Måndagsgruppen at Grönvallsalen: Photos

Yesterday Måndagsgruppen played at Grönvallsalen. They played swing, bebop and mainstream jazz, just as adverticed. They played the swinging "Don't get around much anymore" and on the bebop side the played a couple of songs of the brothers Nat Adderley and Cannonball Adderley.

Måndagsgruppen consists of Bosse Broberg (trumpet), Sture Lundén (trombone), Ulf Lindsjö and Lars-Olof Naessén (saxophone), Håkan Hedstrand (piano), Curt Andersson (bass), Richard Johnsson (drums) and Mikael Jansson (song).


Måndagsgruppen translates into "The Monday group" because they practise on Mondays. I wish they had had a little more imagination when coming up with a band name.

The concert experience usually become even better when you share it with someone and this time I couldn't have asked for a better company.

The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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

Did you attend the jazz concert at Grönvallsalen? What do you think of Måndagsgruppen? Tell me.

Jazz at Grönvallsalen

Today the jazz group Måndagsgruppen will play swing, bebop and mainstream jazz at Grönvallsalen at entrance 70 at Akademiska sjukhuset (the university hospital) at 17:00. Free!

Måndagsgruppen consists of Bosse Broberg (trumpet), Sture Lundén (trombone), Ulf Lindsjö and Lars-Olof Naessén (saxophone), Håkan Hedstrand (piano), Curt Andersson (bass), Richard Johnsson (drums) and Mikael Jansson (song).


The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission.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 heard them before? What do you think of them? Tell me.

"Dig You Later (A Hubba-Hubba-Hubba)"

Here is video clip from the film Doll Face from 1946 where Perry Como and Martha Stewart sings "Dig You Later (A Hubba-Hubba-Hubba)". Hubba-hubba is an American slang expression that is used to express approval, pleasure, or excitement. The song contains a lot of jive talking and slang expressions.

You will also notice that the film is made very close after the World War 2 and in the beginning of clip they mention the bombing of Japan in a way that maybe is not particulary political correct nowadays. So with this fair warning, take a look at the video clip.



What do you think of the video clip? Tell me.

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.

Hot Club De Norvege: Photos

Today the band Hot Club De Norvege played gypsy jazz in the style of Django Reinhardt at a concert at Katalin and all that jazz. The concert was arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club.

It was a great (grejt!) concert and if you like this kind of music you should see and listen to the band if they are in your neighbourhood.


Hot Club De Norvege consists of Jon Larsen (guitar), Finn Hauge (violin and harmonica), Per Frydenlund (guitar) and Svein Aarbostad (bass).


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


Were you at the concert with Hot Club De Norvege? What do you think of them? Tell me.

Hot Club De Norvege at Katalin tomorrow

Tomorrow the band Hot Club De Norvege will play at a concert at Katalin and all that jazz. The concert is arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club.

Hot Club De Norvege consists of Jon Larsen (guitar), Finn Hauge (violin and harmonica), Per Frydenlund (guitar) and Svein Aarbostad (bass).

The band plays what is refered to as gypsy jazz inspired by Django Reinhardt and Quintette du Hot Club de France but with their own twist. They have performed together with members of the Rosenberg Trio.

The concert starts at 14 tomorrow Saturday. If you're younger than 25 years old you'll get in for FREE! Othervise it costs 160 kr (130 if you're a member of Uppsla Jazz Club or has a UNT-card).

Have you seen or heard Hot Club De Norvege before? What do you think of them? Tell me.

Cats Corner: Advice for beginning dancers

On Tuesday David Kågedal and Jonas Pettersson shared the dj duty for the night at Cats Corner. Songs to mention: David played "One-Two-Three-O'Lairy" by Count Basie. (Jonas also played a nice song by Artie Shaw but I already forgot the name, I have to take notes!) Update: the song was "Summit Ridge Drive" från 1940.

It's good to see that a lot of people are coming out and dance, especially the beginners, I had a nice dance with A. who were there for her first time. Dancing with H. was a blast as always.

Amberlynn over at Dance Primer continue to write cornerstone posts that every beginning dancer should read:

Why You Shouldn’t Wait To Go Out And Dance
10 Successful Strategies to Get Others to Ask You To Dance
Relax, Nobody is Watching You

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

What are your advice to beginning dancers? Tell me.

Ginger Rogers dances Charleston in Roxie Hart

Ginger Rogers was quite a Charleston dancer, in fact that was how she started her career as a dancer and actress. Here is a scene from the film Roxie Hart (1942) where Ginger Rogers dances Charleston. The scene did however not make into Roxie Hart, maybe it was the production code for the movie industry that put a stop to that, I don't know.

The story is based on a true crime and has been made first into a silent movie: Chicago (1927) and of course the modern day remake: Chicago (2002) featuring Renée Zellweger as Roxie Hart.

What do you think of Ginger Rogers dancing Charleston in Roxie Hart? Tell me.

Bing Crosby: "Swinging on a Star" from Going My Way

Swinging on a star is a nice lightharted song that first appeared in the movie "Going my way" (1944) starring Bing Crosby. Here is a video clip from "Going my way" where Bing Crosby sings Swinging on a star.

The song is written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke and won an Oscar for "Best song" in the 1944 Academy awards, where the film also was voted the "Best motion picture" and Bing Crosby was voted "Best actor".

Another great film nominated this year was the short film "Jammin the blues" by Gjon Mili.

What do you think of Bing Crosby singing Swinging on a star? Tell me.

Lindy hop in Gävle

Yesterday I was djing swing all night in Gävle which is located approximately 80 km north of Uppsala. The lindy hop scene in Gävle is very young and they first started having regular courses one and a half year ago. It's also about one year ago since I dj:ed at their very first swing night. It was nice to be back.

My approach was very much like when I dj:ed the newbie night earlier this week: solid swing classics with a hifi feeling with tempos around 140 BPM. The only song that was a little bit faster was a version of 9:20 special by Count Basie. I also played Thunderbird, a fun song by Slim Gaillard from the album Slim Gaillard Rides Again.

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

Where you lindy hopping in Gävle last night? What did you think of the night? Tell me.

Newbie night at Cats Corner

On Tuesday there were a "Newbie night" at Cats Corner, lots and lots of people from Swingkatten's beginner courses showed up and we broke the attendance record this season. Yey!

I dj'ed the first part of the evening and played mostly classic swing songs with hifi sound quality, according to my experience that is very good for attracting unexperienced dancers to floor.

Speaking of sound quality, do you know where the worst sound quality in the room is located? You may have guessed it, it's in the dj booth. Since the dj booth is elevated in the corner behind the speakers, all the dj can hear is what the sound sounds like after it has been reflected between several walls, you can't hear much of the melody but much more of the bass pumping. The dj has some indication of the volume, but if you find the volume is to low or to high, come up and tell us and we'll fix it.

I found a new dance blog called Dance Primer by Amberlynn Lane which has great advise for all you newbies out there on How To be THAT Guy that everyone wants to dance with.

Where you at Cats Corner last Tuesday? What did you think of it? Tell me.

"Crazy Riffin" - Betti Mays, Big Sid Catlett

Here is a video clip from the movie Boy! What a Girl! where Betti Mays sings the song "Crazy Riffin" which is played by Big Sid Catlett's band.



The film "Boy! What a Girl!" is from 1947 and you can hear that the band has bop influences as well as Betti Mays has when she scats. That's bop phrases alright, but the tune still swings. Other jazz musicians as bass player Slam Stewart and drummer Gene Krupa also appears in the movie.

There is a group of dancers called The International Jitterbugs that I've heard is in the film, I haven't seen any clip of them, do you know anything about those dancers? Tell me.

What do you think of this video clip with Betti Mays and Big Sid Catlett's band performing the song "Crazy Riffin"? Tell me.

Beginners night at Cats Corner

Tonight, it's beginners night at Cats Corner, which means that we welcome everybody who is taking Swingkatten's beginner courses and introduce them to the social scene. It also means that experienced dancers only can dance with beginners for one hour in the beginning of the night. Then, hopefully everybody will be up and dancing and there will be no wallflowers.

I'm going to dj the night together with Jonas Pettersson. Welcome!

Fredrik Kronkvist Quartet: Photos

On Saturday Fredrik Kronkvist Quartet played at a concert at Katalin. Two of the original musicians in then band were temporary replaced with other musicians.

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







Where you at the concert? What did you think of Fredrik Kronkvist Quartet? Tell me.

Cats Corner: Swing Dance Photos

On Tuesday Cats corner took place again. I decided to devote a little more time to take pictures, but it's hard to take photos because of the dim light. The auto focus has a hard time and once it has focus, well then the dancing couple that you tried to photograph has moved a distance. Not to mention motion blur and camera blur. Social dance is one of the hardest things to photograph. Even though I'm pretty good at anticipating peak moments, it's not a choreographed dance as it is on a stage. If you're good at this, you're a really good photographer.



People ask me if I can't publish more photos and the answer is that I'm searching for a good webpage platform for displaying the photos. But until then, I'll just post a few the best photos here.

Trina Dobbs was djing and she played a very good version of Flat Foot Floogie by some jug band.

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

Where you at Cats Corner? What did you think of the evening? Tell me.

Fredrik Kronkvist Quartet at Katalin today

Upcoming concert

Today Fredrik Kronkvist Quartet will play at a concert at Katalin and all that jazz. The concert is arranged by Uppsala Jazz Club.

The quartet consists of Fredrik Kronkvist (alto saxophone), Kasper Villaume (piano), Martin Sjöstedt (bass) and Daniel Fredriksson (drums). From what I heard on his MySpace page they will play bopish jazz, however I'm not sure that they would classify their music that way, but I think you get the idea.

The concert starts at 14 and costs 210 kr (180 if you're a member of Uppsala Jazz Club or has a UNT-card).

Katie Webster & Gatemouth Brown - Everyday I have the blues

Here's a great version of "Everyday I have the blues" performed by Katie Webster & Gatemouth Brown.



I've heard about Gatemouth Brown before but Katie Webster was a really nice new acquaintance, I have to find more music by her.

What do you think about Katie Webster & Gatemouth Brown performing "Everyday I have the blues"? 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.

Delta Rhythm Boys - Take The 'A' Train

In the swing era there were some songs composed with a train theme, I'm very ambivalent about them because of the cheesy sound effects when the band tries to sound like a train.

However, here is a good train song: "Take The 'A' Train" with Delta Rhythm Boys.



An anecdote regarding this clip: Some of the clip was used in "Swingen anfaller" a documentary about Herräng Dance Camp (directed by Svante Grundberg in 2005). In the documentary they did a little joke and mixed this clip with some people who board the subway in Stockholm in a similar fashion and later on they arrive in Herräng (the Swedish equivalent of Harlem). This spoof was done so convincingly, so quite a few people who saw the documentary on Swedish tv called the camp office in Herräng to find out what subway line Herräng was located at (not realizing that Herräng is about 150 km northeast of Stockholm, quite a subway trip!).

What do you think of Delta Rhythm Boys singing Take The 'A' Train? Tell me.

Coleman Hawkins - Body & Soul

It was some time since I last featured late night music, but it's time again to showcase some mellow music that you can enjoy when you come home late at night from a night out dancing.

Tonight it's Coleman Hawkins who plays "Body & Soul". A good album for more late night jazz by Coleman Hawkins is "Sirius".

What are you your favorite late night music? Tell me.

Lindy hop World Championship on TV tonight

Wow, I can't belive it, but it's true: Swedish Television will send live from the Lindy hop World Championships in Halmstad on prime time. Tune in to SVT2 at 19 o'clock tonight! Expert commentators are Marie Nahnfeldt och Ulrika Larsdotter Ericsson.

Unfortunatly I'll not be home to see it *grmbl*, can someone tape it for me?

Speedlinks: Mentions and interview tip

Speedlinking is just me collecting small bits an pieces of information into one larger blog post. I've borrowed the term "Speedlinks" from David Hobby's excellent blog about off camera flash lighting called Strobist.

So, what's the news?

• Bryant Gover found my blog post about his swing dance photos. Read his blog post.
• Carl Nelson over at Carl's Dance Blog listed a couple of dance and swing blogs where this blog was mentioned. He reports from different dance events, including the recent Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown (ULHS).
• Speaking of ULHS, there is a good interview with dancer Peter Loggins in the most recent Yehoodi Talk Show taped at ULHS. Start at 24 minutes into the podcast and listen to minute 43 to hear a more about his background and how he got interested in dance history. If you're not a member of Yehoodi, you can safely skip the rest of the show. Download the talk show here.

Got any other interesting web sites that I should check out? Tell me.

Bert Kaempfert - Tuxedo Junction

Take a look at this video clip with Bert Kaempfert and his orchestra playing Tuxedo Junction. I really like the soft arrangement.



Wow, that what a call a BIG band. How many people are on the band stand? At least twenty.

Bert Kaempfert isn't very known by the general jazz public but some of his songs are: "L-O-V-E" which was made famous by Nat King Cole and "Strangers in the Night", a hit for Frank Sinatra. In Sweden almost everybody know Bert Kaempfert's song "Swingin' Safari" since it was (and maybe still is) the theme song for the tv quiz show for fifth-graders called "Vi i femman".

Tuxedo junction was written by Erskine Hawkins in 1940.

What do you think of Bert Kaempfert and his orchestra playing Tuxedo Junction? Tell me.

Cats Corner at Uplands nation

On Tuesday it was once more time to dance at Cats Corner at Uplands nation. Many people came out to dance and I felt the room was full of good energy. I had a nice dance with V. who just started dancing two weeks ago. Hey, all beginners! Come and dance you too, we would like to meet you.


David Kågedal was the swing dj of the night. Best song that night was "Evening" with Count Basie and (I think) Joe Williams.

A journalist from a magazine came and visited and I'm curious what the the article will look like. I was hoping that their experienced photographer would also have been there so I could have seen how he was working.

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

Were you there? What do you think of the evening? Tell me.

Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers - I Won't Dance

Enjoy this video clip with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to the song "I Won't Dance".



The video clip is from the movie Roberta (1935). The music of "I Won't Dance" is written by Jerome Kern and the lyrics that appear in the film are written by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh (original lyrics was written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach [Wikipedia])

What do you think of the video clip with Fred Astaire tap dancing to "I Won't Dance"? Tell me.