleston.



What do you think of the Firecracker Jazz Band? Tell me.