SwingDJs

Hi.

Trying to put together a swing dj battle for my scene.
What I am aiming for is to raise and awareness of the different types and eras of swing music and to also give some of the local dj's a heads up on what is out there. One rule.. Dancers always win

My concept is simple if not original.
Basically a pack of 52 cards marked with a category, pace/bpm, artist or era of swing jazz.

ie
- Kansas City 30's
- Savoy Ballroom band
- 170bmp
- Small combo

Basically the djs are primed and on the night, I shuffle and draw from the deck.

This gives a great flixibilty as I can say have a 5 card draw one night and do the same on another. Or just draw one card for a mini challenge, any way does something like this already exist?

If so let me know otherwise this seems like to perfect place to get suggestions on 52 different categories for the deck.

Hit Me

thanks for reading

cool idea. I often group sounds together -- i.e. I'll play a bunch of clarinet stuff (Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Pee Wee Russell, Boilermaker Jazz Band), or trombone, or saxophone, or strings, etc. So one category I would suggest is solo instrument.

BoogieBack wrote: One rule.. Dancers always win

That rule knocks out most formats. Dancers tend to lose in DJ competitions that have any measure other than just "play something that is better than the previous song without interruption or explanation." They generally include too much chatter and too many esoteric novelty songs.

Your format sounds interesting for a radio show or discussion group to enlighten people, but it seems destined to get the DJs to play songs that are not danceable merely because they fit the criteria on the card, whereupon the dancers would lose.

Those are great categories to start with. How about two more:

50's swing bands (not rock and roll)
Bebop (late 40's stuff perhaps)

Keep the explanations short. Announce the categories and have the djs go at it. The dancers and judges should be the final arbiters.