Overplayed songs

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dogpossum
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#91 Post by dogpossum » Wed Nov 07, 2012 8:47 pm

lipi wrote:
dogpossum wrote:Gordon Webster.
Love the dood, but I need a break.

I've recently given myself a rule: 90% recordings <1950 because I'm overplaying modern bands.
Dude, share! I'm playing 90% ante-1950 because I don't have modern bands' stuff! (O.K., I have a little. But, for example, I have no Gordon Webster.) What should I be on the lookout for? Any albums that are particularly worth getting?
All of Gordon's CDs are good.

This thread pretty much covers key modern American bands: http://www.swingdjs.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2940 But there are lots of good European bands, and I play quite a bit of Australian stuff too.

But I also play a lot of Two Man Gentleman Band, Palmetto Bug Stompers, Midnight Serenaders, Preservation Hall, Terra Hazelton, Vince Giordano, Grand Street Stompers, Catherine Russell (gee, I find her irritating atm - too many plays!), Tuba Skinny, Casey McGill, Hogtown Syncopators, Glen Crytzer's band, Black Swan Classic Jazz Band, Rhythm Club All Stars, Bridgetown Sextet, 4Beat6, Gaucho, Bob Hunt's Duke Ellington Orchestra, Reynolds Brothers, Marty Grosz, Le Red Hot Reedwarmers, various Duke Heitger bands, Echoes of Swing, various Jim Cullum bands, Firecracker Jazz band...


There are sixty million great modern bands and I really like supporting good modern bands. But I need to stop leaning on them. I find hi-fi gives a natural advantage with difficult sound set ups, and I tend to rely on the added boost hi-fi gives the energy in the room.

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trev
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#92 Post by trev » Thu Nov 08, 2012 7:09 pm

J-h:n wrote:For the last couple of years: Sidney Bechet. I love him, and I've sure contributed to the overplaying myself, but still. As far as I'm concerned, this whole Dixieland revival thing in the swingdance community has gone too far. Remember, Bechet was booed off stage at the Savoy Ballroom. To the swing cats and lindy hoppers, that was Dad's music.
Funny you should mention that - I was listening to a whole bunch of Sidney Bechet this week thinking how I need to DJ more of his less-played stuff, but also had in mind the Savoy failure and how much dixieland gets played these days. I'm still championing a big band revival.

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#93 Post by dogpossum » Thu Nov 08, 2012 9:02 pm

trev wrote:
J-h:n wrote:For the last couple of years: Sidney Bechet. I love him, and I've sure contributed to the overplaying myself, but still. As far as I'm concerned, this whole Dixieland revival thing in the swingdance community has gone too far. Remember, Bechet was booed off stage at the Savoy Ballroom. To the swing cats and lindy hoppers, that was Dad's music.
Funny you should mention that - I was listening to a whole bunch of Sidney Bechet this week thinking how I need to DJ more of his less-played stuff, but also had in mind the Savoy failure and how much dixieland gets played these days. I'm still championing a big band revival.
I rarely play Bechet because I just find him irritating (sacrilege!) if he's not with Noble Sissle's band, but I was just thinking this week 'I should play some more Bechet, because this is very good music.'

I don't near much dixie around the place these days, but by geeze the 'Nola style' gets a good flogging.

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#94 Post by trev » Thu Nov 08, 2012 9:49 pm

dogpossum wrote:I don't near much dixie around the place these days, but by geeze the 'Nola style' gets a good flogging.
I guess "NOLA style" is what I was getting at

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#95 Post by dogpossum » Fri Nov 09, 2012 1:46 am

I was gonna say 'I think of this when I think of dixie:'

and 'I think of this when I think of 'Nolastyle': '

and then I realised they're pretty much the same, except the Firehouse Five play it for laughs and Tuba Skinny are DEADLY SRS in that video.


If I had to choose between those and this, I'd choose this.

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#96 Post by J-h:n » Fri Nov 09, 2012 5:00 pm

dogpossum wrote:I was gonna say 'I think of this when I think of dixie:'

and 'I think of this when I think of 'Nolastyle': '

and then I realised they're pretty much the same, except the Firehouse Five play it for laughs and Tuba Skinny are DEADLY SRS in that video.


If I had to choose between those and this, I'd choose this.
I don't think it's really possible to differentiate between dixieland and New Orleans, so I generalize here. Of course there are different styles, some better for swing dancing and some worse, but that's another topic.

If I had to choose, I'd certainly choose this too. Probably my favorite Bechet song. (When I clicked the link and played the Youtube video at the bookstore where I work, a customer came up and asked about it; he even had me write down the name of the artist. He'd never heard of him and didn't normally listen to jazz. Good work, Sam!)

And since the topic is, after all, overplayed songs, the ones I really think could use some time off are Viper Mad and Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. Great songs, but please. That naughty sweety thing was beaten to death some years ago, though; everybody seems to be sick of it now. The only versions I hear these days are uptempo (and there are some great ones).

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#97 Post by J-h:n » Fri Nov 09, 2012 5:10 pm

trev wrote:I'm still championing a big band revival.
Me too. And I think it's on its way, at least in Europe. Lots of great big band being played at Lindy Shock in Budapest last week; I did a couple of well-received sets with nothing else. There was even a jam to Glenn Miller's In the Mood - a radio transcription, much higher energy than the studio version, but still. That would've been unheard of a few years back.

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#98 Post by dogpossum » Fri Nov 09, 2012 6:51 pm

J-h:n wrote:
And since the topic is, after all, overplayed songs, the ones I really think could use some time off are Viper Mad and Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. Great songs, but please. That naughty sweety thing was beaten to death some years ago, though; everybody seems to be sick of it now. The only versions I hear these days are uptempo (and there are some great ones).
I sill play this version of Jericho too much: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHLR1h24Qc4 It is so orsm. Way better than that Bechet version everyone plays. The opening cornet solo in the recording I play makes dancers go "WHUT?" and "SQUEE!"


The Australian jazz scene in the 50s was dominated by dixie revivalist types, so most of our oldest, most famous old school jazz musicians are dixie folk.

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#99 Post by dogpossum » Fri Nov 09, 2012 7:08 pm

I'm also a bit wary of dismissing genres or artists because of things like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiiUUWBmPHM

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#100 Post by J-h:n » Sat Nov 10, 2012 6:28 am

dogpossum wrote:I sill play this version of Jericho too much: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHLR1h24Qc4 It is so orsm. Way better than that Bechet version everyone plays. The opening cornet solo in the recording I play makes dancers go "WHUT?" and "SQUEE!"
Yep, good one. Kid Ory is nowhere near overplayed.

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#101 Post by J-h:n » Sat Nov 10, 2012 6:34 am

dogpossum wrote:I'm also a bit wary of dismissing genres or artists because of things like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiiUUWBmPHM
Wow! Never heard that one, any idea if it's available in digital form? That's totally genre-transcending: a swing classic played by a New Orleans traditionalist, with a guitar that sounds early R'n'B. Of course, in the end it's all blues.

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#102 Post by lipi » Sat Nov 10, 2012 3:37 pm

J-h:n wrote:
dogpossum wrote:I'm also a bit wary of dismissing genres or artists because of things like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiiUUWBmPHM
Wow! Never heard that one, any idea if it's available in digital form? That's totally genre-transcending: a swing classic played by a New Orleans traditionalist, with a guitar that sounds early R'n'B. Of course, in the end it's all blues.
Well, it's definitely available on CD. I have it on four releases (because apparently I can never resist a Bechet disc):

"Portrait", the 10 disc Documents/History/Past Perfect/whatever set
"Blackstick", on the French Nocturne label (OOP)
"Pre-War Classic Sides", on JSP
"RCA-Victor Master Takes", on Definitive

Don't get "Portrait", because it doesn't sound as good as the other releases. The other three are close in sound.

I also see Amazon has the MP3 in the U.S. Chances are fair you can find it in Europe, then.

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#103 Post by lipi » Sat Nov 10, 2012 3:39 pm

J-h:n wrote: And since the topic is, after all, overplayed songs, the ones I really think could use some time off are Viper Mad and Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho. Great songs, but please. That naughty sweety thing was beaten to death some years ago, though; everybody seems to be sick of it now. The only versions I hear these days are uptempo (and there are some great ones).
For the record, I continue to torture everyone with both "Joshua..." and "Blues My Naughty...", because, well, dammit, they're awesome. Never give up! Never surrender! Thanks for reminding me of "Viper Mad", though. I should put that back in rotation. :o)

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#104 Post by J-h:n » Mon Nov 12, 2012 4:10 am

lipi wrote: Well, it's definitely available on CD. I have it on four releases (because apparently I can never resist a Bechet disc):

"Portrait", the 10 disc Documents/History/Past Perfect/whatever set
"Blackstick", on the French Nocturne label (OOP)
"Pre-War Classic Sides", on JSP
"RCA-Victor Master Takes", on Definitive

Don't get "Portrait", because it doesn't sound as good as the other releases. The other three are close in sound.

I also see Amazon has the MP3 in the U.S. Chances are fair you can find it in Europe, then.
Excellent, thanks! The JSP looks tempting, although I have much of it elsewhere.

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#105 Post by J-h:n » Mon Nov 12, 2012 4:14 am

lipi wrote:For the record, I continue to torture everyone with both "Joshua..." and "Blues My Naughty...", because, well, dammit, they're awesome. Never give up! Never surrender!
I knew someone would say that. ;-)

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