Thursday, June 24, 2010

More DJ theory

Here's a nice post from Kyle Smith about what DJs should be going for when they're spinning for an evening. Kyle has been head DJ for All Balboa Weekend for a long time, and really knows his stuff.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Fizz setlist 6-21-2010

It was a hot, sweaty night at Fizz, thanks to the humidity and the full house. I was subbing for my friend Chris, whose laptop died. (Back up your music now, folks!) In comparison to last week, I felt like I wasn't able to stay ahead of the crowd to the same degree, but I was still pretty happy with how this set turned out. The tempos tended to be slower, because of the heat, but I still had a good range (as you can see from the sparkline and frequency distribution, which is more gamma than gaussian) and a good diversity of music (including some old chestnuts). Here's the set:
  1. Apex Blues - The Wolverines Jazz Band Of Bern - Wolverines Of Bern At 35 - 4:29 - 110
  2. Sit Down Baby - Susie Arioli Band - Pennies From Heaven - 3:29 - 130
  3. I'll Always Be In Love With You - Benny Goodman - 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert Plus 1944-47 - 3:11 - 135
  4. Spring Cleaning - Fats Waller - Portrait Vol. 2: Old Plantation - 2:27 - 165
  5. If You're A Viper - Kermit Ruffins - The Big Butter & Egg Man - 3:08 - 170
  6. Don't Be That Way - Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Story 1: Hot Mallets - 2:35 - 132
  7. Did I Remember - Stephanie Nakasian - Billie Remembered: The Classic Songs Of Billie Holiday - 3:03 - 140
  8. She's Got The Blues For Sale - Billy Eckstine - Timeless Billy Eckstine - 3:01 - 140
  9. The Spinach Song - Julia Lee & Her Boy Friends - Kansas City's First Lady Of The Blues - 2:59 - 160
  10. Sure, Had A Wonderful Time - Louis Jordan - Louis Jordan And His Tympani Five, Volume 1 - 3:00 - 135
  11. My Blue Heaven - Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Songs of New Orleans - 5:21 - 148
  12. A Viper's Moan - Mora's Modern Rhythmists - Call Of The Freaks - 3:30 - 140
  13. Papa's In Bed With His Britches On - Cab Calloway - Are You Hep To The Jive? - 2:32 - 167
  14. Big John's Special - Benny Goodman - B.G. In Hi-Fi - 3:08 - 183
  15. Worry Bird - Johnny Hartman - The Johnny Hartman Collection 1947-1972 - 2:40 - 125
  16. Taking a Chance on Love - Anita O'Day - Anita Sings the Most - 2:24 - 135
  17. Sad Sap Sucker Am I - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 3:06 - 140
  18. I Can't Believe You're in Love With Me - The Boilermaker Jazz Band - Give Me Your Telephone Number - 3:52 - 167
  19. Get Rhythm In Your Feet - Mora's Modern Rhythmists - Call Of The Freaks - 2:20 - 185
  20. One O'Clock Jump - Count Basie - Swinging The Blues: 1930-1939 - 3:03 - 171
  21. Did You Mean It? (Ella Fitzgerald, Vocals) - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman - 2:22 - 150
  22. Hey, Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Story 3: Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - 3:21 - 140
  23. Gimme A Pigfoot - Lavern Baker - LaVern Sings Bessie Smith - 3:09 - 120
  24. Summertime - Hep Chaps - Swingin' On Nothing - 4:01 - 135
  25. Jump Through The Window - Roy Eldridge - Little Jazz Giant - 2:44 - 145
  26. Smack Dab In The Middle - George Gee - Swingin - 3:00 - 142
  27. Flat Foot Floogee - Ray Bryant - Swing Dance Special - 2:42 - 160
  28. Twenty-Four Robbers - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 2:45 - 190
  29. No Regrets - Stephanie Nakasian - Billie Remembered: The Classic Songs Of Billie Holiday - 2:52 - 130
  30. Strictly Instrumental - Harry James - The Best Of Big Bands - 2:56 - 135
  31. Tain't What You Do - Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford - 3:06 - 160
  32. In the Mood - Glenn Miller - Best of the Lost Recordings & The Secret Broadcasts - 3:15 - 180
  33. Go Harlem - Chick Webb - Spinnin' the Webb - 2:19 - 210
  34. Solid As A Rock - Count Basie - Count Basie Et Son Orchestre 1950-1951 - 3:03 - 135
  35. Sermonette - Earl Grant - Singin' & Swingin': The Best Of Earl Grant - 2:42 - 125
  36. My Daddy Rocks Me - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman et son orchestre: 1945 Vol.2 - 2:48 - 100
  37. Singin' the Blues Till My Daddy Comes Home - The Solomon Douglas Swingtet - Live at the Legion - 3:25 - 128
  38. Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me - Sidney Bechet - The Fabulous Sidney Bechet - 5:43 - 145
  39. Smooth Sailing - Ella Fitzgerald - Bluella: Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Blues - 3:08 - 128
The last song was a birthday/Ph.D. jam. (Congratulations, Sophia!)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

My jazz can beat up your jazz

Heh. I just found Glenn Crytzer's blog. Crytzer is a musician and band leader from Seattle, a guy who is really interested in swing-era jazz. It's great stuff, especially if you (like me) want to learn more about swing music. His passion comes through really clearly, as does his sharp tongue:
"I just like to move to the music, I don't really care what it is" doesn't equate to "I'm a free spirit and just love the feeling of movement, all music is wonderful cause it's amazing", it actually equates to "Shucks Ma, why's I got to learn to read, I just likes lookin at the picters." If you're not dancing to the music (or not deliberately dancing NOT to the music for our modern dance friends), you're not dancing, you're just moving around - take an aerobics class.
Zing! I'd recommend starting here, with an enlightening posts about what makes swing music swing music. Then here, with an explanation of the contrast between different styles of jazz (trad. jazz, swing, bebop, etc.).

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Fizz setlist 6-14-2010

Fun night at Fizz last night. This past weekend was CUBE (the Chicago Underground Blues Experience, which organizes around the Chicago Blues Festival), so there were a number of blues dancers in the house. I tried to mix in some blues and bluesy-sounding material starting around 10:15--not sure that they approved, but whatever. On the whole, my set turned out to be a bit faster than normal; see here and here for the data. I was pretty happy with this set, I felt like I was leading the crowd the whole time--giving them styles that they wanted to hear, and then moving on to the next thing, before they got sick of the first. I also had quite a few people coming up and talking to me, asking questions, and complimenting the music (always nice!). I ended up passing out a few cards. (So if you took one and are now reading this...welcome to the blog! Leave a comment!) Here's what I played, from 9:00 to about 11:30:
  1. Tuxedo Junction - The Solomon Douglas Swingtet - Ain't No School Like the Old School - 3:14 - 155
  2. Snatch And Grab It - Julia Lee & Her Boy Friends - Kansas City's First Lady Of The Blues - 2:56 - 180
  3. You Can Stay But That Jive's Got To Go - Dusty Brooks - Dusty Brooks - Swing Time Jive - 2:38 - 155
  4. Pick-a-Rib - The Bob Wilber & Dany Doritz Quintet - Memories of you : Lionel and Benny - 3:03 - 155
  5. Now Or Never - Katharine Whalen - Jazz Squad - 2:13 - 165
  6. Strictly Jive - Chick Webb - Stomping At The Savoy - 3:19 - 170
  7. Stay Cool - Count Basie - Blues By Basie-One O'Clock Jump - 3:12 - 155
  8. Choo Choo Ch' Boogie - Louis Jordan & His Tympani Five - Jukebox Hits Volume 1 1942-1947 - 2:45 - 165 (By request)
  9. Rock Me All Night Long - The Fabulous Treniers - The Hoss Allen Sessions - 2:41 - 155
  10. Shotgun Boogie - Paul Tillotson the Love Trio - Lindy Hop Blues - 2:55 - 165 (The boogie music seemed to be a hit with folks.)
  11. All Of Me - Barbara Morrison - Live At The Dakota, Volume 2 - 3:34 - 175
  12. Pennies From Heaven - Sy Oliver - Yes Indeed - 4:03 - 180
  13. Old Maid Boogie - Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson - Meat's Too High - Blues, Boogie & Bebop - 2:38 - 150
  14. Cole Slaw - Louis Jordan - Louis Jordan & His Tympani Five, Volume 1 - 2:44 - 135 (Start of a long build.)
  15. I Want a Tall Skinny Pappa - Sister Rosetta Tharpe - The Gospel of the Blues - 2:52 - 140
  16. Ballin' The Jack - Kid Ory - This Kid's The Greatest! - 3:15 - 145
  17. When I Take My Sugar to Tea - The Boilermaker Jazz Band - Jump for Joy - 4:00 - 165
  18. Functionizin' - Fats Waller - If You Got To Ask, You Ain't Got It! - 3:05 - 170
  19. San Francisco Bay Blues - Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band - Blues Over Bodega - 3:41 - 160
  20. Pantin' In The Panther Room - Fats Waller - Fats Waller: 1940-1941 - 3:04 - 180
  21. Diga Diga Doo - Artie Shaw - The Very Best of Artie Shaw - 2:40 - 200
  22. I Like Pie, I Like Cake - The Four Clefs - The Jive Is Jumpin' - 2:51 - 155
  23. My Blue Heaven - Stuff Smith - Swingin' Stuff - 3:46 - 160
  24. Boys from Harlem - Randy Sandke And The Nagel Heyer Allstars - Uptown Lowdown - 3:33 - 160
  25. She's Never Satisfied - George Gee - Buddha Boogie - 4:59 - 150
  26. Hey, Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Story 3: Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - 3:21 - 140 (This was my transition to bluesy-sounding stuff.)
  27. Country Man - Carrie Smith - When You're Down and Out - 3:46 - 145
  28. Twenty-Nine Ways - Koko Taylor - South Side Lady (Live in Netherlands 1973) - 3:53 - 125
  29. My Bad Luck Soul - Janiva Magness Band - My Bad Luck Soul - 2:10 - 160
  30. The Feeling Music Brings - Susan Tedeschi - Austin City Limits: Live From Austin, TX - 5:20 - 120
  31. Back Water Blues - Lavern Baker - LaVern Sings Bessie Smith - 4:41 - 100 (Meant to play a different song here, not quite so long...but my mp3 player spat it out and I scrambled to grab this one.)
  32. Honeysuckle Rose - Louis Armstrong - Satch Plays Fats - 2:56 - 170 (I've used this transition trick in the past...this song starts out at about 110 for the introduction, then jumps to 170.)
  33. She's Got The Blues For Sale - Billy Eckstine - Timeless Billy Eckstine - 3:01 - 140
  34. For Dancers Only - Duke Ellington - Recollections Of The Big Band Era - 3:04 - 145
  35. Ridin' And Jivin' - Earl Hines - Rosetta - 2:39 - 155
  36. Sent For You Yesterday - Count Basie - The Complete Decca Recordings - 2:58 - 165
  37. Lumby - Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra - 1941 Transcription Performance - 2:43 - 180 (GDubs, did you work it?)
  38. There's Rhythm In Harlem - Mills Blue Rhythm Band - Mills Blue Rhythm Band: 1933-1936 - 3:11 - 205
  39. That's Rhythm - Rex Stewart - Jazz Foundations, Vol. 62 - 2:52 - 145
  40. It's You Who Taught It To Me - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 2:42 - 160
  41. Minor Swing - Django Reinhardt - Django Reinhardt 3: Minor Swing - 3:16 - 200
  42. On the Sunny Side of the Street - Harold Nicholas - Jazz In Paris: Chanteurs-Chanteuses - 4:01 - 110
  43. All Of Me - Twin Cities Hot Club - Twin Cities Hot Club - 4:10 - 165
  44. Life Begins When You're In Love - Billie Holiday - Lady Day: The Master Takes And Singles - 3:02 - 180

Saturday, June 5, 2010

First Friday at Big City Swing 6/4/2010

Here's my setlist from last night at Big City Swing. I DJ'ed on the first floor for the entire evening (3+ hours, which I usually split with one other DJ). It was a very humid, warm evening, so I had to experiment a bit to see what sort of tempos people felt up for. As you'll see from the BPM charts, I mostly kept things between 120 and 160 bpm, because of the temperature and what I could gather about the dancers' tastes. Mid-way through the evening, a group from one of Big City's performance class debuted the choreography that they'd been learning, which was cool to see.

Most of the time I enjoy going for longer sets because it lets me pace and plan things a little bit more than an hour or hour-and-a-half set would. But this evening was a little bit of a challenge because everyone went upstairs (for an encore performance of the choreography) at one point, so the whole floor cleared out. And then folks didn't trickle back in until a half hour later, which made for an odd dynamic. As people started coming back from upstairs, I tried to play some more familiar music with a good vibe to it, so that they'd come back in instead of heading out for the evening.

Here's the BPM sparkline and frequency distribution. And here's the setlist:
  1. All Right, Okay, You Win - Count Basie - Count Basie at Newport - 2:45 - 145
  2. Opus One - Tommy Dorsey - The Fabulous Swing Collection - 2:58 - 165
  3. Mood Hollywood - Don Neely's Royal Society Jazz Orchestra - Radio Rhythm - 3:31 - 170
  4. Rose Room - Artie Shaw - King Of The Clarinet - 2:43 - 155
  5. My Baby's Sweet - Stompy Jones - The Swing Session - 3:08 - 155
  6. Vine Street Boogie - Jay McShann - Jumpin' The Blues - 2:37 - 155
  7. Hey, Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Story 3: Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - 3:21 - 140
  8. Honey Pie - Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers - Everybody's Talkin' 'Bout Miss Thing! - 4:10 - 150
  9. Deed I Do - Katharine Whalen - Jazz Squad - 2:42 - 170
  10. It's You Who Taught It To Me - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 2:42 - 160
  11. Flying Home - Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra - The Fabulous Swing Collection - 2:54 - 185
  12. Le Jazz Hot - Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford - 2:44 - 140
  13. Bill Bailey - Ella Fitzgerald - Something To Live For - 3:26 - 132
  14. Someday You'll Want Me To Want You - Catherine Russell - Cat - 3:13 - 145
  15. Ja-Da - Stuff Smith - Stuff Smith/ Dizzy Gillespie/ Oscar Peterson - 4:04 - 150
  16. What's Your Name? - Echoes of Swing - You've Got To Be Modernistic - 3:18 - 155
  17. Love Me or Leave Me - Banu Gibson - Let Yourself Go - 3:07 - 165
  18. Shine On Harvest Moon - Pete Fountain - Dixieland's Kings - 2:50 - 160
  19. The Five Pennies - The Famous Castle Jazz Band - The Five Pennies - 2:52 - 205
  20. Cole Slaw - Louis Jordan - Louis Jordan And His Tympani Five, Volume 1 - 2:44 - 135 (Following this, the BCS class performed for the first time.)
  21. Summertime - Gordon Webster - Happy When I'm With You - 4:04 - 120
  22. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams - Kermit Ruffins - Putumayo Presents: Kermit Ruffins - 3:38 - 122
  23. Lean Baby - Illinois Jacquet - Flying Home - 3:05 - 125
  24. I'm Beginning To See The Light - Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington - Compact Jazz - 3:26 - 132
  25. She's Never Satisfied - George Gee - Buddha Boogie - 4:59 - 150
  26. They Raided The Joint - Helen Humes - Let The Good Times Roll - 3:19 - 160
  27. Old Mother Hubbard - Ella Fitzgerald - Swingin' Ella - 2:44 - 145
  28. El Salon De Gutbucket - Engelbert Wröbel's Swing Society - Sophisticated Swing - 5:16 - 140
  29. Chicken Shack Boogie - Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Story 4: Midnight Sun - 3:16 - 125
  30. Ballin' The Jack - Earl Hines - Live Broadcasts From The Hangover Club - 4:00 - 145 (People started trickling in again around here.)
  31. On Revival Day - Lavern Baker - Precious Memories / LaVern Sings Bessie Smith - 3:16 - 143
  32. My Blue Heaven - Preservation Hall Jazz Band - Songs of New Orleans - 5:21 - 148
  33. On The Sunny Side Of The Street - James Booker - New Orleans Piano Wizard: Live! - 3:42 - 125
  34. Jersey Bounce - Benny Goodman - B.G. In Hi-Fi - 3:07 - 132
  35. Banana Split for My Baby - Louis Prima - The Wildest! - 2:31 - 137
  36. Jump Session - Slim Gaillard - 1938-1939 - 2:35 - 160
  37. Savoy Blues - Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen - Trad Jazz Masters - 3:53 - 135
  38. (Today's The Day) I'm Glad I'm Not Dead - Indigo Swing - All Aboard! - 4:03 - 120
  39. Tain't What You Do - Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford - 3:06 - 160
  40. Too Darn Hot - Ella Fitzgerald - Mack The Knife: The Complete Ella In Berlin - 3:16 - 160
  41. Corner Pocket - Count Basie - April In Paris - 5:07 - 140
  42. Georgia Grind - Louis Armstrong - Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography Disc 1 - 3:19 - 115
  43. Cheek To Cheek - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Ella & Louis - 5:53 - 124
  44. Perdido Street Blues - Louis Armstrong - The Complete Decca Studio Master Takes 1940-1949 - 3:08 - 145 (Three Louis Armstrong tracks in a row, I know. But they're all very different styles. And if there's anyone you'd want to hear three in a row from, wouldn't it be Louis?)
  45. Dark Eyes - Fats Waller - Happy Birthday Fats Vol. 1 - 3:22 - 160
  46. Do You Wanna Jump, Children? - Count Basie - The Complete Decca Recordings - 2:41 - 205
  47. Fever - Barbara Morrison - Live at the 9:20 Special - 4:35 - 133
  48. Splanky - The Solomon Douglas Swingtet - Live at the Legion - 4:31 - 135
  49. B.O. Blues - Rex Stewart - Jazz Foundations, Vol. 62 - Rex Stewart - 2:49 - 95 (I thought this one was appropriate, given the heat and humidity.)
  50. Fibre de verre - Paris Combo - Attraction - 3:39 - 135