Arm chair HJDF DJ battle

[Lawrence]

I'm wondering where this will go. I admit I'm NOT well educated in who played where and when. That's only recently started to be important to me as my interest in jazz has just begun to develop. Personally, I've always been attracted to what made me want to dance and what gets people on the floor having a good time.
The more I think about narrowing the criteria, the less I like it.

As I wrote on the other HJDF thread, that was my initial reaction, but I'm leaning the other way. Again, the point of the event is to promote appreciation for Harlem's role in music and dance. People going to it will also know to expect a narrower limitation, not a general, Exchange-like, wide-open array of music.

Also, people don't get bored with entire sets of the same band when it is live, why is it inconceivable to do so with recordings? Especially if you cherry-pick the best material from different shows or studio dates?

I agree it is a bad idea as a rule because I appreciate running the gammit when I dance, but it can work as a twist on the routine. It can also create a different, positive bio-rhythm than shifting from genre to genre would do.

[Lawrence]

Nice set list, but the original Creole Love Call could never be topped...The 56 recordings played well , but thats it, they lack the immotion and feelings of the original....lol

You freak-assed, tattooed, moldy-clothed vintage-lovin mother-fucker.

[main_stem]

Although he wasn't the only one, Basie's band also popularized the transition to 4/4 time and the use of a less rigid feel to the rhythm section.

I'm not so sure of that Rayned. The movement to 4/4 is one of the big differences between traditional jazz and swing jazz. This happened in the late 20s early 30s while Basie came on in the late 30s. His rhythm section did however smooth out the 4/4 times. For example Walter Page's wlaking bass style put equal emphasis for every note. Where the common style up till then was an emphasis on the even beats.

-Kevin

[main_stem]

However, if I had to pre-program:

1. Fine and Mellow (from 1957 "Sound of Jazz" with Billie Holliday and Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Ben Webster soloing (recorded on 30th Street Columbia studios, but close enough)
2. East St. Louis Toodle-oo or Creole Love Call Duke Ellington (From 1956 Historically Speaking album) (really phenomenal remakes of rather (dare I say it?) boring originals).
3. "C-Jam Blues" or "Happy Go Lucky" from Lincoln Center (overplayed a few years ago, but still a good suggestion, Brenda)
4. Fade-in the second half of "Non-violent Integration" Duke Ellington (1967 The Symphonic Ellington) (perhaps take it from where the "Things Ain't what they used to be" borrowed theme comes in)
5. "You Hit the Spot" Chick Webb 1936
6. "The Ditchy Guide" - Duke Ellington 1929 (Disc 3 of Ellington Centennial)

Dude you're set would be over 15 minutes, but I like it.

[Ryan]

... a few weeks ago on one of those Yehoodi "argument threads" someone posted two DJs' selections from a Savoy-based DJ jam. I kept the list as a reference hoping to read about some of the bands and educate myself some (no i never did). Well, I just alphabetized it by artist and I was surprised to see that between them, the two DJs only played *16 artists* (hopefully with a bunch of different bands) during the course of an entire night. Two artists were played 9 times each, but only 1 artist was played once.

I would never want to do that as a DJ. As a patron, I'd be bored.

As a patron, I bet you'd never know the difference. In fact I'd guarantee that almost no one would ever go up to a DJ Booth and say "Hey, what's with the 8 straight Al Cooper tunes?".

[KevinSchaper]

As a patron, I bet you'd never know the difference. In fact I'd guarantee that almost no one would ever go up to a DJ Booth and say "Hey, what's with the 8 straight Al Cooper tunes?".

haha, I sure as hell would.

I like the savoy sultans, but 8 in a row would be dull dull dull.

(but still a lot better than the westie dj around here who can't get thru a night without playing 3 or 4 tom jones songs tho)

[mark0tz]

Besides, playing Basie is lazy.

If playing Basie is lazy, playing Ellington is _________________.

diligent? vivacious?

[Soupbone]

I like the savoy sultans, but 8 in a row would be dull dull dull.

Really, three dulls? Are you saying that because it's 8 in a row or because it's Al Cooper? And do you mean as a DJ or dancer?

Just curious, because although I don't know that I'd ever spin 8 in a row of any particular artist (unless I was doing some kind of battle or theme or something), unless they were completely played out tunes I really wouldn't mind dancing to 8 fresh, swinging tunes in a row whether they were by the same artist or not!

Although the difference between "canned" and live music is obvious, it clearly would be no issue to sit through 8 Al Cooper tunes if they were up on the bandstand.

[Mr Awesomer]

For instance, a few weeks ago on one of those Yehoodi "argument threads" someone posted two DJs' selections from a Savoy-based DJ jam. I kept the list as a reference hoping to read about some of the bands and educate myself some (no i never did). Well, I just alphabetized it by artist and I was surprised to see that between them, the two DJs only played *16 artists* (hopefully with a bunch of different bands) during the course of an entire night. Two artists were played 9 times each, but only 1 artist was played once.

I would never want to do that as a DJ. As a patron, I'd be bored.

It's no surprise that a celebration of the Savoy Ballroom would bore you, which makes it a surprise you'd be included in a this particular "battle."

While you would be bored by the music so many dancers during the Savoy's operation came to dance to night after night after night, those people who packed the Memories Ballroom during our celebration were thrilled to get to dance to music that is so commonly overlooked.

http://www.jivejunction.com/savoyplaylist.htm

Personally, I've always been attracted to what made me want to dance and what gets people on the floor having a good time.

You're so interested in what gets people on the floor having a good time... of course only the people who like what makes you want to dance. Nice double standard.

[Mr Awesomer]

Besides, playing Basie is lazy.

If playing Basie is lazy, playing Ellington is _________________.

diligent? vivacious?

Just as lazy, but much more applicable.

[mark0tz]

If playing Basie is lazy, playing Ellington is _________________.

Just as lazy, but much more applicable.

What about Louis Armstrong?

[CafeSavoy]

Although he wasn't the only one, Basie's band also popularized the transition to 4/4 time and the use of a less rigid feel to the rhythm section.

I'm not so sure of that Rayned. The movement to 4/4 is one of the big differences between traditional jazz and swing jazz. This happened in the late 20s early 30s while Basie came on in the late 30s. His rhythm section did however smooth out the 4/4 times. For example Walter Page's wlaking bass style put equal emphasis for every note. Where the common style up till then was an emphasis on the even beats.
-Kevin

i didn't say he pioneered it, just that popularized it. Who actually pioneered it is hard to say. John F. Szwed, in Jazz 101, notes that the transition from the first to the second half of the swing era was hard to document because there weren't many recordings made during the depression. The popularity of 4/4 time may be a KC thing, according to http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/life/kansascitytime.htm "A 4/4 conception of time superseded the two-beat pulse of New Orleans and Chicago, which allowed greater freedom for the soloist, as did the riff - a repetitive ensemble device against which soloists improvised. This in turn led to soloists becoming more competitive: 'cutting contests', where soloists duelled with each other and where reputations were won and lost,"

[Mr Awesomer]

If playing Basie is lazy, playing Ellington is _________________.

Just as lazy, but much more applicable.

What about Louis Armstrong?

More applicable then Basie for sure, and would make a DJ work a little as to play something of his that screams Harlem as opposed to screaming New Orleans.

[mark0tz]

Fair answers.

[KevinSchaper]

Really, three dulls? Are you saying that because it's 8 in a row or because it's Al Cooper? And do you mean as a DJ or dancer?

Just curious, because although I don't know that I'd ever spin 8 in a row of any particular artist (unless I was doing some kind of battle or theme or something), unless they were completely played out tunes I really wouldn't mind dancing to 8 fresh, swinging tunes in a row whether they were by the same artist or not!

Although the difference between "canned" and live music is obvious, it clearly would be no issue to sit through 8 Al Cooper tunes if they were up on the bandstand. ;)

If Al Cooper and the Savoy Sultans were on the band stand I wouldnt even want to be in the room - the smell alone! ...and you're a sick sick person for advocating digging them up. eww.

Naw, they just didn't record much (is there anything besides the one chronoclassic worth of stuff?), and what they did record doesn't have that much range, and I'd notice they were all off the same CD and if it was somebody I knew, I'd go tell 'em to buy some more music. :)