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

Fizz setlist 02/16/2009

Here's my set list from last night--I had the early set from 9:00 to 11:00. It was kind of an unusual night last night, slow to get going and then once it did the energy was kind of odd. Not quite sure how to describe it, but whatever it was, it led me into an odd mix of material.

1. The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down - Bill Coleman - Bill Coleman In Paris 1936-1938 - 2:50 - 165
2. Shoot the Sherbert to Me, Herbert - Tommy Dorsey - Historic Jazz Recordings, Volume 4 - 3:24 - 145
3. Jump Steady - Mora's Modern Swingtet - 20th Century Closet - 2:39 - 170
4. Moten Swing - Barney Kessel - To Swing Or Not To Swing - 3:57 - 160
5. Walk 'Em - Buddy Johnson - Jukebox Hits 1940-1951 - 2:53 - 125
6. Esquire Bounce - Coleman Hawkins With Leonard Feather's Esquire All Stars (1943) - Summit Meetings 1939-1950 (Disc 1) - 3:16 - 166
7. King Porter Stomp - Kansas City All-Stars - KC After Dark - 4:38 - 170
8. Hep Cat's Love Song - Cab Calloway - Are You Hep To The Jive? - 3:03 - 160
9. Ja-Da - The Famous Castle Jazz Band - The Five Pennies - 3:07 - 150
10. Give My Regards To Broadway - Pete Fountain - Dixieland's Kings - 2:37 - 170
11. Hey-Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - Lionel Hampton - Big Band Jazz, The Jubilee Sessions, 1943 to 1946 - 4:27 - 170
12. Gotta Be This Or That - Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman '45 & '47 - 3:10 - 140
13. Beaver Junction ['51] - Count Basie - America's #1 Band - 2:57 - 158
14. Duke's Place - Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington - Compact Jazz - 4:14 - 160
15. Bli Blip - Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra - Live In Swing City: Swingin' With Duke - 3:16 - 135
16. Taking a Chance on Love - Anita O'Day - Anita Sings the Most - 2:24 - 135
17. Honeysuckle Rose - Twin Cities Hot Club - Twin Cities Hot Club - 4:47 - 140
18. Golden Earrings - Ray Bryant - Ray Bryant Trio - 4:53 - 145
19. It's You Who Taught It To Me - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 2:42 - 160
20. Tutti Frutti - Slim Gaillard - 1938-46 - 2:38 - 170
21. Spreadin' Rhythm Around - Billie Holiday - Swing Brother Swing - 2:52 - 195
22. Betcha Nickel - Ella Fitzgerald - My Heart Belongs to Daddy - 2:51 - 160
23. Flying Home - Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Story 2: Flying Home - 3:10 - 195
24. Who Walks In When I Walk Out? with Ella Fitzgerald - Louis Armstrong - The Wonderful Duets - 2:21 - 135
25. Comes Love - Miss Tess - When Tomorrow Comes - 3:54 - 120
26. Don't You Miss Your Baby - Jimmy Witherspoon - Jimmy Witherspoon & Panama Francis' Savoy Sultans - 3:55 - 140
27. Nine-Twenty Special - Count Basie - Count Basie: The Lang-Worth Transcriptions - 3:20 - 190
28. For Dancers Only - John Lewis, The American Jazz Orchestra - The Music Of Jimmie Lunceford - 4:34 - 145
29. They Raided The Joint - Helen Humes - Let The Good Times Roll - 3:19 - 160
30. Vine Street Boogie - Jay McShann - Jumpin' The Blues - 2:37 - 155
31. Lawd, Lawd - Cecil Scott & His Bright Boys - Harlem Big Bands - 3:13 - 215
32. Coquette - Teddy Wilson - Teddy Wilson, His Piano Orchestra With Billie Holiday - 2:45 - 150
33. Apollo Jump - Lucky Millinder - Classic Big Band Jazz - 3:26 - 145

Set list from First Friday at Big City 2/6/2009

Last night Big City Swing was PACKED full of dancers. After the intro lesson, Nathan deejayed until about 10:15, then I took over and went until about 12:15. The crowd thinned out a bit after 11:00, but it stayed hopping 'til the end. Couple things I wondered about:

• Looking at the tempo distribution from last night, and from the past couple times I've deejayed, I always seem to have a spike at 135-145 bpm. Last night looks kind of like a Poisson distribution, except for the lack of songs between 145 and 155--I think that's a hole in my collection that I should work on filling. My ideal set is really more of a uniform distribution between 130 and 200, then tapering off at each end, but of course that doesn't account for the crowd in the room at all. Last night was a mix of beginners, experienced dancers who like it old school, and experienced dancers who like things groovier, and I think my set reflects that.
  
• At one point, a jam seemed to break out midway through a song. I was on the fence about pushing it over into the next track, decided not to at the last minute. Good call or not?
• I always play a shim-sham at Big City--I usually get a request for T'ain't What You Do, so last night I anticipated and played it before a request (or in spite of not getting one). Is the shim-sham a good community builder, or divisive? Opinion in Chicago seems to be mixed. If you were a beginner, what would you think?
  
• If you listened to Hey Mr. Jesse this month, you may notice that I listened to it as well.
  

Here's the set:

1. Hep Cat's Love Song - Cab Calloway - Are You Hep To The Jive? - 3:03 - 160
2. It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) - Lionel Hampton - Hot Mallets - 3:15 - 180
3. Jeep Jockey Jump - Glenn Miller - Inspirational Swing! - 2:13 - 200
4. Okay for Baby - Jimmie Lunceford - For Dancers Only - 3:13 - 145
5. Hey, Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Story 3: Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop - 3:21 - 140
6. Everybody Loves My Baby - Sippie Wallace - Sippie - 3:11 - 145
7. Shine On Harvest Moon - Pete Fountain - Dixieland's Kings - 2:50 - 160
8. Let's Misbehave - The Boilermaker Jazz Band - You Do Something To Me - 2:52 - 188 (This was when the jam started. I thought about bumping things up to about 215 bpm to see what would happen, but decided not to.)
   
9. Jump Steady - Mora's Modern Swingtet - 20th Century Closet - 2:39 - 170
10. (I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My) Sister Kate - Bill Coleman - Bill Coleman In Paris 1936-1938 - 2:51 - 180
11. All Right, Okay, You Win - Count Basie - Count Basie at Newport - 2:45 - 145
12. My Blue Heaven - Bob Wilber & Kenny Davern - For Dancers Only! - 4:00 - 134
13. Keepin' Out Of Mischief Now - Louis Armstrong - Satch Plays Fats - 3:21 - 130
14. Tain't What You Do - Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford - 3:06 - 160
15. On Revival Day - Lavern Baker - LaVern Sings Bessie Smith - 3:16 - 143
16. Savoy Blues - Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen - Trad Jazz Masters - 3:53 - 135
17. Buzz-Buzz-Buzz - Jimmie Lunceford - Jimmie Lunceford - 2:27 - 160
18. My Baby Likes To Be-Bop - Ella Fitzgerald - Swingin' Ella - 2:45 - 139
19. Shoot the Sherbert to Me, Herbert - Tommy Dorsey - Historic Jazz Recordings, Volume 4 - 3:24 - 145 (This one was from Hey Mr. Jesse. I played it because I knew my friend Jason would like it--he's been diggin' on corny old Chicago jazz lately.)
    
20. The Flat Foot Floogie - Slim Gaillard - 1938-46 - 2:50 - 175
21. San Francisco Bay Blues - Lu Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band - Blues Over Bodega - 3:41 - 160
22. Easy Does It - Paul Tillotson the Love Trio - Lindy Hop Blues - 2:57 - 130
23. Ain't Misbehavin' - Kermit Ruffins - Putumayo Presents: Kermit Ruffins - 4:36 - 140
24. I Know - Ruth Brown - Rockin' In Rhythm - Best Of - 2:49 - 125
25. On the Sunny Side of the Street - Dizzy Gillespie - The Champ - 3:09 - 137
26. My Blue Heaven - Stuff Smith Quartet - Swingin' Stuff - 3:46 - 160
27. I'se Muggin' - Django Reinhardt - Django Reinhardt 1: Swing Guitars - 3:07 - 170
28. Splanky - Benny Goodman - The Yale University Music Library, Volume 7: Florida Session - 5:12 - 132 (Yet another Hey Mr. Jesse pick.)
    
29. Ain't Misbehavin' - Sidney Bechet - Perdido Street Blues - 2:52 - 145
30. The Back Room Romp - Duke Ellington - The Duke's Men: The Small Groups, Vol. 1 - 2:49 - 150
31. Harlem Air Shaft - Duke Ellington - Piano In the Background - 4:03 - 170
32. Just A Sittin' And A Rockin' - Joe Williams - Havin' A Good Time - 4:21 - 120
33. I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues - Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton - Putumayo Presents: New Orleans - 3:20 - 120
34. Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes - The Harlem Hamfats - Harlem Hamfats Vol. 2 1936-1937 - 2:42 - 160
35. Wah-Dee-Dah - Cab Calloway - The Early Years 1930-1934 - 3:00 - 230 (This was meant to be scare-folks-off-so-they'd-go-home music. Didn't work though.)
    
36. Frankie and Johnnie - The Ink Spots - Voice Masters Vol. 2 - 2:56 - 130
    (After this Jenna took over with her latest jam from Common...)
    

Fizz setlist 02/02/2009

Here's my set from last Monday at Fizz. I was really happy with how it turned out. Sometimes Fizz just has a really great energy in the room, and the dancers seem like they're gobbling up everything that you throw at them.

This set was a bit faster than what I usually play at Fizz, which was cool. Here's the data on tempos: BPM over time and BPM frequency distribution.

1. Shake Your Head (From Side To Side) - Jimmie Lunceford - Stomp It Off - 2:45 - 195
2. When The Lights Are Low - Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Story 1: Hot Mallets - 2:14 - 185
3. Mary Had A Little Lamb - Teddy Wilson - Teddy Wilson, His Piano Orchestra With Billie Holiday - 2:58 - 205
4. Coquette - Teddy Wilson - Teddy Wilson, His Piano Orchestra With Billie Holiday - 2:45 - 150
5. Hit That Jive, Jack - Nat King Cole - Hit That Jive, Jack - 2:54 - 205
6. Afternoon Of A Moax (Shake, Rattle 'N Roll) - Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra - Swing Street Strut - 3:24 - 130
7. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home - Bill Coleman - Bill Coleman In Paris 1936-1938 - 3:00 - 170 (I LOVE the feel of this track, but it's not a style I typically play at Fizz. Maybe tastes are shifting...)
8. Tutti Frutti - Slim Gaillard - 1938-46 - 2:38 - 170
9. Jeep Jockey Jump - Glenn Miller - Operation: Build Morale - 3:10 - 200
10. Ja-Da - The Famous Castle Jazz Band - The Five Pennies - 3:07 - 150
11. Whistle Stop - Stompy Jones - Stompy Jones - 2:15 - 165
12. If You're A Viper - Kermit Ruffins - The Big Butter & Egg Man - 3:08 - 170
13. Tea For Two - Ella Fitzgerald & Count Basie - Ella And Basie! [Remaster] - 3:18 - 140
14. For Dancers Only - John Lewis, The American Jazz Orchestra - The Music Of Jimmie Lunceford - 4:34 - 145
15. Yes Indeed - Slam Stewart - Slamboree - 3:35 - 150
16. Somebody Stole My Gal - Benny Goodman - B.G. In Hi-Fi - 3:26 - 172
17. Taps Miller ['44] - Count Basie - America's #1 Band - 3:20 - 190 (I heard someone exclaim "Oh Hell Yeah!" when this started playing.)
18. Fiddle Dee Dee - Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Story 1: Hot Mallets - 2:39 - 195
19. All Of Me - Della Reese - Cocktail Classics - 2:01 - 160
20. Don't You Miss Your Baby - Jimmy Witherspoon - Jimmy Witherspoon & Panama Francis' Savoy Sultans - 3:55 - 140
21. Blues for Stephanie - Paul Tillotson the Love Trio - Lindy Hop Blues - 4:29 - 130
22. My Blue Heaven - Stuff Smith Quartet - Swingin' Stuff - 3:46 - 160
23. Take the "A" Train - Duke Ellington - Sophisticated Lady - 2:51 - 168 (As usual, this track didn't go over very well. Why do I keep playing it?)
24. Rockin In Rhythm - Duke Ellington - An Anthology Of Big Band Swing 1930-1955 - 3:01 - 185
25. Come On Over To My House - Jay McShann - Jumpin' The Blues - 2:52 - 145
26. Just A Sittin' And A Rockin' - Joe Williams - Havin' A Good Time - 4:21 - 120
27. Toast My Bread - Wycliffe Gordon - We - 4:49 - 124 (Trimmed out the long vocal intro to this song...too bad because it's funny, but it takes to long to get going.)
    
28. On Revival Day - Lavern Baker - LaVern Sings Bessie Smith - 3:16 - 143
29. El Salon De Gutbucket - Engelbert Wröbel's Swing Society - Sophisticated Swing - 5:16 - 140
30. I Love Jazz - Louis Armstrong - Louis Armstrong - 4:39 - 170 (This is usually a popular track, but it really seemed to push the energy over the top this time.)
31. Jive At Five - Count Basie - The Complete Decca Recordings - 2:51 - 175
32. Dipsy Doodle - Larry Clinton & His Orchestra - G.I. Jukebox, Original Hits from the Swing Era, 1938-1946 - 3:03 - 175 (Dipsy Doodle at Fizz?? What??)
33. Hey! Stop Kissin' My Sister - Fats Waller - The Unique Mr. Waller - 2:50 - 190
34. When You're Smiling - The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn - Forty Days and Forty Nights - 3:51 - 215 (Most nights I would have peaked with When You're Smiling and then dropped it down. This time I pushed it one more song, and it seemed to go well.)
35. Snake Hips - Mills Blue Rhythm Band - Jazz Age! - 2:59 - 215
36. Ain't Misbehavin' - Sidney Bechet - Perdido Street Blues - 2:52 - 145
37. Southern sunset - Swing Parade South - Hommage a Sidney Bechet - 3:32 - 105
38. Wade In The Water - Eva Cassidy - Eva By Heart - 4:04 - 115 (By request--going away jam for Sara Whitney. Several of my friends gave me dirty looks anyways as if to say, "Really, James?! Really!?!)
    
39. Solid As A Rock - Ella Fitzgerald - Swingin' Ella - 3:00 - 145

Upcoming events

I've got my DJ schedule posted through the beginning of April--click on "Events and DJ schedule" to see my calendar. Highlights:

• I'm up for the early set at Fizz tonight.
• This Friday I'll be spinning at the First Friday dance at Big City Swing. The dance runs 8:30-12:00.
• I'll be representing Louis Armstrong in the upcoming Battle of the Bands, March 21st at the Galaxie. Other featured bands/performers: Jimmie Lunceford (Chris), Benny Goodman (John), Lionel Hampton (Lippy), Oscar Peterson (Doug), and Sam Cooke (Riley). More details to come.
• I'm DJing at the Hawkeye Swing Festival. Iowa City, IA, April 17th-19th.
  

Disco XT to iTunes: another nifty little AppleScript

Here's yet another AppleScript that swing DJs might find useful. Disco XT is a software program (now available for Mac and PC) that I, and from what I hear, many other swing DJs, use to play our sets. It's my first choice because it:

• reads my iTunes library,
• works with dual audio output, so I can preview songs in my headphones while playing a different tune over the main speakers, and
• automatically loads songs from a cue and transitions between songs.

It also keeps a log of every song played. I like to save all my DJ sets as iTunes playlists, so I wrote an AppleScript that will pull a Disco XT playlist back in to iTunes. The program is a little bit kluggy because you can't copy directly from a Disco XT log file--you have to export it as text first. So to use the script, you need to do the following in order:

1. Play a set using Disco XT.
2. When you're done, export your log to a text file.
   
3. Open that file.
4. Highlight the songs that you want to copy into iTunes and hit apple-C to copy.
5. Open your iTunes and run this script.
6. A new playlist called "Disco XT playlist" will be generated. Since Disco only allows you to export the title and artist of the tracks that you played, there is no way to uniquely identify a track if you happen to have multiple versions (for instance, your 6 different recordings of the Basie band playing One O'Clock Jump). The script pulls all of them, so you'll need to look through the playlist and delete the tracks that you didn't actually play.

If anyone has suggestions for improving the AppleScript code below, please feel free to share. Or if you have a better way of doing the same task that doesn't use an AppleScript at all, I'd love to hear it.

Here's the code:

tell application "Finder" to set theClipboard to the clipboard
set saveD to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to return
set tempList to every text item of theClipboard
set theImportList to {}
repeat with lineItem in tempList
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {" - "}
copy every text item of lineItem to end of theImportList
end repeat
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to saveD


tell application "iTunes"
-- create a new playlist
make new user playlist with properties {name:"Disco XT playlist"}
set newPlaylist to playlist "Disco XT playlist"
set the view of the front browser window to newPlaylist

-- add tracks to new playlist
repeat with trackItem in theImportList
set copy_these to (get every track of library playlist 1 whose artist is (first item of trackItem) and name is (second item of trackItem))
repeat with thisTrack in copy_these
duplicate thisTrack to newPlaylist
end repeat
end repeat
end tell

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