alain’s dance blog

Some songs don’t make me want to swing out at all. They’re not bad songs, they just inspire my body to move differently than I would if I were dancing to something like Corner Pocket.

The songs that do make me want to swing out, the “swinging” tunes, usually inspire me into syncopated rhythms. In other words, rhythm is essential for good Lindy Hop music.

How to pick a good jazz song to practice/dance to:

1. Look for music that “swings”. More precisely, you want musicians playing to a syncopated beat. The comparison we use in class is the “tri… ple step” syncopation versus the “cha cha cha” even beats.
2. Look for a constant, driving rhythm section. The best example of this is Count Basie’s orchestra. His rhythm section is legendary to Lindy Hoppers, with the Count on piano, Walter Page on bass, Freddie Green on guitar, and Jo Jones on the drums. What made them a great dance band is that they played a constant beat that dancers could hear and follow.
3. Actually.. I think that’s it. If a song “swings” and has a constant, driving rhythm section, it will most likely make you want to swing out.

For a list of good songs to start with, check out these classic/overplayed Lindy Hop songs. If you want to start a swing collection, check out Swing DJs. You can also check out my DJ setlists and go from there.

What makes a good Lindy Hop song to you?

This entry was posted on July 25, 2007 at 4:26 pm and is filed under About jazz music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.