Hey Mr Jesse: September podcast

The September episode of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse is just released. This time the show recorded live at the lindy hop camp Swing Out New Hampshire.

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 September 2008.

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

I have some things from the podcast I'd like to comment on:

First of all, Jesse was spot on that the source of the my tip about Calvin Boze in the August episode was from the MP3 blog Be Bop Vino.

Just like Jesse I have mixed feelings about MP3 blogs and I wasn't sure if I should name it as a source so I stayed on the safe(?) side and didn't mention it.

But now that the cat is out of the bag, it's only fair that you, my blog readers, should know about it too: Take a look at the Calvin Boze album: "Havin' A Ball" at Be Bop Vino. Be Bop Vino is a great blog that gives you tips about jazz and blues artists.

Secondly, the September podcast features a good interview with swing dj Rayned Wiles about the photograph "A Great Day in Harlem" by Art Kane. Rayned has prepared a 8 hour (!) show on Yehoodi radio featuring all the jazz musicians in the photograph. I just have to say: wow.

I've had the idea of blogging about that photo since I first started blogging but never got around to do it, so this is a perfect time to at least mention some things about it.

In addition to listening to Rayned's radio show you should see the documentary "A Great Day in Harlem" where you get all kinds of stories about the making of the photograph. You can borrow it at the Uppsala City Library if you like or buy the documentary from Amazon.com.

There are much more in the show but at last I want to mention that Bernard Berkhout and his orchestra has made some video clips available on Youtube. Great stuff. The video clip in the beginning of this post is the song House Hop.

What do you think of the September edition of Hey Mr Jesse? Please comment.

Social Dancing in America: Contents of volume one 1607-1900

Earlier this year I did a interview series with author Ralph G. Giordano who recently published his book Social Dancing in America: A History and Reference Volume 2 Lindy Hop to Hip Hop, 1901-2000.

Here is the interview:
[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]

I made a suggestion to the Uppsala City Library to buy both volumes of the book and yesterday they became available. Yey!

There is so much material in these books and I just have read small bits and pieces but it seems to be really good books. What I like about them is that Ralph Giordano describes the social context where the dances were danced. That gives a new perspective to know more about who danced in what kind of places and why they did it.

I have already written about the table of the contents for the second volume and for completeness I'll post the table of the content for the first volume as well. While the second volume might be more directly interesting to readers of this blog, I think you also would be interested in knowing more about the dances that came before swing dances, because they are in a way all connected (at least in a social context).

Table of contents: Volume One “Fair Terpsichore to the Ghost Dance”


Chapter 1: The Minuet, Puritans, and Anti Dance Reformation: 1607 – 1740
Pre-Renaissance:
- Black Hat Dance, Ancient Civilization through 1500 (Tibet)
- Choral Dancing, earliest civilization through 1500
- Ring Around the Rosy, mid-14th century through 20th century (Europe)
- St. Vitus, Middle Ages, (Europe)
- Tarantella, mid-14th century through 20th century (Italy)
- Basses Dansés 14th century to early 16th century (Europe)
o Carole,
o Estampie,
o Farandole,
- Branle, 1400 to 1550 (Europe)
Renaissance:
- Allemande, 16th and 17th century (France)
- Ballo, 1450 to mid-1500s (Italy)
- Courante, mid-1500s through 18th century (Italy and France)
- Fandango, 17th century through 19th century (Spain)
- Galliard, late 16th century to early 17th century (Italian and French)
- Gavotte, 1580 to mid-1700s (France)
- Pavane, 1500 to 1600 (Italy or Spain)
- Sarabande, late 16th century (Spain)
- Volta, mid-1500s (Italy)

17th century to early 18th century:
- Contredanse, 1680 through 19th century (France)
- English Country-Dance, 1650 through 19th century (England)
- Pueblo Circle Dance, 10,000 B.C. through 17th century (North America)
- Maypole, early 1600s through 19th century (England and Ancient Times)
- Minuet, early 1600s through 18th century (France)

Chapter 2 : The Virginia Reel, George Washington, and the Waltz: 1740 – 1820
- American Colonial Minuet, 177o to 1820 (France)
- Big Circle Dances, 1800 through 19th century (England)
- Breakdown, mid- 1700s to early-1800s (African)
- Clog Dancing, early 1700s to 1800s (Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland, and French Canadian)
- Contra Dancing, 1770 through 18th century (France and England)
- Cotillion, 1760 through 19th century (France)
- English Country-Dance, 1650 through 19th century (England)
- Hornpipe, 1700 to 19th century (England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland)
- Jig, 16th century through 19th century (Ireland and Scotland)
- Quadrille, 1800 through 19th century (England)
- Rigaudon, 1700 to 19th century (France or Italy)
- Square Order Shuffle, 1770s (England)
- Viennese Waltz, 1776 through 19th century (Vienna, Austria)
- Virginia Reel, early 18th century through 19th century (England)

Chapter 3: The Buffalo Dance, Cotillions, and the Polka: 1820 – 1865
- Buffalo Dance, 1800s (Mandan and Sioux)
- Dancing the Slaves, 1607 to 1820
- The Galop dance 1800 through 19th century (Europe)
- Polka, 1844 through 19th century (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
o Mazurka
o Polka Mazurka
o Redowa
o Polka Redowa,
- Ring Shout, (African tribal)
- Schottische, 1844 to 1900 (Bavaria sometimes “Schottisch”)
- Waltz, 1834 through 19th century (German)
o Boston Waltz
o Spanish Waltz (Europe and Mexican Folk)
o Waltz à Deux Temps
o Waltz à Trois Temps

Chapter 4: The Ghost Dance, the Cakewalk, and the Two-Step: 1865 - 1900
- Cakewalk, 1890 to 1905 (African American)
- Cancan, 1890 to 1910 (France)
- The German, 1870 to 1910 (France)
- Ghost Dance, 1870 to 1893 (Native American Indian)
- Square Dance Calling, 1870 through 20th century (American vernacular)
- Two-Step, 1890 to 1910 (American vernacular)

Have you read the books? What do you think of them? Tell me.

How to DJ Right: The Art and Science of Playing Records

Book review

One of the best books if you want to read about how to learn to dj is 'How to DJ Right: The Art and Science of Playing Records' by Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster.

They cover almost every aspect of what it takes to be a disc jockey, from technical aspects (which button to push) to how to read a dance crowd, building a collection, getting into the dj business and how to be a great dj.

The book has a lot of dry British humour. I love that. When the book was first published in Great Britain its name was 'How to DJ (properly): The Art and Science of Playing Records' but I'll guess that proper English wasn't right in USA.

You can find the British version of the book at the city library in Uppsala.

Have you read the book? What do you think of it? Tell me.

10 reasons to visit the library

At the city library in Uppsala you can borrow 10 cds at a time. This gives you plenty of opportunities to check out music you are interested in. Be curious and test all kinds of music.

Here are some cds and books I have found at the library.

Have you found good music at the library? Tell me.

Django Reinhardt Swing Sessions 2

When I dj I almost always feature a cd a little bit more and yesterday night at Dekadans I featured "Django Reinhardt Swing Sessions 2".

I like the first tracks of the cd best when Django Reinhardt plays with Bill Coleman And His Orchestra. There are two great versions of "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" and I also really like "Swing Guitars".

If you like swing music with violins you will get your share on this cd. You can borrow this cd at the city library in Uppsala. Also check out the record label Frog records for more early jazz.

Have you listened to this cd? What do you think? Tell me.

I gave away two mix cds in the music contest, the answer to the question was "Rémi Toulon on piano".

What did you think of the music last night? Tell me.

Music is my mistress by Duke Ellington

Do you want to know more about Duke Ellington?

Book review: Music is my mistress is an autobiography by Duke Ellington about his life, his career and his music.

Did you know that his piano teachers name was Mrs Clinkscales?

In the book Duke Ellington writes about the people he worked with: Billy Strayhorn, Jimmy Blanton, Ben Webster, Alice Babs and Cootie Williams among others.

You can find this book in Swedish translation at Uppsala City Library where it is called "Jag älskar musik".

Have you read this book? What do you think? Got any tips about other jazz biographies? Let me know.

Jump by Casey MacGill & The Spirits of Rhythm

Jump by Casey MacGill & The Spirits of Rhythm is a modern classic that I think you should know of. The cd has a lot of songs with high energy as well as some bluesier songs.

'Jump' seems to be hard to get nowadays and is out of stock at most online stores, if you have happen to stumble upon it, don't hesitate, buy the cd.

The song 'Whadaya Want' was earlier done by a group called The Robins and you can compare the versions by checking out the cd ''Leiber & Stoller Present the Spark Records Story'. (You can find it at the Uppsala City Library)

If you read the previous posts, you might wonder why I choose this particular swing cd. Well, I choose the cd because it has red and yellow on the front of the jewel case just like the Anita O'day cd. Hey, anything is allowed ;-).