SwingDJs

Do you have songs that you play because you enjoy them, even if they may not be *the best* song at the time?

I love playing "Red Hot Pepper," for instance. I think it's a good seque into a swinging Dixieland or early Savoy piece and it's tricky and complex. I also like "8, 9, 10" by Slim and Slam.

I know Avakian likes to lay down some Camaros from time to time (another favorite of mine).

Anyone else?

mousethief wrote:Do you have songs that you play because you enjoy them, even if they may not be *the best* song at the time?

My "guilty pleasures" as of late are "Natural Man" by Ron Sunshine. I play it so much that I'm surprised no one locally has complained about it.

The other one is "Hey Senorita" by Big Sandy. It's just cute. It also makes our ballroom dancers happy because you can Cha Cha to it. Has no real redeeming value.

Tina

I occasionally play "The Phantom" off Steven Mitchell's CD (don't tell him!) because we can Trankee Doo to it.

Kalman

"Lord and Lady Gate" - Jimmy Dorsey, Helen O'Connell singing.
Trite, kitschy-but-not-intolerable "proper" swing, and then when it nearly double-times in the middle, it is one of the most bad*** things I've heard.

People don't really like the beginning or the tempo change, though, so I tend to play it when I'm not trying to impress anyone.

How Come by Anita O'Day. The song swings hard but it's Anita O'Day so it's very white bread and cheesy.

sonofvu wrote:How Come by Anita O'Day. The song swings hard but it's Anita O'Day so it's very white bread and cheesy.

Luckily she had Gene Krupa backing her most (if not all?) of the time.....you can get a lot more white bread than that. I love the stuff off of the "Let me Off Uptown" CD with them.

I work in Michael Franks "Popsicle Toes" from time to time -- that's one of my favorites from my high school days.

djstarr wrote:

sonofvu wrote:How Come by Anita O'Day. The song swings hard but it's Anita O'Day so it's very white bread and cheesy.

Luckily she had Gene Krupa backing her most (if not all?) of the time.....you can get a lot more white bread than that. I love the stuff off of the "Let me Off Uptown" CD with them.
.

Roy Eldridge didnt hurt the equation

Artie Shaw - Hop Skip and Jump

A very different arrangement of this song. String section av varying style through different sections of the song making it hard for beginners. But I just love it.

mousethief wrote:Do you have songs that you play because you enjoy them, even if they may not be *the best* song at the time?

Well I'm lucky in this sense. I ONLY play the music I enjoy. Obviously some of it I enjoy more than other things.

The real challenge is coming up with 2 original hours a week of radio.

Also Brenda make sure to check out Anita with Stan Kenton also.

Her work in the 1950s is great hard swinging things.

Also she appears in the Jazz on a Summer Night film. Superb performance in the film.

Mosaic has a 9 CD set of Anita from Clef and Verve sessions. I have a few of the singles of this era. The Mosaic is on my 'wish' list, along with about 10 more sets.

Anita is still with us. I've heard some recordings she did in the 90s. Still has the fire, but the voice isn't nearly as strong, as you can imagine.

I also recall she started out as a dancer.

i heard her live a couple years back shortly after she broke her ... wrist? voice not good. she's still foul-mouthed and sassy though, haha.