Hey Mr Jesse October 2009

The October show of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse has been 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.

Download the October 2009 episode of Hey Mister Jesse. (~50 MB, mp3)

Read the October show notes to see what's in the podcast.

Here is my contribution to the show:

Hi Jesse! Hi Manu!

Here is some swingin' tips for October.

In the ongoing series "1001 ways to find swing music", here is item number 154: "Inspiring video clips from competitions"

In the big dance competions the best performers seek out music that inspire them to create new steps and showcase their musicality. Often those tunes work very well for the social dance floor as well.

Here is two recent examples from International Lindy Hop Championship, ILHC 2009:



1) Skye Humphries & Frida Segerdahl dancing to "Jump Through the Window" with Roy Eldridge.

Frida & Skye really use their musicality to showcase all the accents in the music.

2) Evita Arce and Nathan Bugh dancing to "That's how rhythm was born" by the Boswell Sisters.

This clip instantly gets you in a good mood. How can you avoid being smitten by Evita's bubbly jazz age charm? Impossible!



Last thing: A tip for swing dj's

I know by experience that sometimes it can be hard to ask new people to dance. If you're an experienced dancer you might be busy dancing with the people you already know or if you're a newcomer it's difficult to get the courage to ask the "really good dancers".

If I'm djing a 3 hour set I usally get on the microphone after 2 hours and say "Those of you who would like to, please dance the next song with someone you haven't dance with before". Those who don't want to do it, they simple does whatever they like.

If everybody on the dancefloor does this, well, then 100 people have gotten a new dance acquaintance.

What do you think of Hey Mr Jesse October 2009 podcast? Please comment.

Hey Mr Jesse - July 2009

The July show of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse has just been 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.

Download the July 2009 episode of Hey Mister Jesse. (~50 MB, mp3)

I'm sorry that I haven't commented on the last couple of months when Hey Mr Jesse have been released, so if you use my blog to stay updated when the podcasts arrive you might have missed a few. In that case, just look at the Hey Mr Jesse archive and catch up.

This month I had a few tips on songs from some new album releases, first out was Ik Hou Van Je (I Love You) by Candye Kane from the album Superhero (available on AmazonMp3, iTunes Plus and eMusic),

Second tip was the song "Let's Misbehave" by Top Shelf Jazz from the album Fast & Louche.

My bonus tip for July was "Christopher Columbus" by Humphrey Lyttelton from the album Bad Penny Blues 1955-1956 (available on AmazonMp3, iTunes Plus and eMusic)

What do you think of Hey Mr Jesse podcast July 2009? Please comment.

Hey Mr Jesse Feb: Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers

The February show of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse has just been 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.

Download the February 2009 episode of Hey Mister Jesse. (~50 MB, mp3)

As usual I wrote in to the show with some music tips, I wrote:

My favorite local jump blues and rhythm 'n' blues band, Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers, has just released their second album called "Turn it up".

I like that Sweet Emma & The Mood Swingers have written some more songs of their own, like the title track "Turn it Up". My favorite track is their version of "April in Arkansas".

I just love that call and response between singer Anders Söderberg and the guest artists on that track, the sisters Greta, Stella and Sunniva Bondesson. They have their own group called Baskery.

Mr Jesse played their version of "April in Arkansas" and also talked about their video for the song Chicago Boogie.

My other music tip (that didn't make it to the show):

I'd like to recommend the album "The Jive Is Jumpin': RCA and Bluebird Vocal Groups 1939-1952" (which I got to know about thanks to my friend, the fabulous Miss V.)

This is a great album for anyone who likes vocal groups that swing.

The album has groups as Cats and the Fiddle, The Four Clefs and The Delta Rhythm Boys.

The Four Clefs do a great song called "I Like Pie, I Like Cake" and I like all the Delta Rhythm Boys' songs: One O'clock Jump, I Never Get Out of This World Alive and Take The A-Train.

That version of Take The A-Train was used in a tv documentary about The Herräng Dance Camp called "Swingen anfaller" ("The swing is attacking").

Spuds has for a long time promised to make "theme music" for my contributions to the show, and in this episode it happend. Jesse commented that he thought Spuds must have worn Lederhosen and had a beer in his hand while composing it. I agree with Jesse, this what I call oompa-oompa-music. Thank you Spuds!

Take a look at what else is in the show: read the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse February 2009.

What do you think of the Hey Mr Jesse podcast February 2009? Please comment.

Hey Mr Jesse: December podcast

The December 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.

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

Take a look at what more is in the show: read the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse December 2008.

My contribution to the show:

In the spirit of Thankgivin I want to thank you for yet another year of great podcasts. I'm looking forward to next year. Keep them coming!

Here are some swingin' tips for December:

First, I'd like to a recommend a jump blues song called "Where Did You Go, Bettie Page" by the guitarist Rick Vito (who played in Fleetwood Mac).

Bettie Page was a pinup model in the 1950's, who "disappeared" for a long time and then became a pop culture icon. Well, at least for people interested in retro culture, she was not as main stream as for example Marilyn Monroe.

The song is available on the album "Band Box Boogie". You can listen to it at
http://cdbaby.com/cd/rickvito.


My second tip is a book: I'd like to a recommend a great book about swing music: "Swing : The Essential Listening Companion" by Scott Yanow.

The book contains a lot of biographies of swinging jazz musicians, band leaders and vocalists along with detailed recommendations and reviews of some of their albums.

This is a great resource to discover more about swing musicians and swing music.

Take a look at what I've written about the previous Hey Mr Jesse podcasts.


What do you think of the Hey Mr Jesse December podcast? Please comment.

Hey Mr Jesse: November podcast with Nikki Yanofsky

The November 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.

This episode they got an interview with the Canadian jazz singer Nikki Yanofsky who just released her first album. Take a look at what more is in the show: read the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse November 2008.

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

This is my mail contribution to the November podcast:

Since I celebrate my 10th anniversary as a lindy hopper I'd like to highlight one of the songs that I associate with learning lindy hop.

The song is "Three Cool Cats" with the Swedish band Jump4Joy. The band is led by Ulf Sandström (a great boogie woogie piano player) and "Mighty" Bo Gustavsson (on tenor sax).

Their website can be found at: http://www.jump4joy.se/

I also celebrate my 500th post on my blog. Jeez, that's a lot of posts!

One of the best videos that I've featured on the blog is of Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears playing the song "Truckin" where Ina Ray also taps.

If that video don't get you in a good mood, you should probably see a doctor.

Take a look at what I've written about the previous Hey Mr Jesse podcasts.

What do you think of the Hey Mr Jesse November podcast? 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.

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.

Hey Mr Jesse: August podcast

The August episode of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse is just released. Hey Mr Jesse is a great monthly podcast where Jesse Miner and Manu Smith (a.k.a. Spuds) talk about swingin' music that matters to dancers.

I'm listening to the podcast as I write this. You can see what is in the show by looking at the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse August 2008. If I find time I'll post more comments about the podcast later on when I've finished listening to it.

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

I'm sending swing music tips each month to the show, but since they have picked up more listeners, they also get more feedback that they want to feature. This means that not every tip I send make it into the podcast because they have to edit the show to squeeze in most of the information. That should tell you that is a jam packed show with lots of swinging music. But I'm totally cool with that.

So, if you like my suggestions on the Hey Mr Jesse podcast, be sure to check out the blog as well, because there might be more...

Here is my tips for the August podcast:

Hi Mr Jesse! Hi Spuds!

First tip:

I'm picking up the thread from July where I mentioned Jimmy Sapienza's Five Guys Named Moe who played some Louis Jordan songs.

An artist who was also inspired by Louis Jordan was his contemporary: Calvin Boze. Calvin Boze's most famous song is Safronia B, which you might know by some of the lyrics: "I surrender! I surrender!"

I'd like to recommend a compilation album with Calvin Boze called "Havin' A Ball". It has some really good jump blues / rhythm & blues songs like Lizzy Lou, Fishtail and my favorite: "Beale Street On A Saturday Night".

The song is obviously inspired by Jordan's "Saturday Night Fish Fry" but it got another kind of vibe.

Second tip:

Continuing on the theme "similar but different" I want to mention the pianist and singer Charles Brown. He played in a small group that sounded similar to the Nat King Cole trio.

On the compilation album "Charles Brown 1947-1948" he does a version of "Moneys Getting Cheaper". I like one of his songs that is called "If You Dont Why Dont Ya!".

Bonus tip:

Now that I have been givin credit to two fairly unknown artists, I came to think of another unknown band called Comfy Chair from Berkeley, California.

Confy Chair do a song called "Givin' Credit" where they honor Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington and the other jazz greats. I dont really know how to classify their music style, progressive rock maybe(?), I think they themself call it "slamswing".

Along with this song from their debut CD in 1997, 'Party on the Titanic', is a song about Thomas "Fats" Waller, which is simply called: "Fats". I also really like the song "Renaissance In Harlem".

Here is a video clip with Comfy Chair:



Remember, if you like you can become a fan of the Swing, jazz and blues blog on Facebook.

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

Hey Mr Jesse: July edition

The July episode of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse is just released. Hey Mr Jesse is a great monthly podcast where Jesse Miner and Manu Smith talks about swingin' music that matters to dancers.

I haven't listened to it yet but you can see what is in the show by looking at the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse June 2008. I'll post more comments about the podcast later on when I've listened to it. Enjoy!

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

My monthly tips to the show hosts:

Hi Mr Jesse. Hi Manu!

Wow. The June podcast was stuffed with great swing music. :)

Here are some swinging tunes for July:

It's hard to pick songs that are new to you but I try to find good albums that I haven't seen been mentioned elsewhere and that deserve to be presented to the swing music community.

First out is the yet another female vocal group called "Sister Swing" from Sacramento, CA. They have produced several albums and I can recommend "Riff Raff and Ruffles", "Going Nowhere Fast" and "New Shoes and Old Bags".

You can listen to sound clips on their website http://www.sisterswing.com/ I like their version of Tuxedo Junction.

Second tip: It's time for some jump blues again. I'd like to recommend "Jimmy Sapienza's Five Guys Named Moe" and their album "Jitterbuggin'".

They are a jazzy jump blues band from Pittsburgh, PA. Three of the band members are blind. No sheet music here. As you can guess from their name, they have a lot of Louis Jordan songs on the album: Caldonia, I Want A Roof Over My Head and Choo-Choo Ch' Boogie. On the album there are also songs written by Jimmy Sapienza himself.

If I have to pick a song from the album, I probably choose "Short Brunettes". (Who wouldn't?! ;-))

Bonus tips: I'm a sucker for good vocal stuff. I always smile when I hear Bunny Briggs' scat version of "Rockin' in Rhythm" from the album "Scat Singing - The Art of Vocal Jazz".
Bunny Briggs is also a dancer and was inducted into The Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2006 by the American Tap Dance Foundation.

The song is recorded in New York, November 30, 1947 by Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra : James Campbell, Joe Graves, Jimmy Nottingham, Doc Severinsen, Clark Terry (tp) Walt Benson, Porky Cohen, Fred Zito (tb) Charlie Barnet (as,sop,ts) Walter Weidler, Wolfgang Weidler (as) Kurt Bloom, Bud Shank (ts) Bob Dawes (bar) Claude Williamson (p) unknown (g) Don Totsi (b) Dick Shanahan (d) Bunny Briggs (vcl) Billy May (arr).

Some more record details: 3198-2D1 Rockin' in rhythm (bb vcl,bm arr) Apollo 1106, Clef MGC165, Verve MGV2007, 2317060, Ajaz 217

Read what I've written before about Hey Mr Jesse.

Remember, if you like you can become a fan of the Swing, jazz and blues blog on Facebook.

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

Hey Mr Jesse: June edition

Listening to the Hey Mr Jesse podcast with Jesse Miner and Manu Smith talking about swinging music is like going on a treasure hunt each month and always find a chest full of gold coins. Dig here to download June 2008 episode of Hey Mister Jesse. (~50 MB, mp3)

Look at the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse June 2008 to see what's in the treasure chest of June.

Here are my comments of the month that they featured:

Girls from Mars is phenomenal vocal group that swings like crazy. Their album "Planet Swing" is full of songs that makes you drop everything and get out on the dance floor.

"Jitter Joe" is what I as a dj call a "let's go"-song, a song that you can play after you've played groovier songs for while, signalling that now is the time to bump up the tempo and let loose.

I've been enjoying "Evening" by Count Basie and Jimmy Rushing from Newport 57 for a long time but I think I now have a new favorite version of the song. The version by Girls from Mars is so in the pocket.

You can listen to all the songs from the album on their website http://www.girlsfrommars.com/

Second tip:
Talking about vocal groups, I'd like to recommend the double cd album "The Hottest New Group In Jazz".

The vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross were the group that introduced the concept of vocalese to an wider audience.

Some of the songs are good for dancing: Home Cookin', Cotton Tail (blazing fast with hilarious lyrics) and my favorite: Twist City.

B-B-B-B-Bonus tip:
If you want to hear a swinging song in French, I recommend the song "Désaccord Manouche" by the group Les Primitifs Du Futur from their album World Musette.

It's the only swingin' song on the album which othervise features the musette accordion and waltzes.

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

Hey Mr Jesse: June podcast available

A quick announcement:

The June episode of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse is now available. Hey Mr Jesse talks about swingin' music that matters to dancers.

I'm downloading it as I write this post, so I haven't listened to it yet (but soon, in a few minutes) but looking at the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse June 2008 it looks very promising.

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

I'll post more comments about the podcast later on when I've listened to it. Enjoy!

Read what I've written before about Hey Mr Jesse.

What do you think of the June podcast of Hey Mister Jesse? Please comment.

Hey Mister Jesse! The May episode is here!

I just wanted to tell you that the May episode of the podcast Hey Mister Jesse is now available. Read the show notes for Hey Mister Jesse May 2008 to see what they offer this time. Great stuff!

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

I'll post more comments about the podcast later on. Happy listening!

Read what I've written before about Hey Mr Jesse.

Hey Mr Jesse: March 2008

On the first Monday of each month I'm very much like a child on a roadtrip: "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" but in my case it's not an amusement park that I'm waiting for, but close: it's the podcast Hey Mr Jesse.

This month I saw that the show was announced and tried the links on the Hey Mr Jesse webpage, but I couldn't get it to work so I reported it to Jesse Miner & Manu Smith. One minute later a email came back from Manu:

My goodness! You are too fast my friend. We are still uploading the file. :-)

Well, 20 minutes later I had downloaded the March edition of Hey Mr Jesse. I'm pretty sure I'm the first listener this time.

Download March edition of Hey Mr Jesse (~50MB, MP3).

If you like to know what's in podcast, check out the show notes for Hey Mr Jesse March 2008. You can't possible comment on everything on the show but here are some my comments about the show.



The first thing you notice is that Manu has a cold and he sounds just like Dan Fitzgerald in The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band. In the January podcast Manu complained that Dan has this rough voice and stills sounds great while he has a normal voice and can't sing. It would have been fun to hear Manu sing now and see if the rough voice makes a difference ;-)

They talked about one of my favorite artist when it comes Trad Jazz: Banu Gibson. Banu Gibson has released many good albums.

The 8-Count Swing featured songs from film soundtracks. A modern classic is "Business Of Love" by Domino from The Mask Soundtrack.

As usual I recommended music to them, this is what I wrote:

"I'd like to share some of my recent finds. First out is the singer Lannie Garrett who lives in Denver, Colorado where she has her own night club.

Lannie's voice has a certain "assertiveness" to it, it's strong and powerful. I'd like to recommend her album "Kick it" where almost every song is great for dancing, you don't find many albums like that.

I get positive comments about the songs whenever I dj them at a dance. Her band has that full big band sound that I really like."

Have you listened to Hey Mr Jesse March edition? What do you think of it? Tell me.

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.

Hey Mr Jesse: October show

Regular readers of this blog should be familiar with the Hey Mr Jesse podcast by now, if you just discovered this blog, check out what I've written about the podcast in the past. If you haven't listened to the show yet, you really should do it now, it's well worth it. Download the show here.

First off is the news that my friend and swing dj colleague Jonas Pettersson will be the guest dj at Yehoodi Radio on Thursdays during October. Earlier this year Jesse Miner asked for suggestions of swing djs that hadn't played on the show before so I suggested Jonas. Yay, he's here! I expect great music and I'm looking forward to his set (if I only can get the Live365 to work).

I don't want to reiterate everything so just read the show notes from the October podcast to see all the contents of the show, it's all there.

As always, the real gem of the Hey Mr Jesse podcast is the interview. This time it's David Berger from The Sultans of Swing who is interviewed. He talks about how you arrange a swing song and the thought process behind. Really educational. Recommend listening.

I always try to send some comments to Jesse and Manu and some of them are mentioned in the show. I tipped them about Jimmy Smith playing Moanin' and Nikki Yanofsky singing Evil Gal Blues. It also seems that they might feature a interview with Nikki Yanofsky later on, I hope that'll be the case.

What did you think about the October podcast of Hey Mr Jesse? Tell me.

Hey Mr Jesse! July edition

Hey! I just realized that it's just a few days left of July and I haven't really written something about the Hey Mr Jesse podcast of July. I better do that now.

Well, I have mentioned the fabulous Nikki Yanofsky that scats like Ella Fitzgerald (which I found out about thanks to Jesse).

That show has so much great stuff so you need more than month to digest it all. They have all these great jazz artists and swing albums that they tip you about and I have trouble checking out everything so I sometimes I listen to old podcasts to discover what I missed.

The best thing this time was their listing of swing songs that got hand clapping in them. I've spun most of these songs when I've dj:ed and it's a great way to raise the energy in the room.

Songs with hand clapping really signals to the dancers: "All right, let's get this party started!".

After you play one of these songs you can follow it up with high tempo tunes for a while. My personal number one song from that list is Dizzy Gillespie's "School Days". Saves the day every time. I have to get the live version of Lou Rawls' "I Rather Drink Muddy Water". Great song.

I'm looking forward to the August edition when he will count down his top eight swing jam songs.

Download the Hey Mr Jesse July edition [47 MB, mp3]

Look at the show notes for Hey Mr Jesse July edition for all the details.

Have you listened to the July edition? What are your thoughts about the show? Tell me.

Hey Mr Jesse Show: April Podcast

It's a new month and that means a new episode of the podcast Hey Mr Jesse where the swing djs Jesse Miner and Manu Smith talks about swinging jazz and blues that matters to dancers (much like intention of this blog).

This time they have a great interview with bandleader Casey MacGill whose cd Jump was a big hit as a part of the swing music revival in the late 1990s. That's a classic album if you ask me, Jump was one of the first albums I reviewed.

We get to know about his musical background and what it was like to work in the Broadway show Swing. If you like Casey MacGill you should check out the cast recording from the Swing show. They also talk about his new band: The Casey MacGill Blue 4 Trio.

See the Hey Mr Jesse April show notes to get all the details about what is in the 72 minute show. Download the Hey Mr Jesse show (mp3, 50 MB).

In the countdown segment, 8 count swing, Jesse and Manu lists 8 kid-friendly fun swing songs.

Hey Mr Jesse just keeps getting better and better. I looking forward to the next episode.

Have you listened to the April episode of Hey Mr Jesse? What do you think? 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.