By Ron (Ron) on Monday, November 27, 2000 - 04:47 pm: EditLooking for a swing album to put on your Christmas list, or to give to that special friend? I thought I'd start this thread with a few suggestions with the idea that others can join in. Tell your friends to use Amazon.com or one of the other on-line retailers as its sometimes hard to find swing CDs in the standard retail stores.
Each of my 9 picks is excellent to listen to, since that's what you'll be doing with it most of the time. But each contains a number of songs that you'll recognize--"Hey, I've danced to this!"
More ideas and info can be found on my swing CD reviews website:
http://www.swingorama.com/music/ronsrevshome.html
- Lincoln Center Orchestra - Live in Swing City/Swingin' With Duke:Great swinging jazz, great for listening or for dancing. Tight and energetic.
- Lavay Smith - Everybody's Talkin' Bout Miss Thing: You have probably been dancing to a lot of these songs, whether you know it or not. Excellent vocal jazz-blues. Some people put this CD on and dance to the whole thing.
- Bill Elliott Orchestra - Swinging the Century: Excellent big-band swing from this highly polished LA band. This will get you moving!
- Yule B Swingin - The best collection of vintage Christmas swing songs out there. Virtually all danceable.
- Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train (Verve - 1997): For those that like their swing in a basic jazz trio style, you can't go wrong with this one. This is one of Peterson's best-regarded CDs, where he plays his standards. A delight to the ears.
- The Swing Session - The Swing Session (1999): Fast jump-blues. Great vocals and instrumentals (listen to the sax!). This one keeps growing on me.
- Ella Fitzgerald - The Jazz Sides / Jazz Masters 46 (Verve - 1995): I love Ella. This is a great collection of some of her great songs. She is, in my opinion, the greatest jazz singer so far and this demonstrates it.
- Peggy Lee - Travelin Light (Capitol - 2000): My obscure pick. This is a short, sweet collection of mellow jazzy numbers, recorded in the late '40s. Perfect for late-night listening in front of the fire.
- Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham - Sweet Baby Blues (Concord Jazz - 1985): Most of these songs are too slow for swing dancing, but oh man, are they sweet! If you like slow blues and you like horns and piano over electric guitars, this CD is for you. You'll never feel so good listening to the blues.