DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #148: Tu Vuò Fà L’Americano

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Quadro Nuevo Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano

Currently, I’m at The Snowball in Stockholm Sweden and I’m one of the main DJs here. Most of the times, I’m DJ’ing for Balboa dancers. This song is quite new in my library and always when I spin it, a few dancers wanna know the details about it. I’m more than happy to share it in my weekly series. My thanks go to David Knoll, a swing and tango dancer in Zürich, who brought this tune to my attention. Tu Vuò Fà L’Americano About the song, taken from Wikipedia: “Tu vuò fà l’americano” (English: “You want to do American”, or more idiomatically, “You’re [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #145: Organ Grinder’s Swing

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #145: Organ Grinder's Swing by The Mills Brothers

I have to admit, I’m not a big fan of “a capella” style of jazz, but this here is a nice version by The Mills Brothers. The Mills Brothers The Mills Brothers, originally billed as ”Four Boys and a Guitar“ were an American jazz and pop vocal quartet that had grew into one of the longest-lasting oldies acts in American popular music. They made more than 2’000 recordings that combined sold more than 50 million copies. The four brothers were John, Jr., (born in 1910), Herbert (1912), Harry (1913), and Donald (1915). Their father owned a barber shop and founded a barbershop quartet as well, called the Four Kings of Harmony. His sons obviously learned their close harmonies [...]

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30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Swing Shoes

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My Swing Shoes

Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the “30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge“. Finally a topic that I really like Week #20: My Collection Of Swing Shoes Nothing to say right now, here’s a picture In the middle: Remix Moccasin stitch lace-up buck. From left clockwise: Aris Allen Brown Captoe, Aris Allen All White Wingtip Oxford, Aris Allen White Captoe, Aris Allen White Captoe (brandnew),

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #136: There Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth The Salt Of My Tears

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #136: There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth The Salt Of My Tears by Diana Krall

The longest title ever for a “Song of the Week”! When I started dancing Lindy Hop in 1999, “Frim Fram Sauce” by Canadian singer and pianist Diana Krall (* Nov. 16, 1964) was one of the songs that were played all the time on the dance floor. At the beginning of October 2012, Krall released her 11th album “Glad Rag Doll” and it sounds completely different. The album features songs from the 1920s and 1930s. The sexy album cover – which of course is related to the topic and the song choices of the album (or just a clever move by the marketing department?) – [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #120: Harlem

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #120: Harlem by George Scott-Wood

Early in the morning, just a few hours ago, the second edition of the European Swing Dance Championships in Barcelona ended. These kind of events are not only inspiring as a dancer but also music wise. There a lot of competitions, routines, social dances and live music, so always great places to discover “new” music. This song here was spun by the competition DJ Michael Gamble between two competitions. I didn’t know this version and it was so appealing to me that I have to present it as our Song of the Week. Harlem The clip is more about the [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #118: I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #118: I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song) by Louis Prima

Walt Disney’s animated feature “The Jungle Book” was released in 1967. Who doesn’t know this movie! I can’t remember anymore how old I was when I saw it the first time, but it’s still my favorite animated feature. The most popular scene in this movie is probably the monkey song, I great swing tune. In 1966, Louis Prima was approached by Walt Disney to do an animated feature film for him. He became the voice of “King Louis,” the orangutan in “The Jungle Book”. The film was nominated for an Oscar and Louis received a gold album for the sound-track recording [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #113: Ridin’ And Jivin’

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #113: Ridin' And Jivin' by Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines (Dec. 28, 1905 – Apr. 23, 1983) was one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. In the 1920s, when nearly every fluent jazz pianist played a steady stride with his or her left hand (keeping a steady rhythm by “striding” back and forth between bass notes and chords), Hines had the world’s trickiest left hand. He would play against time, sometimes just implying the rhythm and frequently playing out of tempo and suspending time but never losing the beat. His speedy right hand (which sometimes played octaves in a “trumpet style” so his notes would ring [...]

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DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #105: A-Tisket A-Tasket

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DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #105: A-Tisket A-Tasket by Ella Fitzgerald

This tune is not only a great swing song, it also has a special story. Did you know, that A-Tisket, A-Tasket is based on a popular Anerican nursery rhyme, that appeared the first time around 1879*? Original Rhyme A-tisket a-tasket A green and yellow basket I wrote a letter to my love And on the way I dropped it, I dropped it, I dropped it, And on the way I dropped it. A little boy he picked it up and put it in his pocket. Ella Fitzgerald co-wrote the swing version “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” with Chick Webb‘s arranger Van Alexander (then Al Friedman). [...]

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