Discovering new music to add to your collection is a fun process and there are lots of ways of going about it. You might have read that last month I told you about the old swing CDs I discovered at my parent’s house? Well, checking out your current CD and MP3 collection is the best place to start. I can guarantee that you’ll come across some swing tunes that you never knew you had! Friends are a great source of tips and suggestions. I’ve got a mate in Germany who gives me good tips, as do several of my UK friends. Its fun sharing ideas with others, especially if they don’t dance on the same scene as you as they’ll have plenty of new tunes for you. My last tip for finding new music is Lastfm.com. Its simple: pick an artist you like, lets say “Ella Fitzgerald” and it’ll start by live-streaming one of her tunes and will then introduce you to a raft of related artists. Enjoy! March’s top 5 toe tapping toons …

1) “Smooth Sailin’ – Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald: legend. “Smooth Sailin’” is a familiar song on the scene, and a good’un. Its gentle, smooth (well, you kind of get that from the title don’t you) and a fine example of Ella’s talent at scatting – there aren’t any real words in there, all boo be doos etc.. But hey, who needs words!

2) “Let the Good Times Roll” – Kansas City Stompers

The Kansas City Stompers are a Danish band, who’ve apparently been on the scene for 50 years. Wow. They have spent a fair amount of time in the US getting into the New Orleans groove. And the result is sublime. Vocals are by a gal called Sanne Salomonsen.

3) “Goody Goody” – Della Reese

Della’s powerful vocals beckon you to the floor, where with this song you can have fun with some fantastic breaks. Della started singing aged 6 in her local gospel choir in Detroit. Inspired by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday she turned to jazz and joined the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra in 1953. In the 1950s and 1960s Della appeared in many TV shows and was the first black woman to host her own talk show. She’s still singing today and is an ordained minister.

4) “Junco Partner” – Louis Jordon

Every now and again you’ll hear a Latin tune sneak into a swing set. This is a good example of one. It has that Latin feel, but beneath you’ll find a rhythm that you can swing to. Louis started his musical career in the 1930s playing big band swing as a saxophonist for bands such as the Savoy Ballroom Orchestra led by Chick Webb. He later became on the leading practitioners of “jump blues”. Apparently he was married 5 times.

5) “I Love Being Here With You” – Barbara Morrison

I had never heard of Barbara Morrison until a few weeks ago in Bristol, but my word, this woman has a pair of lungs… She started performing aged 10 on her local radio station in Detroit and has still touring today. She sings a range of genres from blues to jazz from gospel to pop and has performed with greats including Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles and Etta James.

Happy listening. And if you have any feedback, or want to share some tunes then leave a comment in the box.

Hannah (AKA Mistress Groove)

Read Hannah’s top 5 for January and February.

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The other day I found a raft of swing CDs back at my parents’ house that I hadn’t touched since my teenage big-band years. These poor neglected CDs had been sat gathering dust, completely forgotten, and it was wonderful to stumble across them. It’s been great revisiting old familiar artists and songs with my dancing hat on.
To this month’s pick of swingin’ songs from artists I discovered pre-lindy hop …

1) “A Swinging Safari” – Bert Kaempfert
This is a song that’ll put a spring in your step. You’ll probably know it from the ING advert, or as the theme music of several American TV shows. Bert Kaempfert was a prolific German songwriter and orchestra leader with over 50 albums to his name. After WW2, in which he’d served in the German army as a bandsman, he turned his hand to producing and signed a little known band called “The Beatles” to perform as a backing band.

2) “The Pink Panther Theme” – Hollywood Studio Orchestra
I expect you’re familiar with the clumsy Inspector Clouseau, and have watched the cartoon opening, feet tapping. But have you danced to it yet? This is cool jazz verging on lounge music and is very danceable with the most incredible saxes. Henry Mancini who wrote the song was a pianist and arrangist for the Glen Miller Orchestra, and became a composer for Universal pictures with 20 Grammys to his name.

3) “Hallelujah I love her So” – Ray Charles
Ray Charles – what a Master! Soul, blues, country, gospel, swing: he does it all. This is such a happy song: I can’t get enough of it and have been known to stand at  the bus stop subtly (and then not too subtly) executing jazz steps to it on repeat. If you are interested in learning more about Mr Charles, catch the film “Ray”.

4) “Tuxedo Junction” – Glenn Miller
I have to confess that I’m a big Glenn Miller fan. You don’t play in a big band without coming to love his classic tunes. There’s a fair bit of snobbery on the dance scene about Mr Miller, but I say if you like the music and it makes you want to groove then who cares! Tuxedo Junction has long been a favourite of mine – it’s the muted trombone that does it – and no matter how many times it’s played, I still want to get up and dance to it!

5) “Shadrack” – Louis Armstrong
I met Louis as a kid, listening to “The HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy” with his “What a Wonderful World”. “Shadrack” by contrast is a haunting religious song  about burning children in fiery furnaces … and their subsequent rescue by angels with snow-white wings. The song is medium tempo with a nice upbeat tempo contrasting to theme.

Happy listening. Let me know what you think of the tunes in the comments section.
Hannah (AKA Mistress Groove)

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I don’t care who you are….everyone loves a great cover version. No one is too cool to enjoy a fresh take on a classic. Bands like Novelle Vague have made a name for themselves covering classic tunes in their unmistakable French lounge style. How often have you typed a song nem into Spotify and got a million versions of it?
Swing is all about covers. Name a swing classic and everyone around you will be able to give you a different band who’ve covered it. But I bet nbot many people can give you the name of a band that have covered eighties tunes in a Django Reinhardt, gypsy guitar swing style?

Enter the Lost Fingers and their new album Lost in the Eighties. I’m a massive fan of their cover of Ca Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertand but that was until I heard their cover of Straight Up by Paula Abdul. It may be love….it’s definitely a Bal classic in the making. Speaking of which…Balboa with Joel Plys and Evita Arce this Wednesday, don’t miss out!

Lost in the Eighties

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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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