Live blogging from Hawkeye Swing Fest!

I'm here with a bunch of my buddies in Iowa City, Iowa (Ziowa!) at the Hawkeye Swing Festival, deejaying and teaching. Last night's dance featured Mutiny in the Parlor, a local combo featuring piano, saxophone, guitar, and tuba, who played a lot of old Dixie tunes like Shine On, Harvest Moon. I talked with the band leader afterwards, turns out he's friends with the guys from Aunt Ruby's Sweet Jazz Babies, from Austin Texas (a band that I learned about from my set on Yehoodi Radio). Then late night featured the Twin Cities Hot Club. Oh my lord, are those guys amazing. Among the highlights of the late night was their sultry rendition of Summertime, featuring Gary Schulte on violin. If the crowd had actually been sitting down, we would have given them a standing ovation. As it was, we just clapped and hollered for about five minutes. Just mesmerizing.

So here's the play-by-play of my tracks. As Mutiny in the Parlor took their first break, I popped on a couple of songs:

1. Louisiana - Barney Kessel - To Swing Or Not To Swing - 3:56 - 140
2. I Sent For You Yesterday And Here You Come Today - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman - 3:09 - 160
3. Jungle Nights in Harlem - Randy Sandke And The Nagel Heyer Allstars - Uptown Lowdown - 3:37 - 180
4. Yes Indeed - Sy Oliver - Yes Indeed - 3:13 - 128
5. It's You Who Taught It To Me - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 2:42 - 160
6. Betcha Nickel - Ella Fitzgerald - My Heart Belongs to Daddy - 2:51 - 160
7. Okay for Baby - Jimmie Lunceford - For Dancers Only - 3:13 - 145

Then we had the prelims of the Jack and Jill. Each heat of contestants got a medium song, a slow song, and a faster song. I tried to balance the songs so that both heats got similar music at each speed. First heat:

1. For Dancers Only - John Lewis, The American Jazz Orchestra - The Music Of Jimmie Lunceford - 4:34 - 145
2. Keepin' Out A Mishif Now - Carling Family - 20th Jubilee - 3:32 - 120
3. Some Of These Days - Bob Wilber And The Tuxedo Big Band - More Never Recorded Arrangements For Benny Goodman - Vol. 2 - 2:58 - 190

Second heat:

1. Blues In Hoss' Flat - George Gee - Swingin - 5:15 - 148
2. Why Don't You Do Right (Peggy Lee, Vocals) - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman - 3:17 - 125
3. The Right Idea - Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra - Swing Street Strut - 3:13 - 185

After the prelims, there was time for one more song:

1. My Bucket's Got A Hole In It - Papa Bues Viking Jazz Band - Live In Copenhagen - 3:36 - 135

Then Mutiny in the Parlor started up again. On their next break, I played these two tracks:

1. Sermonette - Earl Grant - Singin' & Swingin': The Best Of Earl Grant - 2:42 - 125
2. All Of Me - Helen O'Connell - Great Girl Singers, Sing 22 Original Hits - 2:09 - 145

Then we had the slow lindy/blues competition. This competition ran as a tap-in. It started out with about a dozen couples, dancing two songs in an all skate. During the second song, the judges selected their top 6 (I think it was 6?) couples, who went on to do a phrase battle to the third song:

1. Money Blues - Lavern Baker - Precious Memories / LaVern Sings Bessie Smith - 2:53 - 103
2. Southern sunset - Swing Parade South - Hommage a Sidney Bechet - 3:32 - 105
3. I Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues - Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington - Compact Jazz - 4:42 - 85

After the comp, a couple more for social dancing before the Twin Cities Hot Club fired up.

1. Squeeze Me - Della Reese - Song Book, Vol. 3 - 2:37 - 90
2. Ain't Doin' Too Bad - Bobby "Blue" Bland - The Bobby "Blue" Bland Anthology (Disc 1) - 2:42 - 110

On the Hot Club's first set break, we launched right into the solo jazz/charleston contest. There was one all-skate for warm up, then three songs worth of phrase battling.

1. Stomp, Stomp - Cats & The Fiddle - We Cats Will Swing For You - 2:55 - 195
2. When You're Smiling - The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn - Forty Days and Forty Nights - 3:51 - 215
3. Shake That Thing - Vince Giordano's Nighthawks - The Aviator Music From The Motion Picture - 3:00 - 225
4. Sugar Foot Stomp - Fletcher Henderson - Yeah Man! - 3:11 - 255

Then a few songs for social dancing, before the Hot Club finished out the night.

1. Frankie and Johnnie - The Ink Spots - Voice Masters Vol. 2 - 2:56 - 130
2. Ja-Da - The Famous Castle Jazz Band - The Five Pennies - 3:07 - 150
3. Easy Does It - Paul Tillotson the Love Trio - Lindy Hop Blues - 2:57 - 130