Alex's CD Suggestions Alex sent me the following email on 1/13/98. I think he did a great job, so I'm sharing it! He is currently in Korea, but hopes to return to his home town of Chicago, or San Francisco soon. He can be reached at jnah@unitel.co.kr ------------------------------------------------------------- Ross, Thanks for setting up such a great site. I really appreciate you writing down those hip moves... I also like the lists of bands and CD's you have at the bottom of your page. Here are some more CD's that you might be interested in. ------------------------------------------------------------- The "Swing Kids" soundtrack (This is a pretty obvious one but the version of Sing,Sing,Sing is one of the best I've heard - heavy drum beats). Other tracks to check out are tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 11 (which also really swings), 14 (one of my favorites with great tempo change from 2 step slow to full blown fast Lindy/Jitterbug moves). Another great CD is a compilation album called "Juke Box Jive: The birth of Rock 'n' Roll". This is a 2 CD box set, published by Charly. Most of the artist featured are artists who bridged the Swing to Rock 'n' Roll genre, most of the recordings are original ones from 1945-46. Artists include Amos Milburn, Louis Jordan, Cab Calloway, Julia Lee, Basin Street boys, Lionel Hampton, etc... This is excellent! Most of the songs have boogie-woogie beats to them and are great to lindy Hop to. "The Mighty Blue Kings - Meet me uptown". These guys are from my home town of Chicago. This album has a lot of great Lindy Hop / EC Swing songs. Try tracks 1, 4, 12, 13. This album is much better than their new one called "Come one, Come all". "Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot". This album is great for aerials and other EC moves that require staccato beats and fast tempo. They may be too fast to Lindy Hop to. Try tracks 1, 2, 5, 8, 13. "Lavay Smith and her red hot skillet lickers - One hour mama". This is a good mix of slow sultry dance music to more fast paced EC music. She is great to see live. (Saw her many times when I was visiting the SF area). Try tracks 2, 4, 6, 8. "Bill Elliot Swing Orchestra - Swing Fever". These guys are just great! They were one of the most refined new swing bands that I listened to. I understand that they mainly perform in the Los Angeles area. They really capture the 40's-50's swing sound. They are a 15 piece band with a vocal group called the Lucky Stars (3 guys and 1 woman) as well as a female lead vocalists. Try tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 12. Try their other album called "Calling all Jitterbugs" also. This album is also great. You can sample them at WWW.STUDIO 8H.COM/SWINGORCH. Other bands of interest (these are more popular bands which you've probably already heard of)... Royal Crown Revue; I prefer their first album "Kings of Gangster Bop" to their second one "Mugzy's Move". Squirrel Nut Zippers; These guys are great to Charleston to. I saw them live, and they were great. There are so many better songs on their album "Hot" than the overplayed, "Hell". Andrews Sisters "Greatest Hits". What more can I say, they are just great to dance to.