I’ve been hoping to write a post reflecting on the first two dances but I’ve been swamped with work and just haven’t been able to get around to it.  In the meantime, I figured I could at least shoot out a quick post on the music I’ve been playing.  I’m hoping people will find it of interest, if not helpful. And if people would like to send feedback about particular songs or the music in general or would like to pass along suggestions and recommendations, I’d love to hear it.

It’s been a challenging experience collecting songs for the dance.  While I’ve always been pretty good at identifying a large swathe of popular music from the 80s simply based on the first second and a half of the drum machine intro, I’m still developing an ear for the music of the 30s and 40s, so I often have some difficulty identifying songs or recalling a melody simply based on the title unless it’s something crazy-obvious like Rigamarole or Joshua Fit. The exercise of preparing to DJ the dance has helped a bit — it’s still a struggle right now, but I can already see it getting easier.

Anyway, here’s the list of songs I played at the first Balboa on a Sunday Afternoon in July; I lost track of a few songs and Alex DJ’d the first set so it’s far from a complete list, but it’s a start, y’know?  I should mention that as far as choosing songs, I like the idea of throwing unusual tracks from different genres into the mix, but I found myself mostly sticking close to home, except for that Adam Ant song towards the end there. We’ll see how that goes.

I’ll try to post the list for August soon.

Song Title Album Artist Year
Breakfast Feud The Genius Of The Electric Guitar Charlie Christian 1941
Back Bay Shuffle Let’s Go For Shaw! Artie Shaw 1996
The Jumpin’ Jive The Jumpin’ Jive Cab Calloway & His Orchestra 2008
8, 9 And 10 The Very Best Of Slam Stewart 2009
Stampede The Chronological Classics: 1937-38 Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra 1937
Dig These Blues Bluebird B-8655-B The Four Clefs 1941
Blue Lou Ella Fitzgerald With Chick Webb Chick Webb/ella Fitzgerald 1998
Minor Swing All-bal 2006 Django Reinhardt
Hop, Skip And Jump D5vb1105 RCA-20-1800 Artie Shaw’s Gramercy 5 1945
Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jericho Home Sidney Bechet
Jamaica Jam Ridin’ The Subways Teddy Powell 2001
Stealin’ Apples The Chronological Classics: 1937-38 Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra 1937
When I Get Low I Get High Ella Fitzgerald With Chick Webb Chick Webb/ella Fitzgerald 1998
C Jam Blues The Masters [disc 1] Duke Ellington 1997
Posin’ The Chronological Classics: 1937-38 Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra 1937
Putting On The Ritz The Cangelosi Cards The Cangelosi Cards
Stompy Jones The Classic Tracks Of The 1920’s & 1930’s Duke Ellington 1930
Mary Had A Little Lamb Willie Bryant Et Son Orchestre: 1935-1936 Willie Bryant (chant) Et Son Orchestre 2006
Suits Are Picking Up The Bill Perennial Favorites Squirrel Nut Zippers 1998
The Dipsey Doodle Call Of The Freaks Mora’s Modern Rhythmists 2000
Blues In B The Genius Of The Electric Guitar Charlie Christian 1941
Breakin’ Em Down All-bal 2006 Chick Webb
Vote For Mr. Rhythm Ella Fitzgerald With Chick Webb Chick Webb/ella Fitzgerald 1998
Corner Pocket October Swing Mix Count Basie
Harlem Shout Jimmie Lunceford And His Orchestra, Vol. 1 (1934-1939) Jimmie Lunceford 2009
Ko-ko The Masters [disc 1] Duke Ellington 1997
Wham! (re-bop-boom-bam) Lunceford Special Jimmie Lunceford 2001
Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives All-bal 2006 Sidney Bechet
Everybody Eats When They Come To My House Cab Calloway
Candy Shop Oh! The Grandeur Andrew Bird’s Bowl Of Fire 1999
Sweet Adeline 21425-2 Brunswick-7936 Artie Shaw & His New Music 1937
Till Tom Special The Genius Of The Electric Guitar Charlie Christian 1940
Goody Two Shoes Antics In The Forbidden Zone Adam Ant 1990
San Fernando Valley Decca 18586b Bing Crosby 1943