Saturday, January 16, 2010

3rd Fizziversary: Top Albums

Continuing my look back at 3 years worth of sets from Fizz, here are the albums I had in heaviest rotation:
  1. Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford After Dark (30 plays)
  2. Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller (28)
  3. Benny Goodman - B.G. in Hi-Fi (24)
  4. The Boilermaker Jazz Band - Give Me Your Telephone Number (21)
  5. Ella Fitzgerald - Swingin' Ella (18)
And here's how things break down by year:

2007

  1. The Boilermaker Jazz Band - Give Me Your Telephone Number (15)
  2. Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford After Dark (13)
  3. Benny Goodman - B.G. in Hi-Fi (12)
  4. Duke Ellington - Sophisticated Lady (10)
  5. George Gee - Swingin' (10)
  6. The Fabulous Swing Collection (10)
2008
  1. Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller (13)
  2. Benny Goodman - B.G. in Hi-Fi (10)
  3. Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford After Dark (10)
  4. Jay McShann - Jumpin' the Blues (7)
  5. Twin Cities Hot Club - Twin Cities Hot Club (7)
  6. Cats & the Fiddle - We Cats Will Swing for You (7)
2009
  1. The Paul Tillotson Love Trio - Lindy Hop Blues (13)
  2. Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller (9)
  3. Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford After Dark (7)
  4. Jimmy Witherspoon - Jimmy Witherspoon with Panama Francis' Savoy Sultans (7)
  5. Solomon Douglas - Live at the Legion (7)
I think it's interesting that Paul Tillotson & Solomon Douglas both made the list in 2009. Tillotson's album has several tracks on it that have become standby/emergency-floor-fillers for me. And Solomon's album is just really good--it has a wide variety of interesting, danceable tunes.

I also looked at things from a slightly different perspective, to get a sense of my "most valuable albums." I did this by counting the number of unique tracks on a given album that have been played during my sets. The winners:
  1. The Boilermaker Jazz Band - Give Me Your Telephone Number (10 tracks played, out of 17 on this disc)
  2. Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford After Dark (9 of 28 on this double-disc set)
  3. Benny Goodman - B.G. in Hi-Fi (8 of 20 on this disc)
  4. Count Basie - America's #1 Band (7 of 90 in this 4-CD boxed set)
  5. Jay McShann - Jumpin' the Blues (7 of 50 on this double-disc)
  6. The Fabulous Swing Collection (7 of 15 on this compilation album)
  7. Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller (7 of 20 on this disc)
  8. Duke Ellington - Sophisticated Lady (6 of 19 on this disc)
I'd recommend any of these albums if you are looking to build up your collection.

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