setlist from Saturday Swing

Last night I spun at ARTTango studios for the Saturday Swing dance organized by my friend and fellow Stuff Smith enthusiast Thea. It's a very nice, inviting venue with plenty of space to dance and also to socialize. I was happy with my set in terms of the music, but I encountered a big technical problem with JRiver Media Center in the middle of the evening, which definitely detracted from my set as a whole. I still haven't managed to isolate the problem, but it seems to have to do with the gap-skipping functionality in JRMC. Normally, the program will automatically trim out leading and trailing silence from a track, but last night instead of trimming it, it would sometimes insert loud static in place of the silence. Then at the end of the evening, two songs before the end of my set, the program crashed all together, and I had to switch to iTunes as quick as I could. Lame, all around. I'll report back when I've figured out what is going on.

In the mean time, here's what I played (plus the usual BPM sparkline and frequency distribution):

1. Viper's Dream - Django Reinhardt - Django Reinhardt 3: Minor Swing - 3:17 - 170
2. Satin Doll - Anita O'Day - My Ship - 2:19 - 135
3. King Porter Stomp - Wynton Marsalis - Mr. Jelly Lord - Standard Time Vol. 6 - 3:09 - 180
4. My Blue Heaven - The Rosenberg Trio - Roots - 2:54 - 210
5. What's Your Name? - Echoes of Swing - You've Got To Be Modernistic - 3:18 - 155
6. Two O'Clock Jump - Harry James And His Orchestra - Trumpet Blues - 3:00 - 155
7. Gotta Be This Or That - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman '45 & '47 - 3:10 - 140
8. I Cried For You - Billie Holiday - Lady Day: The Master Takes And Singles - 3:14 - 155
9. I'm Beginning To See The Light - Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington - The Great Summit - 3:37 - 150
10. Splanky - Benny Goodman - The Yale University Music Library, Volume 7: Florida Session - 5:12 - 130
11. They Raided The Joint - Roy Eldridge Sextet - Little Jazz Giant - 3:18 - 145
12. Walk It to Me - Hot Lips Page - 67099 DECCA-7757 - 3:17 - 140
13. Someday You'll Want Me To Want You - Catherine Russell - Cat - 3:13 - 145
14. Jump Session - Slim Gaillard - 1938-1939 - 2:35 - 160
15. Bring It On Down - The Baby Soda Jazz Band - Cures Everything But The Blues - 2:34 - 175
16. My Blue Heaven - The Cangelosi Cards - Clinton Street Recordings, I - 4:11 - 145
17. Love Me or Leave Me - Banu Gibson - Let Yourself Go - 3:07 - 165
18. Everybody Rock - Ella Fitzgerald - Live At The Savoy - 1939-40 - 3:18 - 185
19. C Jam Blues - Gordon Webster - Live In Philadelphia - 4:12 - 170
20. Are You All Reet? - Chu Berry - Classic Chu Berry Columbia And Victor Sessions - 3:09 - 155
21. Baby Won't You Please Come Home? - Crytzer's Blue Rhythm Band - Chasin' the Blues - 3:38 - 125
22. Perdido Street Blues - Southside Aces - A Big Fine Thing - 3:54 - 135
23. Last Night On The Backporch - The Palmetto Bug Stompers - Ol' New Orleans Home - 4:10 - 150
24. Goin' To Chicago Blues - Ernestine Anderson - When the Sun Goes Down - 4:54 - 135
25. Bill Bailey - Ella Fitzgerald - Something To Live For - 3:26 - 130
26. Corner Pocket - Count Basie - April In Paris - 5:07 - 140
27. I'm Coming Virginia - Benny Goodman - The Yale University Archives, Volume 3: Big Band In Europe - 2:09 - 170
28. Route 66 - Linda Hopkins - Wild Women Blues - 3:05 - 160
29. Daddy - Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers - Miss Smith To You! - 4:39 - 125
30. Exactly Like You - Carmen McRae - - 2:11 - 135
31. Smack Dab In The Middle - George Gee - Swingin - 3:00 - 140
32. Wailing Interval - Duke Ellington - The Private Collection: Volume Six, Dance Dates, California, - 3:39 - 160
33. Streamliner - The Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra - Swing Masters: Calling All Jitterbugs - 3:50 - 150
34. Savoy - Lucky Millinder - An Anthology Of Big Band Swing 1930-1955 - 3:05 - 165
35. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby - Louis Jordan - Louis Jordan And His Tympani Five, Volume 1 - 2:45 - 135
36. St. Louis Blues - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman: Very Best of Benny Goodman - 3:24 - 135
37. Fine Brown Frame - Lou Rawls - At Last - 3:05 - 125
38. It's Love Baby (24 Hours a Day) - Erbie Bowser, T.D. Bell, and the Blues Specialists - Down Home Saturday Night - 4:13 - 125
39. My Bad Luck Soul - Janiva Magness - My Bad Luck Soul - 2:10 - 160
40. Georgia Grind - Louis Armstrong - Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography Disc 1 - 3:19 - 115
41. Shake That Thing - The Smoking Time Jazz Club - Quarter Note Vol. 1 - 4:25 - 125
42. Savoy Blues - Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen - Trad Jazz Masters - 3:53 - 135
43. Minor Swing - Django Reinhardt - Django Reinhardt 3: Minor Swing - 3:16 - 200
44. South - Hot Lips Page - Kansas City: Swing, Blues, Jive & Boogie - 2:48 - 200
45. Yes Indeed - Slam Stewart - Slamboree - 3:35 - 150
46. Fibre de verre - Paris Combo - Attraction - 3:39 - 135
47. Dat Dere - Oscar Brown Jr. - Sin & Soul ...And Then Some - 2:52 - 111
48. Keepin' Out A Mishif Now - Carling Family - 20th Jubilee - 3:32 - 120
49. My Bucket's Got A Hole In It - Papa Bues Viking Jazzband - Live In Copenhagen - 3:36 - 135
50. Duke & Dukie - The Rosenberg Trio - Roots - 3:28 - 200
51. A Smo-o-oth One - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman - 3:16 - 130

First Friday at Big City Swing

As I mentioned, It's been about two months since I was last out dancing, so as you can imagine, I was pretty excited to get out of the house and DJ at Big City Swing. We had a crowd full of fresh new faces, which explains certain of my track choices below--yes, I played Zoot Suit Riot, and the crowd LOVED it. Early in the evening, I had some problems with JRMC (version 15) crashing on me and ended up having to DJ straight from iTunes, with no preview capability. That made for a little bit of a rough night, and also led to some sound quality issues. Here's my set (plus the usual BPM sparkline and frequency distribution):

1. My Baby's Sweet - Stompy Jones - The Swing Session - 3:08 - 155
2. Oo Poppa Do - Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers - One Hour Mama - 3:13 - 160
3. I Cried For You - Stephanie Nakasian - Billie Remembered: The Classic Songs Of Billie Holiday - 3:51 - 160
4. Put A Lid On It - Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot - 2:39 - 198
5. Nice Work if You Can Get It - The Boilermaker Jazz Band - Nice Work If You Can Get It - 3:19 - 170
6. Rosetta - The Baby Soda Jazz Band - Cures Everything But The Blues - 4:34 - 165
7. My Blue Heaven - The Cangelosi Cards - Clinton Street Recordings, I - 4:11 - 145
8. Bennie's Bugle - 4Beat6 - The band that plays the music of Benny Goodman - 3:01 - 195
9. 5 Foot 2 - Davina & The Vagabonds - Songs From Thomas Ave. - 3:42 - 175
10. Cole Slaw - Louis Jordan - Louis Jordan And His Tympani Five, Volume 1 - 2:44 - 135
11. Zoot Suit Riot - Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot - 3:53 - 185
12. Hey! Stop Kissin' My Sister - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 2:50 - 190
13. Banana Split for My Baby - Louis Prima - The Wildest! - 2:31 - 137
14. 8, 9 And 10 - Slim Gaillard - The Very Best Of - 2:43 - 175
15. In the Mood - Glenn Miller - Best of the Lost Recordings & The Secret Broadcasts - 3:15 - 180
16. Take The "A" Train - Duke Ellington - The Blanton-Webster Band - 2:54 - 168
17. On Revival Day - Lavern Baker - LaVern Sings Bessie Smith - 3:16 - 143
18. Honeysuckle Rose - Gordon Webster - Live In Philadelphia - 3:59 - 150
19. Money's Getting Cheaper - Jimmy Witherspoon - Jimmy Witherspoon - 2:59 - 135
20. At Long Last Love - Carmen McRae - The Great American Songbook - 2:27 - 132
21. Number Two - The Hot Club Of San Francisco - Yerba Buena Bounce - 3:42 - 180
22. Deed I Do - Katharine Whalen - Jazz Squad - 2:42 - 170
23. Tain't What You Do - Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford - 3:06 - 160
24. Peckin' - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman - 3:30 - 180
25. Blue Drag - The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn - Permanent Magic - 3:40 - 190
26. When I Get Low I Get High - Chick Webb - Stomping At The Savoy (Disc 2) - 2:29 - 205
27. Shake That Thing - The Smoking Time Jazz Club - Quarter Note Vol. 1 - 4:25 - 125
28. Short Dressed Gal - Preservation Hall Jazz Band - New Orleans Preservation, Vol. 1 - 2:38 - 160
29. Everybody Loves My Baby - Sippie Wallace - Sippie - 3:11 - 145
30. Flat Foot Floogee - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra - The Fabulous Benny Goodman - 3:22 - 160

Using JRiver as a DJ platform

For most of my DJ gigs, I use the program JRiver Media Center. I've been fairly happy with it, but there's definitely an initial investment in getting it set up how you like it. I recently upgraded to version 15, and had to fiddle for a quite a while with all the settings. Rather than allowing you to suffer through the same headache, I thought I'd record my process so you can just follow along. In what follows, I make a couple of assumptions about your equipment and how you're going to use MC. Specifically:

• Since I manage my library using iTunes (I know, I know, not hip...), the steps below assume that you do the same.
• I assume that you'll want to take advantage of MC's zones feature, so that you can preview in your headphones while simultaneously sending different audio to an external sound card. To do this, you'll obviously need to have an external card. Here's a cheap one; I'll leave it to you to research fancier gadgets if you are so inclined.

My friends Doug and Thea, both of whom are also MC jockies, were kind enough to look over this post and share some tips of their own. Thanks to them. Now without further ado...

Pusto's handy guide
to setting up JRiver Media Center (MC) for Swing DJing

1. Install the program. (You can try it free for 30 days.)
2. In order to get all your files from iTunes into MediaCenter's database, you'll need to use MC's import tool. Go to Tools -> Import... and point it towards the folder(s) where your music lives. If you have thousands of songs, the import process will take a LONG time. In the mean time, you can continue with the steps below.
   
3. In order to get MC to play Apple's file formats (.aac and .m4a), you'll need to get the right audio codec. I recommend installing the Combined Community Codec Pack. Be sure to read the instructions first. Also, the JRiver wiki states that you should uncheck the option to install the FLV splitter.
4. In MC, go to Tools -> Options -> File types. Select "AAC audio." In the panel below, set the playback method to "JRiver audio engine (using DirectShow filter)."
5. Go to Tools -> Options -> Audio. Under "Track Change," set "switch tracks" to your prefered method. I use "Standard (gapped) - 2 seconds." (Unlike nightclub DJs, most swing DJs do not use crossfades between tracks.)
6. Go to Tools -> Options -> General. Under "Behavior," set "Double Click" to "Add to Playing Now (to end)"; set "Play button," to "Play Playing Now"; and uncheck "Start playing when files added to playing now."
7. Go to Player -> Zones -> Add zone.
8. Close MC, plug in your external sound card, reopen MC. Go to Player -> Zones -> Zone 2, then select Player -> playback options -> Audio. Under "Audio Options," choose "Output mode settings." Change the device to your external sound card.
9. In the upper left-hand corner of MC, click on the volume button. Be sure "Internal volume" is checked.
10. Go to Player -> Zones -> Zone 1 (or hit control-T), then select Player -> playback options -> Audio. Under "Audio Options," choose "Output mode settings." Change the device to your computer's internal audio device.
11. In the upper left-hand corner of MC, click on the volume button. Be sure "Internal volume" is checked (for zone 1). You now have two independent zones, each of which can play a different playlist.
12. Configure the way that you view files and your "Playing now" playlist. Go to View -> Split view and choose "Show 2 views." Depending on your laptop, you may want to choose the split views to be in rows or columns. (I use rows, since I don't have a lot of screen real estate on my netbook.)
13. Configure the track info display. Right-click on the display (top-center) and choose "Customize display." Select the fields you'd like displayed, for instance:
    Title: [Name] - [Artist] - [Album]
    Status: [Elapsed Time] // [Total Time] - [BPM] BPM [PN Position] of [PN Tracks] - [Zone]
14. If you like, import your playlists from iTunes. I think you have to export them one at a time, but you can import them into MC all at once.
15. Set some column presets. I use two: one for previewing while I'm spinning, the other for exporting my setlists (so that I can post them here). To set up a column preset, select a playlist. Right-click on one of the column headings (such as "Artist" or "Album"). Check the columns that you want to be visible, uncheck the ones you don't. Arrange the columns in the order you like. When you've got it how you like it, right-click on a column heading again. Go to Preset -> Save and give it a name.
    
16. If you are interested in exporting your playlists to a blog and creating nerdy little charts, see this post for my (admittedly kludgy) method.

Please leave a comment and let me know how this worked for you!