Good Evening Everybody: Photos

Last week I saw the show Good Evening Everybody at Parksnäckan. The show is about the music and life of Louis Armstrong.




Good Evening Everybody is an entertaining and educating show. Beside hearing a lot of good jazz music you'll also find out a lot about Louis Armstrong and also about jazz history in general.

The band members take turns telling stories and band leader Peter Lind provides explanations of why Armstrong was called "Satch"; where the song "Muskrat ramble" got its name and how you really pronounce his name: is it "Louie" or "Louis"?



They talked about Louis Armstrongs tours to Sweden and how his music not always was understood by the music critics.

Nowadays most Swedes understand English, but in those days they wrote new lyrics to the song so that the general public could understand, often the lyrics became much more trivial.



But songs didn't just travel from America to Europe, some songs travelled in the opposite direction. Peter Lind and the Cabaret band gave examples of songs like that: Just a Gigolo (orginally a song from Austria) and Mack The Knife (from Germany). Take a look at Louis Armstrong sing Mack The Knife.

Peter Lind commented on the fact that there are too few movies on tv with Louis Armstrong in them: "When was the last time you saw Cabin In the Sky?".

If you have the opportunity I recomend you to see the show.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

Have you seen the show Good Evening Everybody? What do you think of it? Tell me.

Nikki Yanofsky sings It Don't Mean a Thing

Here is Nikki Yanofsky singing It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) together with Canadian pianist Oliver Jones.



I featured Nikki Yanofsky some weeks ago where she sung Airmail Special, scatting just like Ella Fitzgerald. There seems to be a lot of interest in Nikki so I thought that I would present another video clip with her.

What I like about Nikki Yanofsky in this video clip is her phrasing, just listen to how she deliver the words, how she bends and stretches them or chops them up in perfect pieces. Excellent.

If you're interested in how Ella did it, take a look at Ella Fitzgerald singing "It Don't Mean a Thing".

What do you think of Nikki Yanofsky singing "It Don't Mean a Thing"? 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.

Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band: Photos

Last Wednesday The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band played at Katalin. The weather was really nice and warm and everybody was sitting at the outside restaurant so the band set up outside as well.

The band grabbed some members of the audience to play washtub bass along with them. I'm pretty sure that they need bass players when they play at Katalin tonight again sometime after 20 o'clock. If you'd like to play in a jazz band, this might be your chance.



Since they play in the pub or outside there is no entry fee so you can tip the band, buy their cds, buy a beer or some food there or all of the above. Outside you have plenty of room to dance, inside it probably will be a little bit crowded but you can try if you're careful.

The photos are taken by me and may not be used elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license them.

What do you think of The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band? Tell me.

Blues dancing at Blues night at Herräng Dance Camp

Herräng Dance Camp, the worlds largest swing dance camp, has soon finished the fourth of five weeks this summer. Each week one night is "Blues night" where slow blues is played all night in the main ballroom. In the first years of this tradition only blues was played that night but in the last couple of years there has been tango or balboa on the other dance floors.

The Blues night is opened at midnight with a blues dance performance, take a look at these sexy women at the opening blues performance from 2004.



The kind of blues you hear in this video clip is very typical of the music you will hear all through the Blues night.

Have you been to a Blues night at Herräng dance camp? Do you like blues dancing? Tell me.

"Good Evening Everybody" at Parksnäckan

Tonight there will be a performance in Parksnäckan in Uppsala called Good evening everybody by Peter Lind and the Cabaret Band.

Good evening everybody was the opening phrase that Louis Armstrong always used and the show is about Louis Armstrong, his music and his life. The band will tell anecdotes about Louis Armstrong but will also talk about the how he has influenced them. Peter Lind is an amazing storyteller and he is backed up some of Uppsala's (and Sweden's) best jazz musicians: John Högman, Björn Sjödin, Kjell Grundström, Mats Josephson and Claes-Göran Skoglund.

I think this will be a really awesome show, it starts at 19.30 and costs 90 kr (70 kr with UNT-card).

Uppsala Nya Tidning has an article about the show.

The photo is taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license it.

Have you seen the show "Good evening everybody" before? What do you think of it? Tell me.

The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band at Katalin

The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band will play at Katalin at 20.00 tonight. The Lost and Wandering Blues & Jazz Band is a charming street jazz band that has been playing all over Europe and USA for the last 25 years.

The band is led by Dan Fitzgerald who sings with a rough voice and plays washtub bass. Also in the band is Gene Clarke on trumpet and piano. Different local musicians join them when they come to a new town. Here in Uppsala I'm pretty sure that David Shore (vocals and guitar) will join them as he has done before.

You might not know that the now world famous jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux sung and played with The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band in the early 1990's.

The band is really at it's best in small and intimate venues, so I encourage you to see them tonight. They will also play one more time at Katalin on Saturday. I don't know their plans but you might also spot them playing downtown this week (maybe at Forumtorget).

If you'd like a sample of Dan Fitzgerald's singing, take a look at this video clip from the early 1980's from a live performance on German television. The band performs three songs: Take It Right Back, God Bless the Child and Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (My Baby).



The photo above is taken by me and may not be used elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to license it.

Have you heard The Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band? What do you think of them? Tell me.