SwingDJs

On a slight diversion - looking around for the BG version of Benny Rides Again found a hifi version by Don Lusher (British trombonist, band leader) that is quite good.

Some of my current favourites are:

Swing Along With Me by Buddy Johnson

The Big Dipper by Tommy Dorsey

I've noticed I've been playing lots of songs that feature clarinet lately. Goodman, Shaw, Boilermakers, Edmund Hall, Eddie Shu, Albert Nicholas, Barney Bigard, etc etc.

Don't know why or when it started. It's weird as I remember maybe 7-8 years ago distinctly hating clarinet.

Swifty wrote:I've noticed I've been playing lots of songs that feature clarinet lately. Goodman, Shaw, Boilermakers, Edmund Hall, Eddie Shu, Albert Nicholas, Barney Bigard, etc etc.

Don't know why or when it started. It's weird as I remember maybe 7-8 years ago distinctly hating clarinet.

do you remember if you started this before or after Lindy Gras? One couldn't help but be inspired by Dr. Michael White's "St. James Infirmary" rendition. There was also a clarinetist in the Vipers who impressed me since he could play louder than the crowd noise w/o being miked; I thought he was channeling Artie Shaw.

As a mediocre clarinetist in my past, I think it's very hard to play jazz clarinet well, so kudos to all the great players out there!

As far as what I've been playing to/listening to, I don't tend to separate them; luckily Seattle is diverse enough that anything remotely in the swing/blues genre is dj-able here.

I bought about 10 CDs at Louisiana Music Factory and have managed to catalogue most of them; the Lindy Gras trip inspired me to start working on my collection again. NO Jazz Vipers, Kermit Ruffins, Dr. John, Sidney Bechet.

I still have about 100 Cds in my backlog at home! Determined to get through them this year. Listening to Rosemary Clooney "Jazz Singer" today.

For new CDs, I just got Edgar Hayes 1937-1938 CC with "Swingin' in the Promised Land" - Kyle had dj'ed this at NW Balboa Fest and it was awesome. I also just bought a 4CD set of Sidney Bechet ("pre-war sides") and "From this Moment on" by Diana Krall [they are playing this pretty regularly on the local jazz station; she is backed by the Clayton-Hamilton orchestra - I have a Barbara Morrison CD where she sings with them, and it's good, so I have high hopes for the Diana Krall release].

And as far as repeated listening, the Billie Holiday CD I posted about yesterday is SO good; Barney Kessel is also on it and it's a really swinging small group that is backing her. That is on in the car and is getting commute time play this week.

I heard this Andy Bey track on KJAZZ -- It's Only A Paper Moon. He's got an amazing baritone. The song is very "groovy" and bluesy for lack of better descriptive phrases. Normally I think the song is extremely corny, but he makes it drip with passion. The album is full of very slow songs, some kind of 'eh', but I really like this one track.

djstarr wrote:

Swifty wrote:I've noticed I've been playing lots of songs that feature clarinet lately. Goodman, Shaw, Boilermakers, Edmund Hall, Eddie Shu, Albert Nicholas, Barney Bigard, etc etc.

Don't know why or when it started. It's weird as I remember maybe 7-8 years ago distinctly hating clarinet.

do you remember if you started this before or after Lindy Gras? One couldn't help but be inspired by Dr. Michael White's "St. James Infirmary" rendition. There was also a clarinetist in the Vipers who impressed me since he could play louder than the crowd noise w/o being miked; I thought he was channeling Artie Shaw.

Distinctly before, so I enjoyed the heck out of Lindy Gras.

I just bought the Chuck Brown Eva Cassidy CD and it is very good. Also picked up the Jimmy Lunceford SwingStation and i like it too. Good stuff for playing and listening.
Ken.

Swifty wrote:I've noticed I've been playing lots of songs that feature clarinet lately. Goodman, Shaw, Boilermakers, Edmund Hall, Eddie Shu, Albert Nicholas, Barney Bigard, etc etc.

Don't know why or when it started. It's weird as I remember maybe 7-8 years ago distinctly hating clarinet.

That's because clarinet is the bomb!!

Albert System wrote:

Swifty wrote:I've noticed I've been playing lots of songs that feature clarinet lately. Goodman, Shaw, Boilermakers, Edmund Hall, Eddie Shu, Albert Nicholas, Barney Bigard, etc etc.

Don't know why or when it started. It's weird as I remember maybe 7-8 years ago distinctly hating clarinet.

That's because clarinet is the bomb!!

I'm listening to "Blue Horizon" by Sidney Bechet (clarinet on this tune). Goddamn now that's blues music. I wonder if blues dancers associate the clarinet with good blues music. Nobody could play the blues like Sidney.

I'm still deep in my Swedish groove with Gunhild Carling and Jennie Lobel. You know its bad when you can quote the USD/Swedish krona exchange rate from memory because you've ordered that many CD's from abroad.

The last couple week's I've been really into Oscar Brown, Jr.'s "Sin & Soul... and then Some". I've occasionally followed up "Dat Dere" with Maria Muldaur's "Three Little Fishes" for a 1-2 punch of kid-scat (wow, that doesn't sound right) but now that Jesse's outted her 'Swingin' In the Rain' all bets are off.

Bill

I'm listening to Artie Shaw's Self Portrait - 5 CD set. Some stuff I have elsewhere [a lot of Gramercy 5 recordings on it], but some stuff I need to hurry up and catalog! It's good.

I generally cycle a variety of stuff that I listen to (it's a very broad range: classical, funk, r&b, hip hop, indie, emo, alternative, classic rock, punk, etc.) but what I dj is obviously slimmer and more restricted to traditional jazz, new orleans style and swing style, with some r&b and soul mixed in.