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Gordon Webster

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Favorite Live Band

03.08.2012 by Chris

Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the “30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge“.

Here is…

Week #4: Your Favorite Live Band

That's easy and I don't have to think about it:

Gordon Webster

Gordon Webster

In my eyes, there is no other band out there right now which brings such an energy onto the dance floor right from the start of the concert like Gordon Webster and his band (in different formations: Gordon Webster 7, Gordon Webster Sextet, feat. Naomi Uyama, feat. Steven Mitchell).

I have seen Gordon several times at different events and different locations and it's always like that!

No idea, how they do it.

At the end of the night, the dancers get crazy and the band gets crazy. The energy and the inspiration is going back and forth like a ping-pong game.

If you haven't seen them live, you're missing out on something.

And if you don't have his CDs, you're missing out on something again.

Posts about Gordon Webster on this blog

  • DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #49: Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen
  • DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #50: My Blue Heaven
  • The Big Swing Night @ Leapin’ Lindy 11 Bern – What a great Night!
  • The Big Swing Night @ Leapin’ Lindy 12 – From The DJ Perspective
  • DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #116: Paramour

And don't forget to check out Gordon Webster's website.


<< Last Friday: #3 A description of your favorite partner (and why they’re your favorite)

>> Next Friday: #5 Your favorite Lindy Hop variation dance (charleston, balboa, shag)

Filed Under: Dance, Music Tagged With: 30 Day Lindy Hop Challenge, 30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge, Gordon Webster, Lindy Hop

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #116: Paramour

21.05.2012 by Chris

On May, 11, 2012, Gordon Webster released his new album “Live in Rochester“. A few days later, I received it in the mail and I put it directly into the CD player.

A CD review will follow on this blog!

One song especially stands out to me:

Paramour

Coincidentally, Gordon lets you download just this song for free from his website. You can listen it here right now, though:

[audio:https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/shp-audio/SOTW/Paramour.mp3|titles=Paramour by Gordon Webster]

I was wondering who has written this tune and checked the CD cover. What a surprise that was! It's composed and written by Gordon Webster and Naomi Uyama themselves. This song sounds so authentic, it could be easily from the 1930s or 1940s.

The live sound is amazing. The music is so powerful, you never would be able to create this feeling in a recording studio. This applies to the full album, but this here is my favorite song.


DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #116: Paramour by Gordon WebsterTitle: Paramour
Artist: Gordon Webster feat. Naomi Uyama
Released: November 2011
Album: Live in Rochester
Tempo: 212 bpm
Dance: Balboa, Lindy Hop



Click the link to download the song for free at
Gordon Webster Swings!

The song is for free, but hey, why not buying the album?

What do you think about this song? 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 #49: “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” by Gordon Webster
Song of the Week #115: “Five O'Clock Blues” by Jimmy Yancey
Song of the Week #114: “Smiles” by Benny Goodman Quartet
Song of the Week #113: “Ridin' And Jivin'” by Earl Hines
Song of the Week #112: “Ochi Chornya” by Wingy Manone



Filed Under: Music, Song of the Week Tagged With: Balboa, Gordon Webster, Lindy Hop, Live, Naomi Uyama

The Big Swing Night @ Leapin’ Lindy 12 – From The DJ Perspective

16.02.2012 by Chris

Instead of writing a ‘normal' event review like I did last year (check out The Big Swing Night @ Leapin' Lindy 11), I thought I'm writing about this night from the perspective of the Swing DJ.

The Big Swing Night @ Leapin' Lindy 12 Bern

The Biggest Swing Party in Switzerland

Last weekend (February 8-10, 2012), the popular Lindy Hop weekend Leapin' Lindy 12 was happening in Switzerland's capital Berne. Currently, the Big Swing Night on Saturday is the biggest Swing Dance Party in Switzerland.

Many key points were similar to last year's edition:

  • Location: Kultur-Casino Bern, Great Hall
  • Dancers: 700+
  • Band: Gordon Webster 7 feat. Naomi Uyama
  • DJ: Swing DJ Chrisbe (that's me; for those who read the first time on this blog)

Setup of the night

The event started at 21h with a DJ set. The first band set was scheduled for 22h, but we waited another 15 minutes to have a nicely crowded floor.

After the first band set of one hour, the presentation and social dance shows of the teachers took place. These were followed by a short DJ set and another band set.

During the second band break, my task was to suddenly interrupt the party with a song that was going out of tune (thanks to DJAY) so that the MC Tim Collins could come up with a story to initiate a soul train cake walk.

Some dancers brought a wooden cake into the room, the band was climbing out of that cake and the third band set could start. That's how it looked like:

Cake Walk at The Big Swing Night

If you know Gordon Webster, then you know that the band is always playing longer than they are supposed to.

Don't get me wrong, this is totally awesome, especially when you have such a great band in the city!

Well, the party finished around 4h in the morning instead of 3h and eventually, I have DJ'ed more than three hours that night!

The Responsibility of the DJ

A friend of mine said to me during the evening:

“As a DJ, you must have a lot of responsibilities!”

Yup, that's true.

He told me the story, that he was at a concert just a few days before, and after the last band set, while the audience was still applauding and asking for an encore, the DJ started a song. The audience was so upset, that they were booing the DJ.

The DJ didn't take care of the band, because the applause is the reward for any performing artist!

But he didn't also take care of the audience, because they didn't get a chance to ask for one or two more songs from the band.

As a DJ, there are some important points to think about:

  • Create an atmosphere that suits to the live band and that helps them: they don't want to perform in front of a bored audience
  • Choose songs which are in contrast to the band sets: different tempos, styles etc.
  • Do not play the same titles as the band. There are always exceptions, though, e.g. when you choose a total different version.
  • Give enough space to the band, that means don't start the DJ set too early, while the audience is still applauding. Wait for a sign of the band that they are really finished, or when the light technician is changing the spot to the DJ booth.

Another Tip: Bring Your Own Cables

A short rehearsal for the teacher shows was scheduled before the dance night, but it didn't happen. So the organizers and I didn't know what music the teachers will need for their shows. Either if I will have it on my laptop or if they will bring memory sticks, iPods etc.

So I decided to plug the cables I brought with me into the mixer and prepare the sound settings: one for my laptop and two for iPods. That was a good choice, then I needed all of them and it was very easy and comfortable to switch between devices during the show.

I Had A Great Night

It was a big pleasure to me to be once again the DJ at The Big Swing Night and also an honor beside such a wonderful and energetic band like Gordon Webster's, which is in my eyes – and I repeat myself – the best live band for swing dancers you can have!

Thank you!


[catalyst_hook_box name=”signup_sotw”]

Filed Under: Event Tagged With: Bern, Event review, Gordon Webster, Leapin' Lindy, Swing DJ'ing, Swing Party

The Big Swing Night @ Leapin’ Lindy ’11 Bern – What a great Night!

17.02.2011 by Chris

Epic Dance Night

The Big Swing Night @ Leapin' Lindy '11 - photo by Stefan DeuberI can't write about the entire Leapin' Lindy weekend because I only attended worked at the party on Saturday night. And this night was epic!

I'm still delighted by the atmosphere and the energy in the beautiful ballroom of the Kultur-Casino in the middle of the city of Bern.

The hosts of the evening were Eva and Nadja. They did a great job, brought in a lot of fun into their speeches and made the crowd ready for the band!

The Importance of Great (Live) Music

Gordon Webster 7 - photo by Stefan DeuberThanks to its courage of the organising team to book Gordon Webster 7, we had one of the best contemporary swing bands in town and every minute was worth it! The band pushed the dancers and the dancers pushed the band – just the way it should be. Naomi Uyama, who was also in the teacher line-up, sang with the band and she was wonderful as well.

One highlight was for sure the very last song, she sang a slow number only accompanied on piano by Gordon. The band was supposed to play three sets of 30 minutes but they were at least 45 minutes each.

I was DJ'ing when the band not was playing so I can't tell you how good the DJ music was, you have to ask somebody else :-). A local teacher and good friend of mine was asking me, if it was difficult to DJ beside such a great band. Indeed, this is a very good question but honestly, I never was thinking about that. Like always at such events I try to feel the crowd and build my DJ set on the go. And of course, I tried not to play the same tunes than the band.

There was one moment, during the last song by Naomi and Gordon I was mentioning before, when I asked myself what song shall I play NOW. I decided to play a complete different song and I guess it worked out.

It's Show Time

Of course, there was a teacher showcase. And the audience loved it. Watch the following videos:

Show 1: Michael, Christina, Alex & Rania (Greece)

Show 2: Skye & Frida (USA, Sweden)

Show 3: David & Åsa (Sweden)

Show 4: Peter & Naomi (USA)

Show 5: Kevin & Jo (USA)

Bottom Line

That was one of the best Swing dance nights in Switzerland I've ever been to! Period.

Filed Under: Event Tagged With: DJ Chrisbe, Event review, Gordon Webster, Leapin' Lindy

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #50: My Blue Heaven

14.02.2011 by Chris

Last week I've featured a song by Gordon Webster‘s own band. This week's song is by an another contemporary band Gordon is playing with: The Cangelosi Cards.

The Cangelosi Cards, established and based in New York City, started in 2006 playing at small clubs and restaurants.

Quickly, the were building a vast repertoire of early American jazz and attracting both local swing dancers and old-time jazz lovers.

Beside the weekly engagements the are performing at larger events as Swing Out New Hampshire, Frankie 95 or the Herrang Dance Camp, only to name a few.

In 2009 in Herrang was the first time when I heard the band and I was highly impressed by their energy, the unusual musical instrumentation and especially by the unique high-pitched voice of Tamar Korn.

During their stay at the camp we had the opportunity to listen to the Cards on many occasions: the official concerts and the jam sessions, mostly in the early morning hours (one more reason to come to Herrang, if you never have been there!).

The Cangelosi Cards are an awesome dance band!

My Blue Heaven is a good example showing the special style of the Cards and I like to spin that tune occasionally as a DJ.

Line-Up: Tamar Korn – voice, Gordon Webster – piano, Cassidy Holden – bass, Jake Sanders – guitar, Matt Musselman – trombone, Dennis Lichtman – clarinet, mandolin, Karl Meyer – Violin, Marcus Milius – Harmonica

Cangelosi Cards Clinton Street Recordings | Shuffle Projects

Title: My Blue Heaven
Artist: The Cangelosi Cards
Released: 2009
Tempo: 144 bpm
Dance: Lindy Hop

Click the link to download the song from: here

You can find the songs of the series also on my Spotify playlist. Official hashtag of the series: #djcsotw

Do you like the “Song of the Week” series? Share your thoughts below.

Now Check Out:

  • Song of the Week #49: “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” by Gordon Webster
  • Song of the Week #48: “Wild Man Blues” by Johnny Dodds & His Chicago Boys
  • Song of the Week #47: “No Name Jive” by Casa Loma Orchestra

Filed Under: Music, Song of the Week Tagged With: Cangelosi Cards, DJ Chrisbe, Gordon Webster, Jazz, 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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