Fizz setlist 03/30/2009

Great night at Fizz last night. It took me for-freakin'-ever to get the sound setup to work, but once that was done, things went pretty smoothly. Last night was also the debut of my new Samsung NC-10 netbook--I'm in the process of transitioning so that I can use it to DJ, since my little powerbook is getting old and is starting to have health scares. More on the new setup later.

Not much to say about this set--it was a light crowd early in the night (everybody was downstairs getting schnockered at the Templeton Rye tasting), and I ended up dancing a lot. By about 10:15, it was starting to get crowded. I kept dancing quite a bit, basically just playing a bunch of music that I liked, trying to vary the tempo and style. Some of the tracks were inspired by my friend Reggio, who is working with me and some friends on a show for National Tap Day. More on that later too. See the setlist below.And here's the bpm frequency distribution and sparkline.

1. I Got an Uncle In Harlem - Hot Lips Page - Legends of Harlem - 3:09 - 145
2. Going Back to New Orleans - Joe Liggins And The Honeydrippers - Joe Liggins And The Honeydrippers - 2:52 - 175
3. Honey Pie - Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers - Everybody's Talkin' 'Bout Miss Thing! - 4:10 - 150
4. Good Queen Bess - Johnny Hodges - Perfect Swing - 3:02 - 155
5. Krum Elbow Blues - Mora's Modern Swingtet - 20th Century Closet - 2:45 - 155
6. Sing Me a Swing Song (And Let Me Dance) - Benny Goodman - The Birth of Swing - 2:23 - 177
7. Hoodle-Addle - Ray McKinley Orchestra - You Came A Long Way From St. Louis - 3:21 - 140
8. On The Sunny Side of the Street - Benny Goodman - The Yale University Archives, Volume 3: Big Band In Europe - 3:11 - 135
9. A Viper's Moan - Willie Bryant And His Orchestra - 1935-1936 - 3:25 - 148
10. It's You Who Taught It To Me - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 2:42 - 160
11. Betcha Nickel - Ella Fitzgerald - My Heart Belongs to Daddy - 2:51 - 160
12. One O'Clock Jump - Count Basie - Swinging The Blues: 1930-1939 - 3:03 - 171
13. Bingie-Bingie-Scootie - Slim Gaillard - 1938-46 - 2:58 - 175
14. Shout, Sister, Shout! - Sister Rosetta Tharpe - The Gospel of the Blues - 2:41 - 145
15. Just One Of Those Things - Ella Fitzgerald - Mack The Knife: The Complete Ella In Berlin (Live) - 3:53 - 136
16. For Dancers Only - John Lewis, The American Jazz Orchestra - The Music Of Jimmie Lunceford - 4:34 - 145
17. When I Grow Too Old To Dream - Della Reese - Song Book, Vol. 3 - 2:35 - 145
18. My Bucket's Got A Hole In It - Arne Bue Jensen, Bjarne Peter - Arne Bue Jensen, Bjarne Petersen, Jens Sølund, Jørgen Svare, - Live In Copenhagen - 3:36 - 135
19. The Darktown Strutters' Ball - Alberta Hunter - Amtrak Blues - 5:23 - 150
20. On Revival Day - Lavern Baker - Precious Memories / LaVern Sings Bessie Smith - 3:16 - 143
21. Good Bait - The Solomon Douglas Swingtet - Swingmatism - 2:53 - 150
22. Moten Swing - Barney Kessel - To Swing Or Not To Swing - 3:57 - 160
23. The Right Idea - Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra - Swing Street Strut - 3:13 - 185
24. Jeep Jockey Jump - Glenn Miller - Inspirational Swing! - 2:13 - 200
25. Apollo Jump - Lucky Millinder - Classic Big Band Jazz - 3:26 - 145
26. Life Is So Peculiar with Louis Jordan - Louis Armstrong - The Wonderful Duets - 3:24 - 115
27. Yes Indeed - Sy Oliver - Yes Indeed - 3:13 - 128
28. Buckin' The Dice - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 3:29 - 160
29. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home - Bill Coleman - Bill Coleman In Paris 1936-1938 - 3:00 - 170
30. All The Cats Join In - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman - 4:23 - 178
31. Tippin' In - Erskine Hawkins And His Orchestra - Jukebox Hits 1940-1950 - 3:20 - 150
32. Cabaret - Louis Armstrong - Louis Armstrong - 3:59 - 155
33. Give Me Your Telephone Number - The Boilermaker Jazz Band - Give Me Your Telephone Number - 3:26 - 220
34. Don't You Miss Your Baby - Jimmy Witherspoon - Jimmy Witherspoon & Panama Francis' Savoy Sultans - 3:55 - 140
35. Georgia Grind - Louis Armstrong - Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography Disc 1 - 3:19 - 115
36. Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me - Sidney Bechet - The Fabulous Sidney Bechet - 5:43 - 145
37. Peckin' - Duke Ellington - The Duke's Men: The Small Groups, Vol. 1 - 3:09 - 160

My performance class performs

The performance class that Jenna and I taught at Big City Swing over the past couple months finally had their debut at Swinger's Ball last Saturday. They completely rocked it. Here's video:

Battle of the Bands II

Here's how it went down at the Battle of the Bands at the Galaxie last Saturday: Lippy had constructed an elaborate bracket scheme for the 6 djs in the competition (it is March Madness time, after all). See the bracket above, which was assigned by random draw. For the first round, each DJ has to play a 20 minute set of music exclusively from their chosen artist or band. They are then judged (by audience applause) against the other two DJs in their bracket, and one of the DJs is eliminated. Each of the DJs from the left bracket then has a 15 minute set versus one of the DJs from the right bracket, and only one of them survives (again judged by audience applause). This leaves 2 final DJs, who battle it out trading sets of 2 songs a piece, currying favor from the audience. Cash prize for the winner.

After a beginner lesson and then a little warm-up music, the battle kicked off at 9 p.m. with Doug "Doberman" Hillman representing Oscar Peterson, followed by Chris "The Man with the Middles" playing nothing but Jimmie Lunceford, and then John Joven playing Benny Goodman. Oscar Peterson had another gig later that night, so basically Lunceford and Goodman got a first round bye.

I kicked off the second set of three DJs starting at 10 p.m., representing Louis Armstrong. Here's my first set:

1. Cabaret - Louis Armstrong - Louis Armstrong - 3:59 - 155
2. Jack-Armstrong Blues - Louis Armstrong - Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars - 3:00 - 185
3. Who Walks In When I Walk Out? with Ella Fitzgerald - Louis Armstrong - The Wonderful Duets - 2:21 - 135
4. A Fine Romance - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis Again - 3:56 - 170
5. Georgia Grind - Louis Armstrong - Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography Disc 1 - 3:19 - 115
6. I'm Crazy 'Bout My Baby - Louis Armstrong - Satch Plays Fats (Remaster) - 4:28 - 162

As you can see, I played it pretty safe. I tried to cover a range of styles that Louis Armstrong played, from the popular hits from the 60's, to more straight-up jazz from the All-Stars, to the pop-jazz with Ella (and Oscar Peterson in the backing combo). My set was followed by Dave "Lippy" Rentauskas representing Lionel Hampton, and then Riley "Big Tyme" Wymes going out on a limb by spinning Sam Cooke. The second set was a close call, but Lionel Hampton was eventually sent back the the bench.

The semi-finals started off with Benny Goodman versus Sam Cooke. From a "flow" standpoint, I thought it was a little odd to have two all-Sam-Cooke sets separated by just 20 minutes, but that's how the bracket fell out. Sam Cooke progressed to the finals by a comfortable margin.

After that round of voting, Armstrong was up against Lunceford. Here's my second set:

1. I Love Jazz - Louis Armstrong - Louis Armstrong - 4:39 - 170
2. My Bucket's Got a Hole In It - Louis Armstrong - An Evening With Louis Armstrong And His All Stars - 4:24 - 145
3. Sugar Foot Stomp - Fletcher Henderson - Ken Burns Jazz: Fletcher Henderson - 2:50 - 205
4. My Sweet Hunk O' Trash - Louis Armstrong - The Complete Decca Studio Master Takes 1940-1949 - 3:20 - 95

I opened with I Love Jazz because the announcements immediately prior gave me an excuse to play the longer intro that everyone seems to know so well. I followed up with another solid, mid-tempo song that was still energetic, then kicked it up a notch with a hot charleston number. (Was gonna play my other version of that number, but I thought it would clear the floor to much--it's a rollicking 255 bpm.) I closed out the set with a slower, bluesy number where Louis duets with Billlie Holiday.

Lunceford's second set followed on mine, and included the requisite Shim-Sham, followed the Lunceford Special, during which a jam broke out. For sheer entertainment value, it seemed like a great call--that Lunceford cat sure puts up a tough fight. Armstrong eeked out the victory, and was on to the finals against Sam Cooke.

Finals were a challenge--Riley played two soulful Cooke numbers, which meant I had to transition the room back to a jazz sound. Here's how I followed up:

1. Honeysuckle Rose - Louis Armstrong - Satch Plays Fats (Remaster) - 2:56 - 170
2. Perdido Street Blues - Louis Armstrong - The Complete Decca Studio Master Takes 1940-1949 - 3:08 - 145

Honeysuckle Rose starts out sounding like a lazy slow-lindy number, but then eases into the main chorus at a lightly swinging 170 bpm. I thought it worked well as a transition. I followed up with a DIRTY DIRTY blues number that's still in a lindy hop tempo.

Then we were back to Sam Cooke for two songs, and then I had a final two songs to try to bring folks back into Louis' corner. Here's what I chose:

1. Love is Here to Stay - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Ella and Louis Again - 4:01 - 102
2. Hello, Dolly! - Louis Armstrong - Ken Burns Jazz - 2:24 - 155

I opened with a slow groovy ballad, trying to appeal to the dancers' sentimental side, and then closed with Armstrong's traditional closer. In retrospect, it didn't work all that well. If I could try it over again, I would have skipped this and gone out in a blaze of 1920's glory with Cornet Chop Suey or I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas, highlighting the difference between my guy and Cooke, rather than trying to beat Cooke at his own game. Anyways, Cooke came out the winner, so Riley finished out the night.

All in all, a very fun evening of dancing, and an interesting challenge for the DJs. I thought the bracket system worked really well, and forced all the DJs to select songs very strategically. Instead of just blowing the best 20 minutes of Lunceford that there is, Chris had to spread it out over several sets so that he could remain competitive. Hopefully the format will be preserved for next time. Hmmm.....now to figure out who I should represent in the next battle.....

Set list from First Friday at Big City Swing 3/6/2009

Last night was pretty crazy. Two lessons (Mary and I did a charleston lesson downstairs, Jenna and Max did an intro swing lesson upstairs), two floors of dancing (me downstairs, Nathan upstairs), lots of out-of-town friends dancing for us. It was a good crowd, about the same as last month is what Jenna reports, but the atmosphere was maybe a bit more relaxed because people were spread over two floors.

I dj'ed from 9 until a few minutes before 10, then my friend Jason Zabinski from Minneapolis spun for about an hour, then I took over again around 11:15 to close out the night. Having Jason dj was a treat--pretty much everything he picked out made me go "Ooooh this is a great track! How come I never play this one?" Plus I got to just dance instead of running back and forth from my computer. Here's my set list:

First set:

1. Tutti Frutti - Slim Gaillard - 1938-46 - 2:38 - 170
2. Hey-Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - Lionel Hampton - Big Band Jazz, The Jubilee Sessions, 1943 to 1946 - 4:27 - 170
3. Moten Swing - Barney Kessel - To Swing Or Not To Swing - 3:57 - 160
4. Good Evenin' Good Lookin' (Helen Forrest, Vocals) - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman - 3:10 - 150
5. I Want a Tall Skinny Pappa - Sister Rosetta Tharpe - The Gospel of the Blues - 2:52 - 140
6. Betcha Nickel - Ella Fitzgerald - My Heart Belongs to Daddy - 2:51 - 160
7. Evenin' - Count Basie - Count Basie at Newport - 3:32 - 165
8. The Love Bug Will Bite You - Louis Prima - Complete Brunswick & Vocalion Recordings Of Louis Prima And Wingy Manone (1924-1937) - 3:05 - 170
9. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A letter - Jay McShann - For Dancers Only! (A Lindy Hop Compilation) - 3:55 - 146
10. All Of Me - Helen O'Connell - Great Girl Singers, Sing 22 Original Hits - 2:09 - 145
11. Flat Foot Floogee - Ray Bryant - Swing Dance Special - 2:42 - 160
12. Twenty-Four Robbers - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 2:45 - 190
13. Snake Hips - Mills Blue Rhythm Band - Jazz Age! - 2:59 - 215
14. Come On Over To My House - Jay McShann - Jumpin' The Blues - 2:52 - 145
15. A Viper's Moan - Willie Bryant And His Orchestra - 1935-1936 - 3:25 - 148
16. Take It Easy Greasy No. 2 - Lil Johnson - Lil Johnson & Barrelhouse Annie Vol. 3 1937 - 2:58 - 145
17. I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate - Graeme Bell & His Australian Jazz Band - The Historical Prague & Paris Recordings, 1947-48 - 3:26 - 132
18. El Salon De Gutbucket - Engelbert Wröbel's Swing Society - Sophisticated Swing - 5:16 - 140
19. Don't You Miss Your Baby - Jimmy Witherspoon - Jimmy Witherspoon & Panama Francis' Savoy Sultans - 3:55 - 140

Second set:

1. Gypsy In My Soul - Clora Bryant - ...Gal With A Horn - 2:48 - 160
2. Gotta Be This Or That - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman '45 & '47 - 3:10 - 140
3. Walkin' And Swingin - Andy Kirk & His Clouds of Joy - Kansas City: Swing, Blues, Jive & Boogie - 2:56 - 180
4. Killin' JIve - Cats & The Fiddle - We Cats Will Swing For You - 2:50 - 180
5. Madame Dynamite - Eddie Condon - Let's Swing It - 2:55 - 185
6. The Back Room Romp - Duke Ellington - The Duke's Men: The Small Groups, Vol. 1 - 2:49 - 150
7. Dippermouth Blues - Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band - Vol. 3: Stomps, Etc...& The Blues - 2:50 - 185
8. There'll Be Some Changes Made - Chicago Rhythm Kings - Mezz Mezzrow: Makin' Friends, 1928-37 - 2:56 - 205
9. We've Got The Blues - The Spirits Of Rhythm - Spirits of Rhythm 1932-1941 - 3:16 - 110
10. Ja-Da - The Famous Castle Jazz Band - The Five Pennies - 3:07 - 150
11. Shine On Harvest Moon - Pete Fountain - Dixieland's Kings - 2:50 - 160
12. Southern sunset - Swing Parade South - Hommage a Sidney Bechet - 3:32 - 105
13. My Baby Likes To Be-Bop - Ella Fitzgerald - Swingin' Ella - 2:45 - 139
14. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home - Bill Coleman - Bill Coleman In Paris 1936-1938 - 3:00 - 170
15. Jive At Five - Count Basie - Swinging The Blues: 1930-1939 - 2:46 - 172
16. Six-appeal - Charlie Christian - Six-appeal - 3:20 - 145
17. Who Walks In When I Walk Out? with Ella Fitzgerald - Louis Armstrong - The Wonderful Duets - 2:21 - 135
18. Grabtown Grapple - Artie Shaw - 1944-45 - 3:00 - 190
19. Spreadin' Rhythm Around - Billie Holiday - Swing Brother Swing - 2:52 - 195
20. You Talk a Little Trash - Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five - Crazy Rhythm - 3:55 - 170
21. Splanky - Benny Goodman - The Yale University Music Library, Volume 7: Florida Session - 5:12 - 132
22. Okay for Baby - Jimmie Lunceford - For Dancers Only - 3:13 - 145
23. Wah-Dee-Dah - Cab Calloway - The Early Years 1930-1934 - 3:00 - 230