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Artie Shaw

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #141: Summit Ridge Drive

12.11.2012 by Chris

Today, we're doing a side trip to country music, or more precisely western swing.

Billy Jack Wills

Perhaps the most underrated Western swing bandleader ever was Billy Jack Wills (Feb 26, 1926 – March 2, 1991), the youngest brother of Bob, whose Western Swing Band broke new ground for the genre in the early 1950s.

Billy Jack was exposed at an early age to the music of his famous brother, as well as his father, champion fiddler John Wills. After beginning his professional career in brother Johnnie Lee Wills‘ Tulsa band in the early 1940s, Billy Jack went to California to work as a bassist and drummer for the Texas Playboys. In that group, he played a significant role both as a vocalist and songwriter.

After six years, Billy Jack got his chance as a leader when Bob moved his base of operations. He assembled a band dubbed Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band and began broadcasting over Sacramento's KCRA radio in 1950, soon moving to the considerably larger KFBK.

Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band

The enormous age difference of 20 years between Billy Jack and Bob meant that the younger's musical interests were considerably more advanced. While Bob had drawn inspiration from the primitive blues and jazz of the 1910s and '20s, Billy Jack's muse lay in the developing genres of jump blues, R&B, and be-bop.

These fixations gave his group a progressiveness that was found nowhere else, characterized by its hard-swinging jazz rhythms and bluesy, shouted vocals, which drew heavily from the styles of Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown.

Between 1950 and 1954, the group enjoyed a strong Northwest following, touring and building up an eclectic repertoire of radio transcriptions. They covered many of the popular black hits of the time.

The group's success, however, was short-lived. In 1954, Bob Wills disbanded the Texas Playboys and returned to Sacramento to perform with Billy Jack. The idea was to increase business at Wills Point, but the results were disastrous.

Billy Jack struggled on without success until 1960, when he retired from music.

Read the full biography by Jim Smith on allmusic

Summit Ridge Drive

In Artie Shaw's version, the harpsichord is the unusual instrument giving the tune a special note, here it's the steel guitar. Shaw's version is still a bit more pumping but I like to play Billy Jack Wills as an interesting alternative in my DJ sets.


[easyazon-image align=”left” asin=”B003X2CTU6″ locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61GAPbZb3ML._SL160_.jpg” width=”160″]Title: [easyazon-link asin=”B003X2CV0E” locale=”us”]Summit Ridge Drive[/easyazon-link]
Artist: Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band
Recorded: 1952 (?)
Album: [easyazon-link asin=”B003X2CTU6″ locale=”us”]Western Swing Band Classics[/easyazon-link]
Tempo: 141 bpm
Dance: Lindy Hop



Click the link to download the song at
iTunes EU ・ iTunes US ・ [easyazon-link asin=”B003X1PG9S” locale=”de”]Amazon DE[/easyazon-link] ・ [easyazon-link asin=”B003X2CV0E” locale=”us”]Amazon US[/easyazon-link] ・ [easyazon-link asin=”B003X1MOTI” locale=”uk”]Amazon UK[/easyazon-link] ・ emusic


Do you like Western Swing? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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Every Monday, I post a new “Song of the Week“.
You can find the songs also on my Spotify playlist or on 8tracks.

Related Songs:

Song of the Week #85: “Summit Ridge Drive” by Artie Shaw
Song of the Week #140: “Port Of Rico” by Illinois Jacquet
Song of the Week #139: “Blues Skies” by Cyril Blake
Song of the Week #138: “Minor Jive” by Roy Eldridge
Song of the Week #137: “Skinny Minne” by Glenn Crytzer & His Syncopators

Filed Under: Music, Song of the Week Tagged With: Artie Shaw, Billy Jack Wills, DJ Chrisbe, Lindy Hop, Western Swing

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #119: Traffic Jam

11.06.2012 by Chris

The All Balboa Weekend in Cleveland, OH just ended. On Sunday night we had a special event going on: a DJ'ed Battle of the bands.

Three DJs were spinning a set of just one artist. First Django Reinhardt, followed by Artie Shaw and finally Chick Webb. I was the Artie Shaw DJ and played one hour of his best tunes.

Finally, the audience decided who won the battle. And you know what? Artie killed it!

So, our Song of the Week is of course one by Artie Shaw. It was the last title of the set and it's quite fast.

Traffic Jam

In the same year, Shaw appeared in the movie “[easyazon-link asin=”B003VLITSA” locale=”us”]Dancing Co-Ed[/easyazon-link]” and played a slightly slower version of “Traffic Jam“.

I'm pretty sure you have heard this great song before. Traffic Jam is a classic and it often gets used for performances and competitions. If you don't own it, buy it.


[easyazon-image align=”left” asin=”B001D7HK48″ locale=”us” height=”155″ src=”https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EXgAh017L._SL160_.jpg” width=”160″]Title: [easyazon-link asin=”B001D7HHQY” locale=”us”]Traffic Jam[/easyazon-link]
Artist: Artie Shaw
Recorded: June 12, 1939
Album: [easyazon-link asin=”B001D7HK48″ locale=”us”]The Essential Artie Shaw[/easyazon-link]
Tempo: 272 bpm
Dance: Balboa, Lindy Hop



Click the link to download the song at
[easyazon-link asin=”B0040H5HBQ” locale=”de”]Amazon.de[/easyazon-link] ・ [easyazon-link asin=”B001D7HHQY” locale=”us”]A'zon.com[/easyazon-link] ・ [easyazon-link asin=”B006JU7V7A” locale=”uk”]A'zon.co.uk[/easyazon-link] ・ emusic



[easyazon-image align=”left” asin=”B003VLITSA” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ef9M%2Bap8L._SL160_.jpg” width=”113″] The DVD “[easyazon-link asin=”B003VLITSA” locale=”us”]Dancing Co-Ed[/easyazon-link] is available on [easyazon-link asin=”B003VLITSA” locale=”us”]Amazon[/easyazon-link].








What do you think about Traffic Jam? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Every Monday, I post a new “Song of the Week“.
You can find the songs also on my Spotify playlist or on 8tracks.

Related Songs:

Song of the Week #14: “Frenesi” by Artie Shaw
Song of the Week #85: “Summit Ridge Drive” by Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five
Song of the Week #118: “I Wan'na Be Like You” by Louis Prima
Song of the Week #117: “Shoot The Sherbert To Me Herbert” by Tommy Dorsey
Song of the Week #116: “Paramour” by Gordon Webster feat. Naomi Uyama

Filed Under: Music, Song of the Week Tagged With: Artie Shaw, Balboa, DJ Chrisbe, Lindy Hop

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #85: Summit Ridge Drive

17.10.2011 by Chris

The use of the harpsichord in Come On-A My House by Rosemary Clooney [Song of the Week #68] was inspired by the song of this week.

Like Benny Goodman with his different small groups,  clarinetist, composer and bandleader Artie Shaw (born: Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, 23.5.1910 – 30.12.2004) created a smaller combo out of his big band and called it Artie Shaw and his Gramercy Five. He needed something special to create a distinctive sound.

As Johnny Guarnieri told “Piano Jazz” radio host Marian McPartland in 1981, he was already in Shaw's big band when Shaw called him one day in the fall of 1940: “Shaw asked me if I'd ever played the harpsichord, and I said: ‘Certainly.' And he said, ‘Well that's great; we're gonna make some records tomorrow.' . . . I was lying! So I said, ‘Artie—I don't know what a harpsichord is.' . . . He says, ‘I have one up the house; let's go up there tonight—and we'll rehearse, and we'll make some records tomorrow.'”

The pianist got the hang of the antique instrument (with its stiffer keyboard action) pretty fast, he told a writer from Time-Life records in 1973: “I went home and practiced until I could trill with the fourth and fifth fingers for twenty seconds, then I was okay.”

Source: “Hip to the Harpsichord” The Wallstreet Journal – Masterpiece

The result was the recording of “Summit Ridge Drive” which became a million-seller and one of Shaw's all-time favourite numbers, among others like “Frenesi“.


DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #85: Summit Ridge Drive by Artie Shaw & HIs Gramercy 5Title: Summit Ridge Drive
Artist: Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five
Recorded: 1940
Album: Complete Gramercy Five Sessions
Tempo: 128 bpm
Dance: Lindy Hop



Click the link to prelisten and/or buy the song (mp3/mp4a) at
iTunes — Amazon.de (CH/D/A) — Amazon.com — eMusic*

*not an eMusic member yet? Get 25 Songs with Your 7 Day FREE Trial!


Do you like this song? Do you like the series? Please leave a comment!


Every Monday, I post a new “Song of the Week“.

Sign up now for DJ Chrisbe's free resources emails for
more music tips and swing DJ resources!

Related Posts:

Song of the Week #14: “Frenesi” by Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
Song of the Week #68: “Come On-A My House” by Rosemary Clooney
Song of the Week #84: “Root Hog Or Die” by The Harlem Hamfats
Song of the Week #83: “Queer Notions” by Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra
Song of the Week #82: “Bizet Has His Day” by Les Brown

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Filed Under: Music, Song of the Week Tagged With: Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, DJ Chrisbe, Gramercy 5, Harpsichord, Lindy Hop

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Welcome, I'm Christian Bossert. Since 1999, I‘ve been passionate about Swing dances as well as their culture and history. I‘m a Swing dance instructor and international Swing DJ Chrisbe, based in Zurich Switzerland. Read More…

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