DJ Ryan Swift

Thinking Back on Flickr.Happy Birthday, Frankie.

Sat, 26 May 2012 12:28:28 -0400

Thinking Back on Flickr.

Happy Birthday, Frankie.

NPR Song of the Day: Louis Armstrong: With Love And Grace, A Final 'Hello'

Wed, 16 May 2012 11:08:48 -0400

NPR Song of the Day: Louis Armstrong: With Love And Grace, A Final 'Hello':

PS: Armstrong the Vote and secure funds for the Louis Armstrong House Museum!

Duck Dunn, Bassist in Booker T. and the MG’s, Dies at 70

Mon, 14 May 2012 09:41:56 -0400

Duck Dunn, Bassist in Booker T. and the MG’s, Dies at 70:

The Mar-Keys

Booker T and the M.G.s

The Blues Brothers Band

What a legend.

via @GeorgeGeeSwings: Buddy Rich vs. Animal in the Drum Battle...

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:39:24 -0400

via @GeorgeGeeSwings:

Buddy Rich vs. Animal in the Drum Battle of the Century

via life: Glendale Junior College students dance on...

Sat, 05 May 2012 11:32:49 -0400

via life:

Glendale Junior College students dance on California’s Balboa Beach in 1947. (Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

See more here.

Kid Koala performs “Basin Street Blues” (via...

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:15:42 -0400

Kid Koala performs “Basin Street Blues”

(via BoingBoing, of all places)

life: Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and other...

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:34:57 -0400

life:

Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and other jazz greats at Gjon Mili’s Studio in New York in 1940…

Pictured: The great pianist Mary Lou Williams appears satisfied with the way the night is proceeding, 1942. (Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

[Portrait of Duke Ellington and Junior Raglin, Howard...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:43:29 -0400

[Portrait of Duke Ellington and Junior Raglin, Howard Theater(?), Washington, D.C., between 1938 and 1948] (LOC) by The Library of Congress on Flickr.

Happy Birthday Edward Kennedy Ellington! 113 years ago yesterday, Duke was born, and the world has not been the same since.

Lionel Hampton in Den Haag (1956) Happy Birthday Hamp!

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:55:42 -0400

Lionel Hampton in Den Haag (1956)

Happy Birthday Hamp!

Frim Fram Jukebox Night: The Results

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:31:00 -0400

Frim Fram Jukebox Night: The Results:

The grand experiment that was Jukebox Night at Frim Fram went off without a hitch last night, and turned out even better than I’d hoped! Crowd participation was a little lighter than I was hoping for, but in retrospect, it was probably about the same ratio of people picking songs as might have been plugging quarters into an actual jukebox anywhere else.

Regardless, those people picking songs evidently have pretty good taste, and had everyone seemed to have a great time. I got a lot of positive feedback and many requests to have another go at it sometime soon.

Leading up to the night, I put together a list of about 450 songs for the jukebox list. It was a fairly large range of artists, styles and tempos - old favorites like “My Baby Just Cares for Me” and “Massachusetts,” neo-swing bombshells like “Zoot Suit Riot,” barnburners like “Man from Mars” and “Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie,” and slow tunes like “Night Time (Is the Right Time)” and “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say.” In all, almost 120 songs got at least one vote from the crowd, and 5-6 votes seemed to be the magic number to get a song to bubble up to the top of the queue.

One great thing that I saw happening (that I didn’t really anticipate) was that once dancers realized that they could get friends to “stuff the ballot box,” there was a lot of running around and convincing folks with iOS devices to ♥ their favorites and move them up the list. Remarkably, I did not have to fiddle with the queue at all to prevent clearing the floor.

I’m really glad I brought all of the extra iOS devices for crowd use - we had an iPod Touch at the bar and on the DJ booth we had my iPhone, both set up for requests and votes. Unfortunately, I learned last week that Remote on iPad is not compatible with iTunes DJ for some bizarre reason, but I setup my iPad to connect with Home Sharing to give some extra availability. Home Sharing basically gives that device “super user” privileges so I had to keep an extra eye on that so people weren’t requesting KISS or anything crazy. Dancers were using that iPad frequently to see how their songs were faring and how the updated queue was shaping up.

I had a second iPad that showed the album cover view of the currently playing song, which was kind of fun. I wish someone had gotten a picture of the setup and am kicking myself for not asking someone to do so. Anyway, next time I might get fancy and bring along the Apple TV to plug into one of the flatscreens, and turn on mirroring on an iPad so everyone can see the queue developing as the night progresses on the overhead TV.

In the end it was a great success and I’ll definitely consider doing it again. In the meantime, check out the event thread on Yehoodi.com for the playlist from last night, all songs selected by the great crowd of dancers at Frim Fram.

lincolncenter: JUST RELEASED: The 2012 season of Midsummer...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:20:30 -0400

lincolncenter:

JUST RELEASED: The 2012 season of Midsummer Night Swing has been announced! The festival will run from June 26 –to July 14.

Highlights include:

- U.S. debut of The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie with Axel Zwingenberger on piano, Ben Waters on piano and vocals, Dave Green on bass and Charlie Watts on drums

- U.S. debut of Mestres do Forró Nordestino: a tribute to Luiz Gonzaga with the masters of Brazilian Forró: Maciel Melo, Biliu de Campina, Walmir Silva and the band Quarteto Olinda

- New: “Dancing 101s,” three pre-season nights of free dance lessons and DJs in the David Rubenstein Atrium

- New: “Silent Discos” following regular dancing on July 7 & 12, with dancers hearing music only through headphones

(Read entire press release here.)

Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing Schedule Announced

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:50:45 -0400

Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing Schedule Announced:

I’m thrilled to once again be DJing at one of NYC’s best annual festivals, Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing. This year I’m on the bill on 6/29 with the inimitable Meschiya Lake & Dem Little Big Horns. Can’t wait!

NPR: Reviving James Booker, The 'Piano Prince of New Orleans'

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:53:22 -0400

NPR: Reviving James Booker, The 'Piano Prince of New Orleans':

Every day in New Orleans, Lily Keber rolls out of bed and walks to a flat, minor office building to meet her muse. Keber makes a cup of coffee with chicory, hooks up her computer and waits for what sounds like a dozen spiders to crawl across a piano.

Keber is making Bayou Maharajah, a documentary about the black, gay, one-eyed junkie, James Booker, the “Piano Prince of New Orleans.” Booker, who tutored Dr. John and Harry Connick Jr., was the first to call his fingers “spiders on the keys.”

“James Booker was one of our country’s greatest piano players,” Keber says. “You can find musicians who are good at classical, and you can find musicians who are good at street music. But it’s a special breed who can master both.”

Read & listen to the entire piece on npr.org.

Another mad music experiment at Frim Fram: Jukebox Night

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:48:00 -0400

Another mad music experiment at Frim Fram: Jukebox Night:

In case you missed it on Yehoodi & Facebook, I’m trying out another one of my crazy ideas at Frim Fram later this month:

JUKEBOX NIGHT!

What is Jukebox Night?
Jukebox night is a mad experiment by our music coordinator to bring the DJing to the crowd at Fram. The selection of the music is in your hands all night long!!

The plan is to have a list of songs that anyone can request from using iTunes DJ & Apple Remote and have the most popular songs bumped to the top of the queue!

How will it work?
We’ll have a local network for people to connect to, plus a couple of iOS devices near the DJ booth to make requests with, but anyone with an iOS device and the (free) Apple Remote app can make requests and bump up songs to the top of the queue. Here’s how Apple describes it on their Remote page:

Remote comes with an instant party — iTunes DJ. Say you’re at a friend’s house and she has iTunes DJ enabled in iTunes. You can use Remote to browse her iTunes library. When you find a song you want to hear, just add it to the iTunes DJ playlist. You can even vote for songs requested by others.

We’ll have a “Sneak Preview” of how it work on 4/12 in case folks want to test it out and get a feel for how it works. It’s easy and fun and hopefully will turn out some great music!

Let everyone know you’re going by hitting up the event page on Facebook!

Dawn Hampton & Me, Lindyfest 2012

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:56:54 -0400

Dawn Hampton & Me, Lindyfest 2012:

I had a great time in Houston, the highlight of which was spending an hour talking to the one and only Dawn Hampton on stage.

“Going to Chicago” - Jimmy Rushing with the Benny...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:34:37 -0500

“Going to Chicago” - Jimmy Rushing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra (minus Benny Goodman), May 1958

(via Jazz Lives)

Watch Online: American Masters - Cab Calloway

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:12:09 -0500

Watch Online: American Masters - Cab Calloway:

As previously mentioned, the American Masters episode on Cab Calloway that was broadcast on PBS earlier this week is now available to watch online! Catch it on the PBS website if you missed it!

While you’re at it, why not make a donation to PBS to keep great programs like these on the air?

The Atlantic Cities: The [KC] Jazz District Authenticity Problem

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:11:27 -0500

The Atlantic Cities: The [KC] Jazz District Authenticity Problem:

Very interesting look at the modern state of the historic 18th & Vine Jazz District in Kansas City, Missouri, the launching place for such jazz greats as Bennie Moten, Count Basie, Andy Kirk, Joe Turner, and my personal favorite swinging jazz sound.

Take a walk in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District in Kansas City, Missouri, and you’ll see some of the storefronts of that bygone time. Shops, cafes, clubs, all evoking those days of prosperity and depravity that contributed to one of America’s great renaissances.

Now look not even that closely and you’ll see that many of those storefronts are flat: they’re paintings, imaginary doors and awnings and windows. Behind them, boards prop up walls in weedy lots. These aren’t storefronts at all: they’re the backdrops for the 1996 Robert Altman film, Kansas City.

Read the entire piece and see photos at The Atlantic Cities blog!

Watch Jazz Legend Cab Calloway Remembers the Music Clubs of...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:47:39 -0500

Watch Jazz Legend Cab Calloway Remembers the Music Clubs of Harlem on PBS. See more from Metrofocus.

NPR’s A Blog Supreme lets us know about the upcoming PBS documentary on Cab Calloway as part of their wonderful American Masters series. It hasn’t been announced but I’m assuming it will be available to view after it’s Monday (Sunday in NYC) airdate on the awesome PBS app and website.

Bennie Moten Orchestra - “Ya Got Love” from Band Box Shuffle...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:42:00 -0500

Bennie Moten Orchestra - “Ya Got Love” from Band Box Shuffle 1929-1932 (Amazon MP3)