Swing
& Blues Music - Lots of useful information from the experts
Music for Blues and West Coast
Swing
John Sweeney:
There are lots of clubs running
sessions, either individual dances or second rooms at Modern Jive freestyles or
weekend events, for dancers who want something a little different in the music.
A few years ago these tended to
be "Swing Rooms". These days there is much more emphasis on
Blues, West Coast Swing and music that covers a wide range of slower music –
Latin, Tango, R'n'B, etc. – for chilling out.
Having been to some events where
the music didn't really match the advertised description, I realised that there
may be confusion about some of the words. There is a big difference
between Blues Music, which is a very wide range of music, and music for Blues
Dancing, which needs to be at the speed the dancers are expecting and provide
the interpretive opportunities that Blues Dancers crave.
There is even more opportunity
for confusion about Swing. Not only does the Swing Music genre cover a
very wide range, but Swing Dancing means different things to different
people. I have been to a Swing Club in
Both clubs were just advertised
the same way - as a "Swing Club".
So what should you expect when
you go to a second room at a Modern Jive event which is advertising "Swing
& Blues"? Do they mean West Coast (slow) or Lindy (Fast)?
Do they mean Blues Music? Or music that is suitable for Blues Dancing?
The Modern Jive room will
probably be playing mostly between 120 and 150 bpm,
with occasional slightly slower stuff (down to 110 bpm),
and some much faster stuff (maybe as high as 190 pm).
My assumption has been that when
the room description mentions Blues, WCS, Tango, chill-out or similar words,
then the music in the second room will be slower than the music in the Modern
Jive room. Sadly not all DJs seem to agree – I have been to numerous
events where some of the music has been much too fast and the DJ has cleared
the floor – obviously I was not the only person who was expecting slower music!
With the growth in West Coast
Swing and Blues in the
You will note that one of the
responses does say that he plays the occasional track at 170bpm to 180bpm for a
Blues session. I am not sure that UK Blues dancers are quite ready for
that. The other point to consider is whether there is another room
playing fast music anyway – if there is then you may want to stick with the
slower stuff. If you play a track at 180bpm and the floor fills with
Lindy Hoppers then obviously you should play for them as well, but if all the
Blues and WCS dancers sit down, and the Lindy Hoppers don't materialise, then
maybe you should leave the fast music for the other room!
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BLUES
Nigel Anderson
Blues (musical structure) has a
traditional structure that was developed over 100 years ago and has been used
as a basis for about 50% of all contemporary music since then. The introduction
of the electric guitar in the 1950's made it particularly popular and when you
mention Blues to most people they think of TJ Hooker et al which was also known
as R&B.
However when we come to
"Blues" dancing I personally have a very different outlook than this.
The standard R&B tracks (used predominantly for West Coast Swing in the
I don't think the BPM is
important when deciding what is "Blues" dance music,
as I think it is the style and not the speed that is important.
Generally it tends to be between
80 - 130 bpm although you can go either side of these
parameters.
For instance Peggy Lee's
"Fever" is definitely Blues but is 140bpm; Fleetwood Mac's "Need
Your Love So Bad" is around 65 bpm and has a
great driving rhythm.
Most dancers struggle with
anything below 85 however and Jivers with less than a
years experience will find music below 110bpm a bit too much (unless of course
they've done a Blues workshop and been given some ideas of what to do).
Early in the evening I tend to
try to stay above 95bpm and pick tracks that are well known on the Jive circuit
(no upper limit to speed) and it's not until the last hour of the dance that I
play music that is slower.
I also try to mix up the styles
so there is a mixture of swing / modern / R&B / latin etc so the feel of the room doesn't become too
repetitive.
Character music, that everyone
knows, always goes down well, especially if you have a good arrangement ...
e.g. Pink Panther, Hey Big Spender, etc.
Modern Chart stuff (RnB), although lending itself to WCS (about 100bpm), has a
very dull musical structure and I would always avoid this at a true Blues
evening, as there is so much other fantastic music out there. However I would
presume that younger dancers would like it (just showing my age).
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Charlie Fuller
My DJing
has changed a lot over the years, and has been influenced by our best blues DJs
in the States. Most of us started off a lot farther from the roots than
we are now, starting from where groovy jazzy bluesy lindy music left off and
going from there to the slower tempos and more "official" styles of
blues.
The real drawback to that way of
approaching it was that
Personally, the tempos I DJ at
have gone up quite a bit when I DJ at a blues event. I firmly believe
that you should keep a crowd awake by not staying in the sub 80bpm range more
than one or two songs in a row. My average (even past
I am trying to learn from the
excellent examples of Steven Watkins and Kelly Porter who have both done an
amazing job of mixing in a lot of older blues and many different styles and
tempos and making a truly personal flavour that pays respects to the roots of
the music in so many ways. The hardest thing for most blues DJs is to
find older blues music that is inspiring to dance to, and those two do it
without fail. Some DJs will play old blues because it is old, without any
other consideration to sound quality, or rhythm, or arrangement, and ultimately
fail to move the crowd. To be able to mix such a wide variety of genres
well and pay respects to so many eras and styles is an amazing thing, and is
exactly why I would dance to their sets before anyone else's.
The DJs I would say do the blues
less well will tend to get stuck in a genre or sound (myself included), and not
have the strengths or collection or knowledge to break out of it and end up
with a much narrower presentation that doesn't allow the dancers to express as
full a range of emotions and styles of dance. As we have learned and
taught more vintage forms of blues dance, this wider range of music being
played is critical to my ability to enjoy a night. If I get music that
inspires me to do some savoy ballrooming,
some mooche, some grind, some shuffle blues, and
other styles of dance, I have so much more fun dancing than if I get modern
electric guitar blues all night with the same types of rhythms that inspire me
to do the same types of movement.
As far as recommendations of
certain artists or songs, I'd check out http://www.yehoodi.com;
http://www.swingdjs.com
and search for blues music threads…there are a lot of
great suggestions out there. I check out a lot of music from the library
based on random searches and recommendations, and buy the CDs I like.
I come across a lot of great
stuff just by following the discussions and digging into the artists I like and
who they played with.
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Daniel Sandars
Generally
60-120 Beats per min.
The Yanks can go down to half that again.
Pick a back bone of slow smooth
'familiar' Modern Jive of 120-140 BPM and then develop that into the slower
stuff, probably taking more risks with the slow stuff as the night develops,
but be ready to come up to the comfort zone if your audience is very novice
with Blues and/or very into the bouncy side of MJ.
Generally the music is about a
feeling that is almost like flowing treacle, which begs for a sensual, sullen,
sleepy or even weary dance. However, Blues is full of contradictions and
the experienced dancers can work far more into it.
I think Peter Phillips has often
said that you find more Blues dancing music in the record stores under the
smooth jazz/ swing headings than under Blues which can blur into Folk and Ethnic.
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WEST COAST SWING
Robert Cordoba
Always try to play a mix of
music, i.e. different styles, Blues, Contemporary, Jazz, R&B, etc.
Try to inspire the dancers not challenge them. A song that makes you tap
your toes or snap your fingers makes you want to dance. Remember that you
will not be able to please everyone so don't try. Try to keep your songs
between 3 & 4 minutes. That way no one gets caught with the dancer
from hell for very long. Also for every 30 seconds you clip from one song
means you can add another song about every 6. That means more songs =
more variety in a night.
For a WCS social dance evening I
would normally play in the 90 bpm – 130bpm range
early in the evening. Later in the evening or what we call "Late
night" I would slow it down to 90bpm – 120bpm.
What to avoid? Requests where I
have never heard the song, like when someone brings you a CD and says it's
great. If you can't listen to it ahead of time it's not worth the risk of
killing the energy of the dance floor. Some requests might be good for listening
too but not dancing to. Also, if you have a packed floor, don't play a
request for a tango or a waltz, etc. for only one or two couples to dance
to.
Always watch your dance floor see
how the people react to certain songs. Never experiment with too many new
songs in one night or, if you want to, then save them for late night near the
end of the dance.
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Steve Neeren
(http://www.exploredance.com/wcs041504.php)
Usually I play within range of
90-116bpm. I don't play music based on bpm but
rather on the feel of the crowd I'm playing for. I try to create a groove
or mood so that the songs played have some relation to each other. I've
been known to actually stop a song less than a minute in when I see people
aren't dancing to it. I'll play music faster or slower (outside my normal
range).
Last year at Bognor, most of the
Jive people found my music too slow so I had to mix in faster music to satisfy
them.
When I started WCS about 11 years
ago, the median tempo was between 120-126 BPM. It's slowed down quite a
bit which I believe is a result of a lot more contemporary music being played
now. The change started to happen around 1998 as I recall.
I play a wide range of music; I
pretty much gauge what I'm playing based on the crowd. For example, I
probably wouldn't play a lot of Hip-Hop/Rap for a 40-60
crowd, etc. My best advice as to what to play:
play what you like to dance to; that's basically what I do. If you don't
like it, chances are most of the people there won't either. I also
play different sets based on the time I'm playing (Late Night as opposed to early
in the evening.)
I also try to play music that
most other DJ's aren't playing. I get sick and tired of hearing the same
songs all the time. They get played out too quickly (Don't Cha-Pussycat
Dolls). One of the biggest compliments I get as a DJ is for fellow DJs to
come up to me at an event asking me what I just played.
There's so much great music out
there; spend some time exploring. You'll come up with some gems.
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Paul Booth (http://www.songscout.net/)
I play 88 to 138 bpm range, but my dancers are advanced WCS dancers. For a
crowd that is newer to the dance 100 to 120 is more appropriate. Yep – 110 is
the easiest.
It is most fun to dance to songs
that vary in tempo. Start with a 105, 109, 113, 117 120, then drop to 100. This
gives a pulse to the energy in the room. Repeat this cycle throughout the
dance.
The slowest song I play is
"Everyday I Have The Blues" by Pinetop
Perkins at 81 bpm. The fastest is "Harder to
Breath" by Maroon 5 at 150 bpm.
3/4 time is impossible – one must
dance waltz to 3/4 time. All swing is 4/4 time.
One of the advantages of WCS is
that we can dance to so many genres of music. Keep a variety of genres in your playlist. Cut, edit, or cue past long intros. Give the
dancers an 8 second fade on the end of every song. Do not have silence between
songs. Do not mix songs – end one, then immediately start the next.
Advice:
a) For beginners pick songs that
have a clear down-up beat on every two beats of music. Some songs only have a
down beat on 1 & 5, some only on 1.
b) Someone will always complain.
Don’t change your DJing till you get multiple
comments that lead you to a general conclusion.
c) Evaluate songs before playing
them. Only play masterpieces – there are lots of them.
The Paul Booth 6-way test for a
great WCS song:
1)
Good bass line on 1,3,5,7
2)
Clear backbeat on 2.4.6.8
3)
Song should have rhythmic diversity
4)
Beat should swing – not straight time
5)
Positive message – “My baby’s so fine.”
6)
Dance to it – should be fun.
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