The Swing Movement

[nightandthecity]

The new swing got me into it, and I do enjoy the new stuff... but it's only a shadow of the original. But I still like zoots!

QUOTE] I've actually spent a lot of my adult life re-creating a great many forms of past music, from 18th century English fiddle music to Rockabilly. I enjoy it, and people enjoy the chance to experience it live, but nothing is EVER even remotely as good as the original. I think great music is very much a thing of its time and place, and you can only re-create a pale shadow.

 

[John in Covina]

Lessons

Swing dance instruction is often listed in the Adult Education offered by the local city. In the Pasadena area there is a group that teaches swing dance, I think they get listed frequently in the Pasadena Weekly. About 8 years ago friends of mine prior to getting married went for swing dance lessons so they'd be able to really dance at their wedding.

Both swing dance and ballroom dance remain quietly percolating under the radar, but it is always available. The Aurtur Murray dance studios still exist and people still go.

I took Mambo for the intro, but i am stiff. The comment is that many men respond to a more military fashion. The thing is if you are married or going steady and your partner is amicable to learning, you can practice more and develope an individualized "couples" style. I'd like to do it again sometime.

 

[Trickeration]

I know this is'nt the Yehoodi boards, but would any dancers care check in with their region, and favorite style (Charleston, Lindy, bal, whatever)? It's just getting harder to find dancers that still dress vintage.

Hi. I'm in Long Beach. At this point, it's swing/Llindy that I can handle best. My Balboa is slowly coming along, but I think its about time for a private lesson to pull it together better. My Charleston is pretty weak, but I'd love to improve that, too. I'll get to it sometime.

I dress vintage every day. My husband does most days. Always when we go out. Even our kids dress when the occasion calls for it. I think a lot of dancers don't dress up anymore because of the cost of cleaning and the risk of damaging their clothes. It's too bad. Oh, my husband and I also play in a 17 piece big band. We usually play the L.A. swing clubs at least twice a month, plus other gigs.

I see you're in Santa Barbara. As I type this, my husband is standing duty on the Coast Guard cutter Blackfin in the harbor there (he'll be home in the morning). He's there once a month as a reservist. Actually, I'll be up there with him next month for his promotion. When I know the date, could you maybe let me know what's going on there in the way of live music and/or dancing? Thanks! Maybe I'll see you there sometime, or here if you get down this way. Trix

 

[resortes805]

No problem...I can tell you for certain that Jonathan and Sylvia host a dance at the Carrillo Rec center every first and third friday of the month. Other than that there are danceable blues artists that sometimes come through town. There are a handful of venues in the Oxnard-Ventura region as well.

 

[kools]

Amen...to the real genuine bands! Around these parts we were the anti-Cherry Poppin' Daddies. We started as a jump blues band before the '90s swing movement...benefitted greatly from the movement...and remained true to the music after the movement.

More than anything, the '90s were fun! On a regular basis I get recognized out in public by someone who saw us perform in the '90s. They always say "I loved your band" and I always respond "Thank you, we had a lot of fun." They usually come back & say "But that was serious fun!" This just happened to me Thursday night.

 

[Salv]

The UK Swing Revival

There was a - very - brief Swing revival in the UK in the mid-1970's when soul/funk DJ Chris Hill started playing a few big band tunes at his regular gig in a club called the Goldmine in Essex. Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Chick Webb and Benny Goodman were played alongside The Fatback Band, Roy Ayers, James Brown etc. WWII-era uniforms were found in army surplus stores, Demob suits were stolen from fathers' wardrobes, and 40's clothes were seen on the dance floor. Chris Hill was the man who rediscovered Nina Simone's My Baby Just Cares For Me, and was playing it a good 10 years before it became a huge UK hit. Nobody else picked up on swing, and the revival fizzled out, until The Chevalier Brothers formed in 1982. They were a fantastic live act, and were part of a small jump/swing/R&B scene that also included Diz & The Doormen, Pete Thomas' Deep Sea Jivers and The Big Town Playboys among others. Joe Jackson jumped on the bandwagon and released an album of jump covers, featuring Pete Thomas on tenor.

When the Chevalier Brothers broke up in the late 80's tenor man Ray Gelato formed another band with an expanded horn section, and concentrated more on big band stuff, along with Louis Prima covers, and is still going strong today. I saw him last summer at an open air gig, and it was wonderful. I spoke to him after the gig, while he was signing CDs, and he's a very warm, friendly guy. He actually remembered seeing my wife at one of the Chevalier Brothers gigs we went to, 20 years before! He occasionally makes it to the US (he told me that one of the biggest thrills of his life was playing with Sam Butera on a US visit) and I can heartily recommend one of his shows if you get the chance to see him.

 

[Paisley]

I love to swing dance, but I wouldn't wear anything valuable to dance in. Why? I cannot dance very long (especially lindy) without breaking a sweat. At the end of a good night, the back of my shirt is damp. Ergo, all my dance clothes are washable.

That doesn't mean I wear sweat pants or jammies--I prefer a printed cotton skirt and top. But yes, there are a lot of muffin tops, shorts, tennis shoes, flip-flops and sloppy t-shirts among dancers. There are dancers who spend a ton of money and a lot of time making their dancing look good, and then dress like that. Short of clubs enforcing a dress code, I don't think it will change.

 

[Lincsong]

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Brian Selzter, and there was another; "blank" and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.
Any San Francisco Bay Area people out there? Wasn't there swing dancing at some old hotel in Oakland on Sunday's a while back? I have a freind who used to go there and he'd where a zoot suit and drive a '57 Buick Special. I can't think of the name of that old place.

 

[Lincsong]

Zoot Suits

Originated in Los Angeles during World War II by the Mexican Americans. They were the original low-riders. :cool2: :cool2:

 

[Wild Root]

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.

Brian Selzter, and there was another; "blank" and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.
Any San Francisco Bay Area people out there? Wasn't there swing dancing at some old hotel in Oakland on Sunday's a while back? I have a freind who used to go there and he'd where a zoot suit and drive a '57 Buick Special. I can't think of the name of that old place.

Lavay Smith, good show for sure. Used to play back in the Derby days.

Only a few I know can pull of the Zoot. I'm not one who would try but, I did find a pair of original Zoot pants at a thrift shop once. They're just about the right size for me. Just need to let out the waist a tad and that's it. I'll only buy original Zoot items. Some of the new ones being made are period correct. I like the look on guys who would have worn them originally. I think it has a place in swing dancing but, it was more of a statement to WWII in LA then it was a swing suit. After the LA riots of '42, Zoots were banned in LA and I'm sure they sill are, they just fell out of fashion and so the band was forgotten.

=WR=

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Nobody else picked up on swing, and the revival fizzled out, until The Chevalier Brothers formed in 1982. They were a fantastic live act, and were part of a small jump/swing/R&B scene ...

I remember hearing about The Chevalier Brothers in '85. Love the name!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The zoot suit was originated in Los Angeles during World War II by the Mexican Americans. They were the original low-riders. :cool2: :cool2:

With "high-rider" pants . And Mexican-Americans got the style from L.A. area Filipinos, who wore them as early as the mid 1930s.

 

[Salv]

I remember hearing about The Chevalier Brothers in '85. Love the name!

They got the name from their guitarist Maurice Chevalier (I never found out if that was his real name) - he may have been one of your long lost relatives.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

No relation to me ... though people have been asking since I was a tot.

 

[Lincsong]

Hola le vato

With "high-rider" pants . And Mexican-Americans got the style from L.A. area Filipinos, who wore them as early as the mid 1930s.

Wass happen' man?:cheers1:

 

[EL COLORADO]

With "high-rider" pants . And Mexican-Americans got the style from L.A. area Filipinos, who wore them as early as the mid 1930s.

Says who?



EC

 

[catsmeow]

Ugh. I don't consider myself a swinger dancer - I know the basics and can get around the floor - but I do go to the dances to see the bands. I wouldn't be caught dead at the local bodega picking up a quart of milk much less show up to a dance in what these people are wearing. And that goes for the professionals who teach a class before the show, too. I've been trying to understand the psychology of these people. I mean, how can you like one aspect of an era and not be interested in anything else about it? While I'm watching them, I can't help but to think there's something very fraudulent about it.

I do frequently go to a 60s/70s Soul dance party at Roseland, and at least there they DO dress up. Nearly everyone is dressed to the nines. The crowd is from ages 21 to 101, (I'm not kidding) mostly African-American, (the caucasians are, of course, the ones who aren't very natty) and it's great to see a dancefloor full of people who get it. I wish the swing dances were the same.

Kind regards,

Senator Jack

Well said Senator Jack..

This is so funny you're saying this..my friend and I are swing dancers and we've noticed that most of these swingers that go to socials, just DON'T get into the vintage clothing-they don't like it and they don't understand it or care. To be honest with you, it looks silly. Sure some of them are great dancers, but do you know they actually look down on the dancers that get into the vintage clothing side of it! If we have a particular event, some will turn up in dirty tee-shirts, while the rest of us make effort to look our best. It's just strange. Ok..I can understand in class, you might not want to sweat in your best clothes, but when it comes to social events-COME ON..

 

[Woland]

Pitching in on this wonderful thread.
Have been downloading several of the bands recommended.
Great tunes & bands!

Had my first dance lesson EVER yesterday evening...
Basic swing...
Left my overweight and computerchained self asthmatically irritated and sweating buckets. :rage:
I found it surprisingly hard to (for the first time in my life) dancing with a clearly defined pattern as the gospel.
Only done my own SINGLE thang on dance floors.
Great fun though! Will eventually be decent with loads of practice.

And; we dress the part!

 

[Snookie]

Vintage is expensive and can take years to understand how to put together a good look. Most swing dancers today (I'm talking from 2006-present in 2008) are getting into it because it's athletic, not because of the vintage style. Most new dancers have never even heard an old recording in their lives...remember, the parents of todays teens grew up in the 70's and 80's.

Some folks have been trying to dress up more lately, but not vintage. Just nicer.

I don't get it either. This is just what I've observed.

 

[dhermann1]

Here in New York, I believe the Swing revival started in the 80's. The New York Swing Dance Society was founded in 1985 by a bunch of people who had met Al Mimms, a former member of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers in the 30's. Sadly, Al passed away before he could see the revival take off.
The NYSDS held dances at the Cat Club, in the Village for years. We had a large contingent of the original Savoy Ballroom dancers, who served as mentors and role models for the rest of us. People like Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, the late George Lloyd, and Dawn Hampton were there to show us how it was really done.
The bands included people like Loren Schoenberg (now director of the Jazz Museum of Harlem), the Widespread Orchestra (they started as the Widespread Depression Orchestra, and they were a 20's and 30's band as much as a swing band), George Gee, Swing Fever, as well as older guys who had played in the later part of the Swing era, like Sol Yaged, Bob January, and Al Cobb.
During this period I was lucky enough to meet and hear people like Andy Kirk (he was 94 at the time, in 1992), Eddie Barefield (who played with Benny Moten in 1932!), Erskine Hawkins, Buck Clayton, Illinois Jacquet and Helen O'Connell. Those were halcyon days.
There were nights when the old Cat Club was shaking so violently from the dancers feet bouncing in unison I thought the building would collapse.
There has definitely been a decline since the heyday of the mid 90's. Many of the old Savoy dancers have passed away, like the WW II veterans they all were. Many of the orchestras have disbanded. Right now I'd say the best ones around are George Gee, City Ryhthm, out of Philly, Ron Sunshine (he's more of a neo swing musician,but great), and a few others.
I totally agree about how some of the dancers dress and behave. They even get mad, and even downright nasty, when a band plays a ballad. In the heyday of swing, ballads comprised more than half the repertoire. There are a very few who try to dress nicely, and only a couple with vintage clothes. Puzzling and disappointing.
Personally, I prefer the original music to the neo stuff. The slightly slower beat contains, ironically, much more energy. People in this day and age seem not to get that. The bands we had in the 90's played Swing music the way it was originally done, and let me tell you, there is nothing more explosively, volcanically, ecstatically energetic than Swing music played by a 16 piece band in just the right tempo.