Boogie Woogie music

[The Peanut Vendor]

Some songs and artists just make you wanna dance triple-steps. Boogie Woogie is popular in Europe, but not so much in North America. However, the advantage to playing many classic boogie woogieable songs is that you can still comfortably Lindy to them. But as a DJ, you can satisfy the Jivers, East-Coasters, and Lindy Hoppers all at once.

So let's discuss artists, even songs, to look for that have a swingy and boogie woogie dancing feel to them.

[Toon Town Dave]

I might as well start the list off with the obvious:

• Albert Ammons
  Pete Johnson
  Meade "Lux" Lewis

If you're looking for something a little less old-school, check out what some of the Shaggers are dancing to. Judy's House of Oldies has a good selection.

[Campus Five]

If you're looking for a modern player of traditional boogie, you will do no better then Carl "Sonny" Leyland.

[Utah_Nate]

I actually dance a lot of Boogie Woogie in Utah. We even taught a lesson down in Arizona at the Swing Jam. I love boogie woogie music. My list is:

Albert Ammons
Meade Lux Lewis
Pinetop Perkins
Big Joe Turner
Hadda Brooks
Marylin Scott
Peppermint Harris
Johnny Moore
Pete Johnson

I have so many more, but can't think of them off the top of my head at the moment.

[Yakov]

Julia Lee, "Gotta Gimme What'cha Got"

[The Peanut Vendor]

I actually dance a lot of Boogie Woogie in Utah. We even taught a lesson down in Arizona at the Swing Jam. I love boogie woogie music.

Whoah! no way! I did some searching for boogie woogie in NA, but all I found were workshops taught on it back in '99 from import instructors. A talented boogie dancer from Russia settled in Edmonton, so we've been having boogie woogie lessons for ~1.5 years now. Unfortunately, it hasn't caught on because most of our core members and scene is geared towards lindy-hop. It's kinda like ballroom instructors learning lindy-hop... they might get some of the technique down pat, but they still don't get the essense of lindy hop. So for myself as a lindyhopper, I can get some of the boogie technique down, but really, I haven't fully captured the essence of boogie.

Thanks for that list, that's very helpful.

[Utah_Nate]

I actually dance a lot of Boogie Woogie in Utah. We even taught a lesson down in Arizona at the Swing Jam. I love boogie woogie music.

Whoah! no way! I did some searching for boogie woogie in NA, but all I found were workshops taught on it back in '99 from import instructors. A talented boogie dancer from Russia settled in Edmonton, so we've been having boogie woogie lessons for ~1.5 years now. Unfortunately, it hasn't caught on because most of our core members and scene is geared towards lindy-hop. It's kinda like ballroom instructors learning lindy-hop... they might get some of the technique down pat, but they still don't get the essense of lindy hop. So for myself as a lindyhopper, I can get some of the boogie technique down, but really, I haven't fully captured the essence of boogie.

Thanks for that list, that's very helpful.

Where are you from? Maybe we will head down that way and teach a little some time.

[The Peanut Vendor]

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Pretty far away

[Roy]

I don't agree with your view that Boogie Woogie satisfies Lindy Hoppers. I think it can be mixed in as a good mix for variety reasons, but, the places i am familar with there is a clear litening of the dance floor when Boogie Woogie is played.

I think this is because most Lindy hoppers either don't feel their dance fits into the music well or has been to Herrang/Europe and has seen Boogie woogie danced and they realize they don't know that dance. Just a couple of guesses of why it's not liked that much.

I know many big bands added a boogie woogie number into their repotorie in the late 1930's once BW got popular again. I'm curious what the dancers of the 30s/40s danced when the boogie woogie number was played?

Personally, I love boogie woogie and would like to see it played more.

[GemZombie]

I don't agree with your view that Boogie Woogie satisfies Lindy Hoppers. I think it can be mixed in as a good mix for variety reasons, but, the places i am familar with there is a clear litening of the dance floor when Boogie Woogie is played.

I think this is because most Lindy hoppers either don't feel their dance fits into the music well or has been to Herrang/Europe and has seen Boogie woogie danced and they realize they don't know that dance. Just a couple of guesses of why it's not liked that much.

I know many big bands added a boogie woogie number into their repotorie in the late 1930's once BW got popular again. I'm curious what the dancers of the 30s/40s danced when the boogie woogie number was played?

Personally, I love boogie woogie and would like to see it played more.

Depends on the boogie.

For example, Benny Goodman's Roll 'Em (well, actually Mary Lou Williams') is a boogie, but is a pretty good song that most Lindy Hoppers like.

But Boogie from the likes of Ammons or more hard core boogie players tends to be quite a bit different.

I too enjoy some boogie mixed in.

[Utah_Nate]

There are a lot of different styles of Boogie Woogie. Some is less danceable than others. Big Band Boogie Woogie is more danceable than strait piano boogie. This is from the jazzinamerica.org website:

Some of the characteristics of boogie woogie are:
1. It was born in gin mills, lumber camps and rent parties.
2. There was not much subtlety to the music - poor to bad instruments and unschooled instrumentalists.
3. Volume was produced by physical strength.
4. Form was always a blues; songs had no real beginning or ending, much like African music.
5. Emphasis on rhythm rather than melody.
6. Return to breaks to create tension and to rest the left hand.
7. The left hand, which never varied, could have been an outgrowth of "stride" piano.
8. Boogie Woogie patterns were personalized much like the field hollers and hawking cries.
9. The left hand ostinato (a repeated figure) served as a forerunner of rhythm and blues.
10. Unpianistic music.
11. Percussive and rugged.
12. Uneven and unpredictable.

[Campus Five]

That list seems incredibly pejorative. Sounds like a bunch of modern jazzers who have little appreciation for or real knowledge of boogie-woogie. Also, Boogie-woogie is perfectly danceable.

[Utah_Nate]

I agree that boogie woogie is very danceable, but there is some that isn't. There is some hard core Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis that would be very difficult to dance to (Lindy at least).

[GemZombie]

In my scene people used to groan when i put on a boogie song of any sort. I determined that the rhythm makes it seem faster than it is. Boogies almost always sound more uptempo then a standard swing song of the exact same tempo.

Since then the average tempo enjoyed by my scene has increased, and i don't get the same groans. As I said before, personally I love boogie, and think it's great to dance to. My dance style definitely changes a bit when it's a solid boogie, but the same could be said for so many different types of perfectly dancable jazz and swing.

[The Peanut Vendor]

I don't agree with your view that Boogie Woogie satisfies Lindy Hoppers.

Yup, I agree, not all of it is. When I meant 'classic', I guess I was referring to the stuff played in the late 30's and 40's, which was a transition time for many big band artists into other forms of jazz. From the collection of boogie woogie songs I have from that era, most of it swings nicely for lindyhoppers... However, since I'm more of a lindyhopper, I don't focus on/know artists who were known in late 40's and early 50's - If I'm not mistaken, the period when Boogie Woogie was gaining popularity.

Listenning to some of the stuff my Russian friend plays for her boogie classes... yeah, some of it definitely isn't lindy friendly. Not as bad as trying to fit lindy into much of the modern jazz we hear, but you get the idea