SwingDJs

J-h:n wrote:

Eyeball wrote:Have you even sat through the entire film?

Oh yeah. Granted, that was like 15 years ago, when I first bought it on VHS. So the description I gave was what had stuck in my memory, besides the music and dance numbers. Have it on DVD now, but I must admit I've never sat through it again.

Well - now that you are an adult, you may care to not make value judgments based upon your childhood experiences.

*Slightly off topic - I saw an interview with the producer of SVS, Milton Sperling, and he mentioned that he went to see it with his boss, the head of production at 20th Century-Fox studios, Daryl F. Zanuck. It was his first solo production and Sperling was nervous. It sneak previewed here in Pasadena and soon into the film people began walking out and kept walking, plus the preview cards were not positive. MS was certain he was going to lose his job. but DFZ simply said that they would re-cut the film, which is what they did - managing to delete some songs, too.

Apparently, the audience was confused -were they seeing a SH movie or a GM movie or a movie about a band? SH does much less skating in this film than usual. Joan Davis' part was cut way down and she was the funniest thing in the film.

It's very light-weight entertainment.

J-h:n wrote:By the way, that ITM clip is from Sun Valley Serenade - dreadful movie but well worth having just for the Nicholas Brothers in Chattanooga Choo Choo.

"That favourite musical aggretation of sweet and swing music, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra ... You'll swing and sway to the romantic rhythms"

Trailer

Chattanooga Choo Choo (main song before dancing)

So WHY does 'In The Mood' work for dancing? (I still don't like it very much, but it just works every single time it's played (either live or by a DJ) ... dancers pile onto the dancefloor and start jumping around).

I think it's the energy of the repetitive riff ...

"Der de de
de der de
der de der
der de Der ...

Der de de
de der de
der de der
der de Der ...

Der de de
de der de
der de der
der de Der ...

Der de de
de der de
der de der
der de Der ...

Der de de
de der de
der de der
der de Der ...

Der de de de
der de de de
der de de de
de de Der ..."

etc

I'm a bit late to the show here, but the problem I have with ITM is that most bands play it at quite a slow tempo. This clip on UTube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR3K5uB- ... re=related
...has the band playing it faster and more swinging than any other take I've heard. I have no issue with this version of the track and wouldn't have a problem dancing to it at all. I just can't stand it played any slower.

Balboa Chris wrote:I'm a bit late to the show here, but the problem I have with ITM is that most bands play it at quite a slow tempo. This clip on UTube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR3K5uB- ... re=related
...has the band playing it faster and more swinging than any other take I've heard. I have no issue with this version of the track and wouldn't have a problem dancing to it at all. I just can't stand it played any slower.

I think I'd disagree with you there Chris - that clip is just too fast for my liking (the band is apparently Tex Beneke and the Glenn Miller Orchestra, presumably in the late 40s after Miller's death). The way they play it, it seems to be that it's lost the 'swinging' feel of the original and most of the Glenn Miller versions. Perhaps if you're dancing balboa to it, it might feel different? (I've never tried) When you say most bands play it at a slow tempo, do you mean slow for balboa, or just slow anyway?

I much prefer this one featuring Glenn Miller from the film Sun Valley Serenade ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPXwkWVEIIw

By the way, this modern performance from the Glenn Miller Orchestra in Germany's not bad either...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1nqj74LHWo

Haydn wrote:
I think I'd disagree with you there Chris - that clip is just too fast for my liking

Too fast for my liking, too.

Hail the Artie Shaw version!

Bah. I prefer Jumpy Nerves.

Though a version of In the Mood that I heard at a Battle of the Bands (when the two bands joined in) was pretty awesome.

I played Miller's classic version of "In The Mood" last week and it killed (in a good way). Dancers rushed to pack the floor, most of whom I suspect are newbie enough to have never heard this DJed at a dance before. They went nuts!

Don't knock The Mood!

trev wrote: Don't knock The Mood!

His broadcast versions are good, too and do not include the hokey notes played by Tex and Al which they seem to have immediately regretted playing. Broadcast versions done soon after the recording was made have the guys doing a better tenor exchange.

"Respect the Mood!"

Yes, I have some of those broadcast versions with the (much, much better) solos, but from memory they are taken at a faster tempo and the slower original tempo was better for the [DJing] moment.

trev wrote:Yes, I have some of those broadcast versions with the (much, much better) solos, but from memory they are taken at a faster tempo and the slower original tempo was better for the [DJing] moment.

I'd have to listen again re tempo. I know the later performances have faster tempos, but not sure of the 39 and 40 plays.

There are more than two dozen recordings of Glenn Miller performing In The Mood, so there should be a few decent ones among those. I have a good one in my DJing catalogue from 1943, but I don't know the recording details. 193 bpm.

trev wrote:I played Miller's classic version of "In The Mood" last week and it killed (in a good way). Dancers rushed to pack the floor, most of whom I suspect are newbie enough to have never heard this DJed at a dance before. They went nuts!

Don't knock The Mood!

Yeah - I've actually got to like it ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJE-onnw2gM

Haydn wrote:
Don't knock The Mood!

Yeah - I've actually got to like it ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJE-onnw2gM[/quote]

It just hangs together really well. I try to listen for things I have listened to, but not 'heard'; background stuff.

trev wrote:I played Miller's classic version of "In The Mood" last week and it killed (in a good way). Dancers rushed to pack the floor, most of whom I suspect are newbie enough to have never heard this DJed at a dance before. They went nuts!

Don't knock The Mood!

Our local swing organizer, Terry Gardner, taught me this "secret trick" after a DJ battle. He's right--I always fill the floor.