Lindy Hopper DJ Music Selection

[thebadmamajama]

Hey, all! I'm starting to wheedle my way into DJing on my lindy scene and wanted to know what you guys recommend as the best/your favorite songs/artists/albums for lindy hoppers. I have a good collection but it's great having the folks at the lounge who appreciate the actual era itself and not just whether something has a swing beat. Thanks, all! Let the games begin!

Or, just in general, your fav. song to lindy hop to.

 

[Chas]

That is a pretty wide-ranging subject.

What I can recommend is that you listen to as much as you can; check out my radio show for starters."Sweet & Hot" Be sure to check my playlists in the blog section. You should also check out a number of other swing internet radio stations. Live 365 has some good ones. I personally like "Kingdom Of Swing".

Specific recommendations?

Count Basie (1936 - 1945 orchestras). This is a good compilation.America' #1 Band

The Decca Anthology of Big Band Swing. It's in print. Decca Big Band
Duke Ellington. Anything by the Duke will generally work. Even some of the early stuff swings like mad.

Andy Kirk & His Clouds of Joy
Lionel Hampton
Artie Shaw. His '38 and '39 orchestras had amazing rhythm sections. Specific recommendation: the "Begin The Beguine" Box set by Membran.Artie Shaw
Cab Calloway.

Keep in mind that "Lindy Hop Music" can be anything from the swing era (1935 - 1950 as an arbitrary date line) and beyond into the mid '50s R&B.
Just because it doesn't qualify as straight "Swing", doesn't mean it isn't "LindY" music. Case in point(s): Western Swing, 40s/50's R&B and some Rockabilly.

Your crowd will determine what you will play, at some point. I dj for dances fairly often here in Vancouver, and am very well received. I like to mix things up, but I keep it simple for the beginner level dancers. You will probably figure out pretty quickly which songs are "floor jammers" and which ones are "floor cleaners". The terminology is my own; pretty self-explanatory.

The beat, the beat, the beat!

I tend to favor tunes with a strong rhythm section and an easy to follow beat. Like Fats Domino said, "The Big Beat keeps 'em rockin' on their feet". If you have a lot of experienced dancers in your scene, then you can follow up with stuff that is more syncopated and complex i.e. Fletcher Henderson or Jimmie Lunceford.

Buy box sets! Though it is more expensive at first, the collection grows faster that way and you will avoid too much duplication.

I hope that helps!.

 

[thebadmamajama]

Fabulous! Thank you! I'm a dancer myself and my tastes range from R&B, Blues, big band, cool jazz...everything--just wondering what "that" song is that comes on and just makes you go crazy.

And I am SO relishing your suggestions. Fantastic. Thank you.

 

[Chas]

You are most welcome! Don't hesitate to drop me a line if you want to know about a particular band or something like that. I will pm you my regular email address.

Ebay can also be a good source of out-of-print cds. I am a fan of the Melodie Chronological Classics series.

 

[dakotanorth]

Lindy Hopping music?

It's also a question of what your crowd can handle....
I remember dancing to 130bpm's and thinking "This is juuuust right!"

There's a few songs that I always dig:
Strictly Jive by Chick Webb
The Dipsy Doodle by Larry Clinton- it has good breaks and change-ups
Apollo Jump by Lucky Millinder
Slow Down by Larry Williams (I swing dance but I still prefer RnB)

Honestly I say steer clear of Cab Calloway- I love his work but it was more about the entertainment of the crowd, not the driving beat of dance music.
Be particular with Glenn Miller- he did a lot of great stuff but there are so many renditions of his work, it's easy to find a watered-down version rather than the tight stuff he did.

 

[Paisley]

There's a message board out there just for swing DJs. I don't know the URL, but I'm sure a Google search will turn it up.

 

[Paisley]

This thread might help:

http://www.swingdjs.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=1781

 

[thebadmamajama]

Thank you all! I should have mentioned that our scene tends toward the mid-tempo stuff unless the crazier/more advanced dancers are looking for a blues night or a fast night.

This is all helping me boost my collection, thanks again.

 

[Snookie]

Jimmie Lunceford. Mid- and Fast tempos, everything swings hard.

Fletcher Henderson. My favorite. He doesn't appeal to everyone.

I don't love Cab Calloway, but his music has a good beat and is mostly mid-tempo, so I think it's good for beg/int dancers.

Invest in high-quality recordings, and the older it is, the more crucial that it's been remastered well. Newer dancers are really turned off by scratchy recordings that are hard to hear. Most people who grew up listening to rock have a hard time hearing the beat in jazz, and poor recordings make it that much harder.