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.

Top Shelf Jazz: Nagasaki

Top Shelf Jazz is a jazz band from Great Britain that has the tag line "fine purveyors of filthy swing".

Top Shelf Jazz plays music from the 1920's and 1930's and they also write their own songs in a 1920's style. They seem to have a great sense of humour, just take a look at the video clip above where Top Shelf Jazz perform the song Nagasaki.

I haven't heard Nagasaki played like this before, there's something special about it, I like it. A special bonus is that the band features a tap dancer, Josephine Shaker.

You can hear more of their music on Top Shelf Jazz's MySpace page. The rumours are that they'll release an album soon.

If want more British versions of Nagasaki, I encourage you to look at this video clip from the the tv-serie Jeeves & Wooster where Hugh Laurie as Wooster plays Nagasaki.

What do you think of the video clip with Top Shelf Jazz performing Nagasaki? 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.

Nagasaki - Jeeves & Wooster

Here's a scene from the British tv comedy series "Jeeves & Wooster" where Bertie sings the jazz song Nagasaki written in 1928 by Harry Warren and Mort Dixon.


The clip is from episode 5 called "Hot Off the Press" from season 3.

What do you think about Hugh Laurie singing Nagasaki from Jeeves & Wooster? Is it extremely invigorating as Jeeves puts it? Tell me.

The Nicholas Brothers perform “Lucky Numbers”

Enjoy this video clip with The Nicholas Brothers tap dancing to "Lucky Number".

The video clip is from The Black Network, a 1936 short with a fifteen-year-old Harold and twenty-two-year-old Fayard Nicholas performing “Lucky Numbers” by Cliff Hess.

About 45 seconds from the end you can hear a riff borrowed from the song Nagasaki (from 1928 written by Harry Warren, who also wrote Chattanoga Choo Choo).

If you like this clip you'll also like Jumpin' Jive with Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers and Glenn Miller Orchestra with Chattanooga Choo Choo featuring Dorothy Dandridge together with Fayard and Harold.

What do you think of the video clip with The Nicholas Brothers performing “Lucky Numbers”? Tell me.