balboa/shag music recommendations

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djstarr · #16 Post by **djstarr** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 1:33 pm

Soupbone wrote:
falty411 wrote:
haha, thats all the artists that i LOVE to lindy hop to.
Fabulous! Here's to diversity on the dance floor and personal choices about dancing!!

At least I didn't say one should only balboa to these artists, and you didn't say one should only lindy hop to these artists.

Lesson for us all: Kevin's point -- "Just play good solid swingin' music and let the couples decide if they want to lindy shag or bal."

some leads in Seattle are mixing Charleston, bal and lindy all together - as a follow that's awesome since it makes me really pay attention! and it's also a lot of fun.

Doug · #17 Post by **Doug** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 3:41 pm

Just good lindy music is good advice. But that's still a little un-specific. So here is a list of lindy tunes (with tempos) that I LOVE to Balboa to:

Lionel Hampton-Down Home Jump-A History of Jazz Drumming, Vol 2-200
Elmer Fain-Stampede In G Minor-Big Band Jubilee [Disc 1]-256
Sweethearts Of Rhythm-Blue Lou-Big Band Jubilee [Disc 2]-228
Bechet-Nicholas Blue Five-Blame It On The Blues-Blue Horizon(Bechet Proper Box)-203
Mora's Modern-A Viper's Moan-Call Of The Freaks-145
Big Joe Duskin-Dollar Bill Boogie-Cincinnati Stomp-215
John Kirby-Blue Skies-Complete Columbia & RCA [Disc 1]-220
Johnny Hodges-Good Queen Bess-Day Dream(Proper Box)-156
Johnny Hodges-Swingin' on the Campus-Day Dream(Proper Box)-193
Frankie Trumbauer-Borneo-Frankie Trumbauer, 1927-46-192
Harlan Leonard-I Don't Want To Set The World-Harlan Leonard, 1940-200
Eddie Chamblee-Caravan-Honkers And Bar Walkers, Vol 3-220
Swingin' Sax Kari-Down for Debbie-Honkers And Bar Walkers, Vol 3-176
Jan Savitt-Vol Vistu Gaily Star-It's Time To Jump And Shout-212
John Kirby-Close Shave-John Kirby Transcriptions Vol. 1-212
Count Basie-You Can Depend On Me-Lester Leaps In(Proper Box)-215
Pete Johnson-Boo-Woo-Pete Johnson, 1938-39-210
Duke Ellington-Killing Myself-Presents Ivie Anderson [Disc 2]-190
Jan Savitt-Rose Of The Rio Grande-Shuffle In Style-206
Ray Bryant-Flat Foot Floogie-Swing Dance Special-166
Blanche Calloway-I Gotta Swing-The Territory Bands 1935-37-206
Blanche Calloway-LineAJive-The Territory Bands 1935-37-225
Original Yellow Jackets-Cross Street Swing-The Territory Bands 1935-37-216
Modern Mountaineers-Everybody's Truckin'-Western Swing: Hot Hillbilly Jazz & Blues-220
Sidney Bechet-Blackstick-Wild Cat Blues(Proper Box)-186

And I have a zillion more tunes that I just love to bal to. These just happen to be on the CD that I'm listening to right now.

One thing that can be important is tempos. I see that nothing here is much over 220 except Stampede. Although way up tempo is great for bal jam, 180-240 is basically a really good bal groove - if the song moves you to balboa. Can do that all night! (And I have)

If anybody is interested, I probably can find both my competition song list and my DJ playlist (Spy Bar) from Cleveland's all bal this past spring

djstarr · #18 Post by **djstarr** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 4:01 pm

Doug wrote:If anybody is interested, I probably can find both my competition song list and my DJ playlist (Spy Bar) from Cleveland's all bal this past spring

Go for it! I would be - nice list you posted. Some people I've never heard of - btw, who's Blanche Calloway?

Doug · #19 Post by **Doug** » Wed Oct 01, 2003 4:15 pm

Blanche was Cab's older sister. Her big band didn't last too long, but I love both the songs that I listed.

Arrg. I was half afraid someone would take my up on my playlist offer. It'll take me a day or two to find it, but I do have around here somewhere.

In general, I really like John Kirby and think that he is somewhat under played. Up tempo, but mellow. Not so in your face, but easy to get a groove on. Begs for some balboa musicality rather than charleston or even, some might say, Lindy. I also have a real thing for Bechet and do recommend his Proper Box. One trouble is that about half his tunes are 60-90 bpm.

djstarr · #20 Post by **djstarr** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 2:02 am

Thanks Doug; I'm now regretting I didn't buy the Proper Box set of Bechet that was up in Vancouver; maybe it will still be there before Harrison beats me to it! It's definitely on my buy list after I've gotten the Ken Burns Jazz collection - I've been listening to Bechet for the past two weeks and have been really digging it.

Looking forward to your playlist!

gatorgal · #21 Post by **gatorgal** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 7:16 am

Doug wrote: If anybody is interested, I probably can find both my competition song list and my DJ playlist (Spy Bar) from Cleveland's all bal this past spring

Ohhh Ohhh *raises hand* I'm interested!!!

I know it may be a pain, but I know several folks here in So Fla (myself included) would love it if you post that list.

Thanks also for the list of songs...
Tina

Mr Awesomer · #22 Post by **Mr Awesomer** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 10:15 am

djstarr wrote:Thanks Doug; I'm now regretting I didn't buy the Proper Box set of Bechet that was up in Vancouver; maybe it will still be there before Harrison beats me to it!

Bud's had a good number of Proper boxes when we went over there on Sunday. Don't remebmer if Bechet was one of them though.

Travis · #23 Post by **Travis** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 11:22 am

Silver Platters usually stocks the Bechet box set as well.

djstarr · #24 Post by **djstarr** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 6:11 pm

thanks for the tips on the Bechet set.......I told myself no more new CDs until I've caught up with cataloguing the ones I've gotten this summer (about 10 to go)!

But *maybe* I'll go look this weekend - either that or go to SFLX at the last minute........hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

main_stem · #25 Post by **main_stem** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 6:47 pm

GuruReuben wrote: Bud's had a good number of Proper boxes when we went over there on Sunday. Don't remebmer if Bechet was one of them though.

Tangent here: I went down to Buds on Tuesday and spent about 45 minutes talking to Bud. Turns out he grew up in New York and saw many bands at the Savoy and on 52nd Street.

Okay back to the where to get proper box sets in Seattle. as mentioned there is Buds and Silver Platters. There is also Easy Street Records. From my experience they have the best prices.

-Kevin

falty411 · #26 Post by **falty411** » Thu Oct 02, 2003 10:10 pm

main_stem wrote:
Tangent here: I went down to Buds on Tuesday and spent about 45 minutes talking to Bud. Turns out he grew up in New York and saw many bands at the Savoy and on 52nd Street.

Bud looked way too young to ever get to the savoy. how old is he?

SirScratchAlot · #27 Post by **SirScratchAlot** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 2:55 am

falty411 wrote:
main_stem wrote:
Tangent here: I went down to Buds on Tuesday and spent about 45 minutes talking to Bud. Turns out he grew up in New York and saw many bands at the Savoy and on 52nd Street.
Bud looked way too young to ever get to the savoy. how old is he?

yea, no kiddin but hey it only closed in 58 sooooo , i guess it's possible? as for 52nd street....

SirScratchAlot · #28 Post by **SirScratchAlot** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 3:01 am

Balboa / shag recomendations...whats the connection between these two dances? there is nothing different between "Lindy Hop" music and "Balboa" music....
Balboa= any big band swing song regardless of tempo ,historcially speaking but today you can do it to anything under the sun.

Shag= Mid tempo Big band swing historically until it vanished around 1939-40. Today you can bounce around and do it to rock a billy music and the Shag dancers says it feels right.

If it feels right to Lindy Hop to , it feels even better to Balboa to, if your a real balboa dancer.

Doug · #29 Post by **Doug** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 8:32 am

So I can't find my playlist from Cleveland. But I can give you a list of the 5 sets of CDs I would bring with me if someone said I had to DJ to a room full of balboa lovers & I could only bring 5:

1. The History of Jazz Drumming - Proper Box
2. Lester Young - Proper Box
3. Basie Complete Columbia 1936-41
4. Sidney Bechet - Proper Box
5. Ben Webster - Proper Box

& I'll bet that if I owned the Count Basie Proper Box I would have probably chosen it over the Columbia set. I have ranked all my music by sound quality so one thing reflected by the number of Proper Boxes in my top 5 is the fact that the remastering is generally pretty good. Also I LOVE the cost of the Proper Boxes!

Doug · #30 Post by **Doug** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 9:03 am

Peter- Interesting comments!

SirScratchAlot wrote: Balboa= any big band swing song regardless of tempo ,historcially speaking but today you can do it to anything under the sun.

I sorta agree. For example, a couple of songs I love to Balboa to, but are somewhat non-trad bal songs, include Cantaloop by US3asf (The Best Blue Note Album In The World Ever) and Sonny Stitt's version of Now's The Time from the Stitt Plays Bird CD, as well as quite a number of other boppish things. The flexibility of Balboa footwork lets me really enjoy dancing to a very large number of things that I formerly considered undanceable, and still consider "un-Lindyable". Not because of tempos, but more because of a feel.

SirScratchAlot wrote: If it feels right to Lindy Hop to , it feels even better to Balboa to, if your a real balboa dancer.

I sorta agree. (Can any of us ever be caught fully agreeing with Peter?

) In addition, as I mentioned in a previous post, there are a number of swing era musicians, such as John Kirby, that don't really make me want to jump up and Lindy. Combination of up-tempo and too mellow just has the wrong feel for me. But I love to bal to Kirby.

Also, with respect to Gary's comment about 2/4 being his personal favorite for bal. I personally fall at the other end of the spectrum: 4/4 is best and even boogie, with 8 to the bar, I find more enjoyable than 2/4. I think that the denser rhythm lends itself to a footwork feel - triples, fans, breaks, wierd timings, etc -that 2/4 doesn't. What is attractive to me about bop for bal is infact the somewhat scattered but rhythmically dense feeling that bop can have that screams DO FOOTWORK!

Oh well. To each his own.