Joe Jackson - Jumpin' Jive

About one year ago, I wrote in to the Hey Mr Jesse podcast (February 2008 edition) and tipped them about Joe Jackson and his album Jumpin' Jive from the early 1980's.

Just the other day I found a video clip with Joe Jackson performing Jumpin' Jive. In the podcast, Jesse Miner commented: "You can tell that this was just a labor of love, that he loves this music." I agree, especially after you've watched the video clip, they seem to have the time of their life.

What do you think of Joe Jackson performing Jumpin' Jive? Please comment.

Hey Mr Jesse - February 2008

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you should already have downloaded the February podcast of Hey Mr Jesse, since it has been available for a couple of weeks. I'm sorry I haven't mentioned it until now but I figured that you maybe are hooked on the show like me and downloaded it immidiatly when it became available. Hint: You can subscribe to Hey Mr Jesse on Itunes.

Download Hey Mr Jesse, Feb 2008 (~50MB, mp3)

Alright, moving on to the contents of the current episode of Hey Mr Jesse. (Read the show notes for all details)

The 8-count swing countdown features classic swing tunes and has a favorite song of mine: "Afternoon Of A Moax" by Charlie Barnet. You can hear that tune often when Jonas or Trina are djing as well as Mary's Idea and Summit Ridge Drive.

The show has a good interview with Paul Tillotson & The Love Trio and plays one song, "Blues For Stephanie", from their new album targeted at the dancing audience: Lindy Hop Blues: Live At Jelly Roll.

I love hearing a new killer diller version of "Blues For Stephanie", especially the piano playing, mmmm! You might also be familiar with George Gee's version of the song, that is one solid version that you never can go wrong with. If you as a swing dj have played a song that really didn't go well and the dance floor became empty, put on "Blues For Stephanie" with George Gee and I'll promise you'll have a full dance floor again in no time.

As always I try to write in to Jesse and Manu and provide some comments and swing music recommendations, this is what I wrote (and what they were kind enough to feature).

Thanks for a great January podcast of Hey Mr Jesse!
I thought I would give you more tips about some swingin' European music. This time though, it's jump blues rather than pure swing.

First off, it's Joe Jackson, an Englishman who has done all sorts of music, who decided in the early 1980's to make a swing album. In 1981 he released the album Jumpin' Jive. It has songs like "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (My Baby)", "We the Cats Shall Hep Ya", "Jack, You're Dead" and of course the title track "Jumpin' Jive". It also have a very special version of Tuxedo Junction.

This was way before the swing revival in the mid 1990's (can you belive that it's 10
years since the height of the swing revival?!)

Talking about the the swing revival, I got to mention the Polish band Shakin' Dudi Orchestra which is more of a rock band but in 1999 they where inspired by the Neo-swing bands elsewhere and put out an album called "Swing revival" which has some crazy jump blues energy. Just listen to the song "Mniam, mniam, mniam".

What do you think about Hey Mr Jesse, February edition? Tell me.

Jumpin' Jive with Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers

Some jazz bands "just" played their music while other bands made an extra effort to really entertain the audience/dancers. A jazz orchestra that did the latter was the big band led by Cab Calloway. He had a very outgoing personality and put that extra energy into the performance that really made it entertaining.

In this video clip from the movie Stormy Weather Cab Calloway performs the song Jumpin' Jive followed by an amazing tap routine by the Nicholas Brothers.



This was the first clip I ever saw of the Nicholas Brothers and every time I'm surprised that they don't kick any musicians when they jump around in the bandstand. (A'int that a kick in the head?).

One of the things that I would like to point out in this video clip from Stormy Weather is the use of "call and response" (which Cab Calloway used a lot). The first occurrence is when he sings one bar of music and the band answers in the other bar in that phrase.

You also see call and response between the piano player and the Nicholas Brothers tapping on the piano and then of course between the Nicholas Brothers themselves.

What do you think of this video clip with Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers? Tell me.