SwingDJs

Lately if anybody requests "Wade in the Water" I just smile and say I'll work it into my set and then play the Ramsey Lewis version.

I don't get the antipathy towards popular songs, especially good popular songs. Is it because we feel superior to the masses that we look down on their tastes?

CafeSavoy wrote:I don't get the antipathy towards popular songs, especially good popular songs. Is it because we feel superior to the masses that we look down on their tastes?

Thankfully "the masses" aren't my audience. hahaha

I find that songs like that remain popular with a few folks, but the majority of them get tired of them. So looking down on them has nothing to do with teh masses, but rather than keeping my audience happy. (as well as myself)

I don't get the antipathy towards popular songs, especially good popular songs. Is it because we feel superior to the masses that we look down on their tastes?

It's not a matter of antipathy or looking down on anyone or any song. It's fun to suprise someone with a different version and seeing the reaction that you get.

Lars wrote: It's fun to suprise someone with a different version and seeing the reaction that you get.

That's true. And the search is always on for other good versions of popular songs. I remember that when "wade in the water" first became popular there was a big search on for additional versions but i'm not sure if many of the other versions had much staying power.

I dunno, I find the incessant search for every version of a good song to be a bit overdone sometimes. Ya, there are some sweet alternative versions of things, but some of the DJs take it too far.

perhaps a small digression here, but one of our favorite jazz DJs in town, Ken Wiley, does a thing on his show he calls "chasing". He plays a version of a song, typically from the 30's or 40's usually traditional style, then he will play another version done in the 50's or 60's. Usually very interesting.

I did this last night Dj'ing, played Ain't Misbehavin' by Sidney Bechet then played Louis Armstrong version off of Satch Plays Fats. Got a couple of grins from the regulars but the crowd was full of newbies so I thought playing an instrumental then a vocal of the same song would be fun, I think it worked.

I dunno, I find the incessant search for every version of a good song to be a bit overdone sometimes. Ya, there are some sweet alternative versions of things, but some of the DJs take it too far.

Got an example?

Lars wrote:

I dunno, I find the incessant search for every version of a good song to be a bit overdone sometimes. Ya, there are some sweet alternative versions of things, but some of the DJs take it too far.

Got an example?

Moten Swing.
Stormy Monday.
Wade in the Water.
Pink Panther.

oh, and you might want specific Djs... not gonna do it, but venues: how about 9:20 or LindyGroove

Admittedly, this was a while back as I don't get a chance to attend those venues, but I recall horrible versions of all those those songs being played...

It's the search for the "sweet alternative versions" that makes it fun for me. Like a Bal tempo version of "Muddy Water" by Lou Rawls that I occasionally play at Hot Water.

I was trying to find out what year the Gap ad came out (1998 according to adweek.com) and I stumbled onto the following columnpublished in 1998 in The National Review of all places. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_21191248

It has some interesting comments that made me think of this thread, in particular this quote:

The other impediment to an upsurge of swing is a frequent absence of musical judgment. Though jazz musicians may err in deifying virtuosity, the neo-swing movement is much too tolerant of slipshod musicianship. The Brian Setzer Orchestra is typical. It boasts the most professional musicians of the new swing groups, but it lacks much in the way of musicality. Setzer's remake of "Jump, Jive, and Wail" is especially telling. Louis Prima's original version rollicks back and forth between a tightly controlled boogie-shuffle and a dionysian riot. There are dynamics; there is variation: the stuff of which musical interest is made. Not so the Setzer band's take on the tune, which has a Spinal Tap approach: it goes to eleven.

I was caught by this quote:

The jazz sophisticates could try to compete; instead they choose to hole up like so many eschatologists in the desert, awaiting the second coming of Eric Dolphy.

and can't help but wonder how much this led to neo-swing BEING a fad. Did people realize Setzer and CPD aren't all that, but couldn't find modern, GOOD swing music?

Or maybe mosh pits are just easier to get into.

It begs the question - Why didn't actual jazz musicians get involved in the 'swing craze' of the late 90s?

Most of the guys with big bands that I knew were so totally clueless about what was happening outside of their jazz or nostalgia worlds. They had heard something about it somewhere, but paid no attention and didn't follow up on it until it was nearly too late.

It was sad and funny at the same time.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you say the muscians were clueless. Our jazz community here tends to favor modern, concert style jazz where the trumpet player likes to toot his own horn for 32 or 64 bars of solo with the expectation of a standing ovation afterward. The particular folks I'm thinking of still hold an annual dance, as long as I've been dancing (6 years) they've always scheduled their event the same night as a big ballroom dance or the annual big band night at a nearby dance hall. I've been told that before I started dancing (in '99) that this group didn't even like playing for dancers. Since then I think they clued in to the fact that a competing big band gets regular gigs that actually PAY real cash money.

We have a strong blues community, those musicians tended go with the fad because they play a lot of jump blues sort of stuff, not that far removed from the neo-swing stuff. The blues musicians tend to appreciate the dancers, I think the mutual respect encouraged dancers to support their gigs more than jazz muscians.