SwingDJs

J-h:n wrote:Re non-dancing DJs: Do you know Swingin' Swanee from Hamburg, Germany? She's amazing. She was at Herräng last year, invited by the camp solely as a DJ. She doesn't dance at all, but she's been able to support herself as a professional DJ playing nothing but authentic vintage swing since the early 1990's, if I remember correctly - it may even have been the 1980s - anyway, long before there was a lindy hop scene to speak of anywhere, let alone in Germany.

She told me she also acts as a consultant on vintage jazz - so I don't think she relies solely on DJing for her income.

Were Basie or Ellington good Lindy Hoppers? Did Artie Shaw do Bal?

From "Dizzy - The Life and Times of John Birks Gillespie" (p. 210):
Ella was an excellent dancer, and on late night visits to local clubs, she and Dizzy would dazzle everyone with their atheletic Lindy Hopping.

At one of our last Lindyfests, Frankie Manning mentioned that he had danced with Ella quite a bit.

This thread seems to be turning into "musicians who were also lindy hoppers", so on that note: today, as I listened to the latest episode of "Hey Mr. Jesse!" and Mel Tormé was mentioned, I was reminded that Mel was not only a great singer and drummer, but also, in his youth, the California lindy hop champion. Billie Holiday mentions this in "Lady Sings the Blues". She also thought Mel was an all-around swell guy and has nothing but good to say about him - quite a distinction in this bitter and cantankerous memoir.

Pointing out that a small minority of great musicians were (surprisingly enough) also great dancers just confirms my ultimate point: it can help, but there is not direct or necessary causal connection.

The Ella example came in retort to my comment about Basie and Ellington, not Ella. Basie and Ellington were NOT known for their dancing. But they were known for making great (some of the best) dance music. Same with DJs who pick out music for dancing. It can help (e.g. they know what too look for), but it can also hurt (e.g. they get too advanced for the crowd).

Lawrence wrote:Pointing out that a small minority of great musicians were (surprisingly enough) also great dancers just confirms my ultimate point: It can help (e.g. they know what too look for), but it can also hurt (e.g. they get too advanced for the crowd).

...sorry, bad splice in a non-essential edit,

but are you saying that musicians that can dance can also be hurt by the fact that they do both?

or are you saying the crowd isn't interested in hearing "too advanced" music, which may or may not have been recorded by a musician who may have danced?

fredo wrote:but are you saying that musicians that can dance can also be hurt by the fact that they do both?

or are you saying the crowd isn't interested in hearing "too advanced" music, which may or may not have been recorded by a musician who may have danced?

I don't have enough experience to back up the first statement, although I suspect it would be the case. I do have lots of experience with plenty of great, advanced dancers who are bad or uninspirational DJs.

As for what "the crowd" wants to hear, as we all know, that is not a constant thing. Crowds differ. Some crowds would love the more complex rhythms; others would be confused by it.

The point is that I know great dancers who (for whatever reason) are awful DJs, and I know merely-average dancers who are phenomenal DJs. The coordination and physical abilities for great dancers are not necessary to pick out rhythm; and the ability to pick out rhythm does not entail that you have the coordination (or discipline, or time) to be a great dancer. Likewise with musicians; just because they have the ability to write or play music doesn't mean that they are coordinated or athletic enough to be great dancers. (Indeed, considering most of the musicians I know, usually not ).

my ultimate lindy hop fantasy is to dance with Wynton Marsalis. It doesn't even have to be lindy hop. I'd be happy with a waltz or a fox-trot.

to ramble with this thread somemore, it takes a lot of time and effort to dance well. I'm not suprised that singers (i.e. Ella and Mel) have been known to dance well, whereas musician/band leader/composer etc. might just have been too busy to ever learn. Not to negate singing, but I think it takes less time out of your day to day life than other types of musicianship. I doubt if Wynton can dance, I'm sure he's been too busy with everything else in his career to have picked up lindy hopping.

I seem to remember some clips of Jimmy Rushing dancing -- does anyone agree with me?

When the LCJO came to Minneapolis/St. Paul years ago, several of them came over and jammed with local musicians at our weekly Thursday night dance at Tapestry. I drove several of them over myself! Wynton was even there for a while. I think I remember one or two of the Lincoln Center guys attempting some dancing...

flyingcamel wrote:When the LCJO came to Minneapolis/St. Paul years ago, several of them came over and jammed with local musicians at our weekly Thursday night dance at Tapestry. I drove several of them over myself! Wynton was even there for a while. I think I remember one or two of the Lincoln Center guys attempting some dancing...

April 1999. I don't recall Wynton dancing. But man, he's one cool guy. He'll treat you like your his best friend. I don't recall any of them dancing but I'll trust Cam's memory. They were travelling with Paolo Llana (?) and Janice Wilson. That was a really cool night.

Lindyguy wrote:

flyingcamel wrote:When the LCJO came to Minneapolis/St. Paul years ago, several of them came over and jammed with local musicians at our weekly Thursday night dance at Tapestry. I drove several of them over myself! Wynton was even there for a while. I think I remember one or two of the Lincoln Center guys attempting some dancing...

April 1999. I don't recall Wynton dancing. But man, he's one cool guy. He'll treat you like your his best friend. I don't recall any of them dancing but I'll trust Cam's memory. They were travelling with Paolo Llana (?) and Janice Wilson. That was a really cool night.

mmmmmmmmm. I'm jealous. Thanks for sharing the story.

So were they doing research or a tour for Live at Swing City? I was always curious how that got organized.

djstarr wrote:

Lindyguy wrote:

flyingcamel wrote:When the LCJO came to Minneapolis/St. Paul years ago, several of them came over and jammed with local musicians at our weekly Thursday night dance at Tapestry. I drove several of them over myself! Wynton was even there for a while. I think I remember one or two of the Lincoln Center guys attempting some dancing...

April 1999. I don't recall Wynton dancing. But man, he's one cool guy. He'll treat you like your his best friend. I don't recall any of them dancing but I'll trust Cam's memory. They were travelling with Paolo Llana (?) and Janice Wilson. That was a really cool night.

mmmmmmmmm. I'm jealous. Thanks for sharing the story.

So were they doing research or a tour for Live at Swing City? I was always curious how that got organized.

It was their dancer's tour. We got kind of ripped off because their show was at a concert hall here. Between some dance contacts at the university and us we were able to get them to come over after their concert and jam with the locals. The frosting on the cake would have been if BB King came, too. He was in town and we were able to get the invite to him and his band but they didn't show.

On that tour members of LCJO (although not Marsalis) came down to Memories in Orange County and jammed with dancers. I was at the San Diego Exchange about 90 miles away at the time but I drove back up for the night, and then back down when they were done. Josh Collazo (drummer for the Campus Five, now) played drums for the horn men.

It was pretty sweet. I THINK but am not sure that Nicholas Payton and/or Wycliffe Gordon was there.

julius wrote:On that tour members of LCJO (although not Marsalis) came down to Memories in Orange County and jammed with dancers. I was at the San Diego Exchange about 90 miles away at the time but I drove back up for the night, and then back down when they were done. Josh Collazo (drummer for the Campus Five, now) played drums for the horn men.

It was pretty sweet. I THINK but am not sure that Nicholas Payton and/or Wycliffe Gordon was there.

And Jake Faust from SD was there on guitar and Bill Elliott drove all the way out from Pacific Palisades with a huge keyboard.

I've seen Wycliffe dancing during band breaks here in NYC.