You’ve just started dancing, you love the music, but just don’t know where to start when it comes to buying your own tunes. Sound familiar?  It’s exactly how I felt when I first started. I remember asking a mate from my Sunday class and he came up with “Louis Jordon, you can’t go wrong with him”.  In retrospect, Louis probably isn’t the most obvious choice, although enjoyable, and if you asked me now I’d probably direct you towards Count Basie, one of the greatest big band leaders.

I’ve recently been discovering a lot of bands playing around the world at the moment. So my choices today are going to be a mix of the old and the new.
So, to the top 5 for January…

1) “Big Fine Daddy” by Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers
This track opens with an awesome blast of brass and sax and then Lavay comes in with her beautifully silky, biting voice and you can’t help but want to groove along.  An American band, blues influenced, they’re based in San Francisco and apparently even Bill Clinton is a fan!  www.lavaysmith.com

2) “Splanky” by Count Basie
What a tune!  The piano tempts us in, the trombones greet us and gently call to the saxophones who playfully answer, building up to a crescendo of brass reminiscent of a cop show of the 1970s.  Your feet will be tapping from the first beat.

3) “Long Gone John” by Gordon Webster
A bouncy, feel good tune with a Caribbean lilt and some great trombone slides.  A Canadian jazz pianist and swing dancer, Gordon Webster (and band) has just released a new album, “Happy When I’m With You,” written especially for swing dancers. (Free song download on his website www.gordonwebsterswings.com)

4) “The Fox” by Ray Anthony
Another bouncy one, that’ll beckon you to the floor – classic 50s big band I’d say.  An American, Ray Anthony cut his teeth with the Glen Miller band in the early 1940s as a trumpeter, and then went on to form his successful dance band, The Ray Anthony Orchestra.  Interesting fact, Ray dabbled with film acting in the 1940s and 50s and even had his own TV show.  As far as I can tell, the man is still alive and well into his late 80s.

5) “Shout Sister Shout” by Sister Rosetta Tharpe
I just love this song with Rosetta’s alluring and gritty voice.  Brought up a gospel singer, Rosetta made waves in the 1930s when she mixed sacred and secular in her first recordings with the Lucky Millinder orchestra. She went on to play with Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway and much later, when she switched to blues, Muddy Waters.

That’s it for now. Happy listening.  And let us know what you think of the tunes!
Hannah (AKA Mistress Groove)

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