SwingDJs

I have dj'ed at All Bal for a couple of years now and this year, I dj'ed two sets - both on Sunday night. The first one was called 'Bal for Tired Feet' and was all slower tempos. The second one was all Chick Webb (we had a 'battle of the bands' between Chick, Count Basie and Benny Goodman) I may ha...

One screwy thing iTunes does that makes the organization a bit difficult is how it treats "compilations". I was not consistent in my decision to check or uncheck the "compilation" box when I ripped my CDs, so I likely have some that are in the Compilations folder, and some album...

I love Lionel Hampton, with his band, with Goodman, with most people... in fact, I've just succumbed to temptation and bought the Mosaic set (damn those Mosaic emails!). This CD fostered a deep and abiding love for this man: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21NQQN15JVL._AA130_.jpg Tempo and Swi...

Kind of depends on the gig/crowd. It's usually Basie, though - something chunky and uptempo? Earlier Basie. Something hi-fi? Later Basie. Something groovy? Later Basie. I do find myself playing more Ellington than anyone else - whether it's him or someone playing his stuff (I find him as flexible as...

Two years later.... I just got the Kansas City Swing, Blues, Jive & Boogie various artists collection. The reason I ordered it was to get hold of the alternative version of Froggy Bottom by Andy Kirk -- one of the guest djs on Yehoodi Radio played it a few weeks ago (can't remember who it was)....

I've worked with professional sound guys who specialise in jazz (yes!!) at a number of gigs around town, and it's wonderful - the sound difference is amazing, and all I have to do is choose songs and watch the crowd. As a DJ, it's a lovely experience. We also get some serious sound gear for MLX (Mel...

With nothing organised so far, no bands or DJS booked and no venues chosen, we can offer you nothing but good, solid MLX8 dates: Thursday 27th - Sunday 30th November But we find that international visitors (and we welcome more and more each year - especially Koreans...) like a little advance notice ...

At present, I work off a small but slowly growing selection (around 500 tracks that I've selected out of my main collection) I try to listen to these a as much as possible, so I'm familiar enough with them that when I'm DJing, I can get a feeling for what mood /feeling I'm after for the next track,...

In addition to driving swing songs like these - One O'Clock Jump by Count Basie from the album The Complete Decca Recordings What'cha Know Joe? by Tommy Dorsey from the album Jumpin' Jive Flying Home by Will Bradley from the album Eight to the Bar: The Very Best of Will Bradley - why isn't more ear...

That's useful stuff, djstarr and Platypus. Especially in regards to looking for similar styles/instruments: The best advice anyone ever gave me was that if I am in doubt about the next song, ask myself if there is something about the next song similar to the current song. (Platypus) I tend to listen...

I really don't think there's any substitute for practice - you get used to the 'pressure', the technology, your music, the way dancers respond, etc etc. I don't think there's anything wrong with starting with a shorter list of songs when you first DJ, especially if they're songs that you know dancer...

This is all excellent advise. It's also perhaps a little too general to be much help when you're right there in the middle of it, frantically flipping through your collection for that perfect next song. So here's a small, practical trick: Make lists. I've found this approach really useful. I have a...

This is kind of a long post, but I think about this stuff a whole lot and I have a few minutes before I have to start work.... Like wspeid, I always have (what I think of as) a 'safety song' ready if I'm taking a punt with something new. I've found dancers will forgive a fuck up if I follow up with ...

Not quite lindy hop, but you can dance de 'tango' to Jelly Roll's 'New Orleans Bump' (c/o Marsalis). Tango (the dance) was very popular during the 20s - it's not too surprising to see overlap with (20s) blues. Or is it...? I know performance type tango lifts and things were quite popular with blues ...

I had these same problems when I upgraded to itunes... 7.1? I think it was... I tried going back to the previous itunes, but it didn't work (I did the whole copy everything, reinstall, etc but... can't remember why it didn't work, but it didn't). I hung in there til the next round of itunes came out...