Song of the Week

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.

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.

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #140: Port Of Rico

05.11.2012 by Chris

Jean Baptiste «Illinois» Jacquet (Oct. 31, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was one of the all-time great tenor saxophonists and inventor of the Rhythm & Blues tenor style. His solo on «Flying Home» with Lionel Hampton in 1942 is considered the first R&B saxophone solo.

Beside Lionel Hampton, Jacquet also worked with Cab Calloway (1943-1944) and Count Basie (1945-1946) before he started his own medium-size band in 1946.

He recorded and toured regularly during the 1950s and was still a big name during the next few decades. Usually playing with smaller groups, he led a part-time big band from the late 1980s.

Port Of Rico

A beautiful, mellow and groovy swing tune, recorded with an all-star line-up: Illinois Jacquet (ts), Hank Jones (p), Count Basie (org!), Freddie Green (g), Ray Brown (b) and Jimmy Crawford (d).

[easyazon-image align=»left» asin=»B000VUBGN4″ locale=»us» height=»160″ src=»https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AGbWJA0zL._SL160_.jpg» width=»160″]Title: [easyazon-link asin=»B000VUDA4C» locale=»us»]Port Of Rico[/easyazon-link]
Artist: Illinois Jacquet
Recorded: July 22, 1952, NYC
Album: [easyazon-link asin=»B000W1TJV8″ locale=»us»]After You’ve Gone[/easyazon-link]
Tempo: 130 bpm
Dance: Lindy Hop

Click the link to download the song at
iTunes EU ･ iTunes US ･ [easyazon-link asin=»B004PSS87A» locale=»de»]Amazon DE[/easyazon-link] ･ [easyazon-link asin=»B000VUDA4C» locale=»us»]Amazon US[/easyazon-link] ･ [easyazon-link asin=»B004PSEKEA» locale=»uk»]Amazon UK[/easyazon-link] ･ emusic

How do you like Illinois Jacquet’s song? 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.

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #139: Blue Skies

29.10.2012 by Chris

I’m pretty sure you know the song «Blue Skies«.

It was composed by Irving Berlin in 1926 for the musical «Betsy«. The show was a disaster and closed after only 39 performances but the song was an instant success.

On October 6, 1927, the first feature-length motion picture with sound «The Jazz Singer» starring vocalist Al Jolson premiered and “Blue Skies” was one of the nine tunes performed by Jolson. The film was a huge success and brought the song to the attention of millions.

Ever Since, «Blues Skies» was a success in several other films and it was recorded countless times.

One of these recordings is by

Cyril Blake

Cyril McDonald Blake (1897 – Dec. 3, 1951), originally from Trinidad (British West Indies), was an essential part of the music scene of England in the decades both before and after World War II.

Around 1918, he arrived in England and was one of the guitarists in the Southern Syncopated Orchestra. While being in the band, he switched to trumpet.

During the 1920s, he worked in Paris and in London

In the 1930s, Blake lived and played in different bands (Leon Abbey, Happy Blake, Rudolph Dunbar, Leslie Thompson, Joe Appleton, and Lauderic Caton) in London.

In 1938, he started his own band and Jig’s Club in Soho became a venue associated almost completely with Blake.

He recorded several times under the name Cyril Blake & His Jig’s Club Band. In December 1941, the band was recorded live at Jig‘s Club by Parlophone.

In the 1940s, Blake led his band behind Lord Kitchener for recordings on Parlophone Records, playing in a calypso style. Then he returned to Trinidad, where he continued to lead bands. He died in 1951 because of illness.

[easyazon-image align=»left» asin=»B003KXM6PG» locale=»us» height=»160″ src=»https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61YeI0LEawL._SL160_.jpg» width=»160″]Title: [easyazon-link asin=»B003KXOB04″ locale=»us»]Blue Skies[/easyazon-link]
Artist: Cyril Blake And His Jig’s Club Band
Recorded: December 1941
Album: [easyazon-link asin=»B003KXM6PG» locale=»us»]Anthology of British Vintage Jazz, Volume 3[/easyazon-link]
Tempo: 210 bpm
Dance: Balboa, Lindy Hop

Click the link to download the song at
iTunes EU ･ iTunes US ･ [easyazon-link asin=»B003KX49X8″ locale=»de»]Amazon DE[/easyazon-link] ･ [easyazon-link asin=»B003KXOB04″ locale=»us»]Amazon US[/easyazon-link] ･ [easyazon-link asin=»B003KWSYHQ» locale=»uk»]Amazon UK[/easyazon-link]･ emusic

How do you like this version of «Blues Skies»? What do you think about the Series «Song of the Week»? 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.

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #138: Minor Jive

22.10.2012 by Chris

It’s time again for a fast Balboa tune. Let’s bring back David Roy Eldridge (Jan. 30, 1911 – Feb. 26, 1989).

Roy «Little Jazz» Eldridge

Roy Eldridge started out playing trumpet and drums in carnival and circus bands. With the Nighthawk Syncopators he received a bit of attention by playing a note-for-note re-creation of Coleman Hawkins‚ tenor solo on «The Stampede.»

Inspired by the dynamic playing of Jabbo Smith (Eldridge would not discover Louis Armstrong for a few years), Eldridge played with some territory bands and in New York (where he arrived in 1931) he worked with Elmer Snowden (who nicknamed him «Little Jazz»), McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, and most importantly Teddy Hill (1935).

Eldridge’s recorded solos with Hill, backing Billie Holiday and with Fletcher Henderson (including his 1936 hit «Christopher Columbus») gained a great deal of attention.

In 1937 he appeared with his octet (which included brother Joe on alto) at the Three Deuces Club in Chicago and recorded some outstanding selections as a leader including «Heckler’s Hop» and «Wabash Stomp.» By 1939 Eldridge had a larger group playing at the Arcadia Ballroom in New York.

With the decline of Bunny Berigan and the increasing predictability of Louis Armstrong, Eldridge was arguably the top trumpeter in jazz during this era.

Source: allmusic

Minor Jive

This tempo in this clip is actually slower than on the stated album!

[easyazon-image align=»left» asin=»B000W1TJV8″ locale=»us» height=»160″ src=»https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BgOHgLPwL._SL160_.jpg» width=»160″]Title: [easyazon-link asin=»B000W1ZG06″ locale=»us»]Minor Jive[/easyazon-link]
Artist: Roy Eldridge
Recorded: November 16, 1943
Album: [easyazon-link asin=»B000W1TJV8″ locale=»us»]After You’ve Gone[/easyazon-link]
Tempo: 272 bpm
Dance: Balboa

Click the link to download the song at
iTunes EU ･ iTunes US ･ [easyazon-link asin=»B005JKAYOI» locale=»de»]Amazon DE[/easyazon-link] ･ [easyazon-link asin=»B000W1ZG06″ locale=»us»]Amazon US[/easyazon-link] ･ [easyazon-link asin=»B005JNPGZ2″ locale=»uk»]Amazon UK[/easyazon-link] ･ emusic

How you like Roy Eldridge’s trumpet style? 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.

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #137: Skinny Minne

15.10.2012 by Chris

Glenn Crytzer, whose background includes both classical music and jazz, but also swing dancing, founded «Glenn Crytzer and his Syncopators» in 2007.

The band describe themselves as follows:

The band’s musical influences range from the late 1920s through the mid 1940s […].
The musicians in the band live and breathe vintage swing; having learned from studying the records of the great bands of the swing era, but you’ll never hear the band give a note for note performance of an old recording.
Instead, Glenn Crytzer, the Syncopators‘ musical director, encourages his musicians to bring their own personalities and musical ideas to their performance while working within the framework of the style of the jazz and swing eras.
The band performs vintage arrangements, as well as new songs and arrangements composed in the vintage style.

Skinny Minne

Skinny Minne is a live recording from Midwest Lindy Fest in May 2012. Glenn successfully funded the money on Kickstarter to finish the album in the studio, which was released just a few days ago.

Here is the title track:

Artist: Glenn Crytzer And His Syncopators
Released: October 9, 2012
Album: Skinny Minne
Tempo: 141 bpm
Dance: Lindy Hop

The price of the digital album is USD 12 or more (you decide how much you wanna pay!).How you like Glenn Crytzer’s new album? 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.

Song of the Week

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

Billy Jack Wills

Summit Ridge Drive

Related Songs:

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #140: Port Of Rico

Port Of Rico

Related Songs:

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #139: Blue Skies

Cyril Blake

Related Songs:

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #138: Minor Jive

Roy «Little Jazz» Eldridge

Minor Jive

Related Songs:

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #137: Skinny Minne

Skinny Minne

Related Songs: