SwingDJs

I DJ'd a night a week ago with only blues music. We had a blues singer (Candye Kane) performing and wanted to keep the night in a blues theme. Some experienced lindy hoppers thought the music was not perfect for lindy but still liked it since they liked the whole theme thinking.
I used Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Joe Turner and Louis Jordan as basic and then filled it out with single songs from different artists that I only have a few songs from that I thought fit the blues theme and still swing good enough for lindy (Eva Cassidy, Blues Brothers, Aretha Franklin etc.)

It was a good night and I probably will DJ for another blues gig in two weeks so I wonder if anyone here has any good tips for more artists to check out for swingin' blues music?

/Patrik

Are you actually refering to slow blues?

No, he's referring to jump blues, I believe, because Candye Kane does mostly jump blues. Patrik, we call "blues" dancing dancing to slow swinging blues and other slow (70 to 120 BPM) tunes. The blues I think you are talking about are just normal Lindy-danceable jump blues songs. I play such songs regularly, I don't think I'd ever play a whole night of them, though...

My favorites 50's R&R/jump blues would be Roy Brown, Ruth Brown, Wynonie Harris, Louis Jordan, Amos Milburn, Buddy Johnson and Nellie Lutcher. My favorite modern jump blues would probably be Mighty Blue Kings, Jellyroll, Indigo Swing, Swing Session...

Blues is a word with so many different meanings and implications.

It can be a phrasing structure of 12 bars.

It can be a slow tempo.

It can be of melancholy subject matter.

It can be a combination of any or all of these.

That said, my favorite Blues musicians and bands for Lindy Hop are Count Basie and Jay McShann.

No, I'm referring to blues music as what the general public today calls blues, and also jump blues. I'm not talking about music for blues dancing, I know what that is.
What I'm searching for is not just jump blues but also regular uptempo blues music (I would never refer to what Jimmy Witherspoon plays as jump blues).
I'm talking about music in the style of BB.King, John Lee Hooker etc. but still swings so you can lindy hop to it.

LazyP wrote:(I would never refer to what Jimmy Witherspoon plays as jump blues).

Source: www.allmusic.com

Jimmy Witherspoon
AKA born: James Witherspoon
Born Aug 8, 1923 in Gurdon, AR
Died Sep 18, 1997 in Los Angeles, CA
Genres Blues
Styles Jazz Blues, Jump Blues, Urban Blues
Instruments Vocals

GuruReuben wrote:

LazyP wrote:(I would never refer to what Jimmy Witherspoon plays as jump blues).

Source: www.allmusic.com

Jimmy Witherspoon
AKA born: James Witherspoon
Born Aug 8, 1923 in Gurdon, AR
Died Sep 18, 1997 in Los Angeles, CA
Genres Blues
Styles Jazz Blues, Jump Blues, Urban Blues
Instruments Vocals

Yes, I understand some people could call what he plays as jump blues. But as I said, I would never call it that. But we all know that personal definitions are not always the same for everyone. Jazz blues though I think is a very good definition of Jimmy Witherspoon.

I enjoy Roy Milton and have found a number of his songs to be playable. Much (most?) of Gene Harris' stuff is blues and the Down Home Blues album has some great songs.

BTW- this thread made me curious about the common definition for Jump Blues. I found this (also from allmusic.com):

Jump Blues refers to an uptempo, jazz-tinged style of blues that first came to prominence in the mid- to late '40s. Usually featuring a vocalist in front of a large, horn-driven orchestra or medium sized combo with multiple horns, the style is earmarked by a driving rhythm, intensely shouted vocals, and honking tenor saxophone solos — all of those very elements a precursor to rock & roll. The lyrics are almost always celebratory in nature, full of braggadocio and swagger. With less reliance on guitar work (the instrument usually being confined to rhythm section status) than other styles, jump blues was the bridge between the older styles of blues — primarily those in a small band context — and the big band jazz sound of the 1940s. — Cub Koda

a band that certainly no one in sweden has heard would be John Nemeth and the Jacks. I LOVE them sooo much. he has more than one group so be sure to go with the Jacks his other group is more like a jazz set frim fram type stuff.

you can order his cd online.. I listened to it for an entire all day on sunday. I just didn't get sick of it. all the songs are great. some up tempo some slower. most are original songs some are covers .


here's there site I HIGHLY recomend.. plus he is a dancer friendly muscian. when you go out to see him he makes his set fit your music. HIRE THEM WE LOVE THEM....

http://www.johnnemethblues.com/
on their cd's page you can check out clips of the songs.

they have other cd's i just have to find out where.... from back in the day when they wer Fat John and the 3 slims.. he's not fat anymore and the 3 slims aren't so slim!!!!


end commercial

tanya

i take it back they'll be in sweden in july w/ the jr. watson band


t

Just went and listened to the CD. I don't think I'd really dance/spin it as Lindy Hop but there's some awesome old-school (read: real) westie music on his latest CD. A couple of tracks might work as C. Shag.

Toon Town Dave wrote:Just went and listened to the CD. I don't think I'd really dance/spin it as Lindy Hop but there's some awesome old-school (read: real) westie music on his latest CD. A couple of tracks might work as C. Shag.

but then you have the fact that we boiseans are stupid and dance to anything with a beat

no i guess we're used to our local musicians so that's what we leand toward using when we don't have live so we can get people out there to see all these rad bands.

< i need to stop saying rad... GOD i'm a product of the 80's>

t-

Try Charles Brown, blues singer/pianist who got his name doing straight-forward blues in the 50s, and then mellowed out to record some phenomenal blues-based jazz music in the 80s and 90s. He did record some solo piano, which is great for slow dancing, but not for Lindy. Any of his recordings with a band from that time (80s-90s) will have some great danceable songs.

I have a few other blues recommendations here (http://www.austinlindy.com/top_20_essential_cds.htm) and here ( http://www.austinlindy.com/album_of_the_week.htm).

LazyP wrote:

GuruReuben wrote:

LazyP wrote:(I would never refer to what Jimmy Witherspoon plays as jump blues).

Source: www.allmusic.com
Jimmy Witherspoon
Styles Jazz Blues, Jump Blues, Urban Blues
Instruments Vocals

Yes, I understand some people could call what he plays as jump blues. But as I said, I would never call it that. But we all know that personal definitions are not always the same for everyone. Jazz blues though I think is a very good definition of Jimmy Witherspoon.

It's not so much the result of "personal" definitions. Jimmy Witherspoon made his name partly as a Blues shouter singing jump blues before he mellowed out quite a bit and sang with more jazzy combos. Lindy Hoppers tend to only know about his less famous, jazzy-blues, Groove-swing stuff, not his popular stuff. Y'all are referring to different periods of his career or different recordings in his vast book of recordings, so you're all correct, in a sense.

Drew wrote:Blues is a word with so many different meanings and implications.

That's why I avoid using the Swedish (Herrang) term "Blues dancing:" because of the very confusion that results from it. Why add to the ambiguity?