Dinah Washington

Lindy Focus Videos – 2019 and 2021
Photograph by the wonderful Rebecca Strickland at Lindy Focus, December 27, 2021

Last month Lindy Focus released just about every song from the 2019 event as individual videos! If you’ve been wanting to hear something, but didn’t feel like scrolling through a 3+ hour live stream, head over to the Lindy Focus YouTube channel and browse the multitude of new content. I’m most proud of “I’m a Slick Chick,” featured on Lionel Hampton night and originally performed by Dinah Washington with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. Dinah absolutely kills on this recording from a live performance, it’s so inspiring and I was excited to be able to perform it live. The transcript was sponsored by the incredible LaTasha Barnes, to whom I am so grateful for this!

Also new on the Lindy Focus YouTube channel are the live streams from this past year’s Lindy Focus – a little smaller lineup, a little smaller in dancer attendance, fully masked and vaccinated, but nevertheless a celebration of early jazz and swing!

Holiday Season Shows

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Photograph courtesy of Jessica Keener Photography

As we approach the end of 2018, I have some great gigs coming up, some new, some familiar, but always enjoyable – hope to see you on the dance floor or at a holiday soiree…

November 2-3, 2018  I’m performing with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders and Orchestra at The Nevermore Jazz Ball, in St. Louis, Missouri.  Nevermore always cultivates an inviting and local event that draws dancers from all over the U.S. and beyond, with top instruction, great local bands at their Saturday afternoon jazz crawl on Cherokee Street, and some fantastic venues, like the historic Casa Loma Ballroom.

November 24, 2018  The day after Thanksgiving I will board a plan to San Diego to perform with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders at the San Diego Jazz Festival.  This is my first time at a west coast jazz festival and really my first time at a jazz festival that focuses on traditional jazz – of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that this long-running festival has incorporated dance-focused concerts into its lineup, which is where you can find me, both singing and dancing!

December 1 and 8, 2018 The Mint Julep Jazz Band will be performing a private holiday parties – we still have some open dates if you’d like to book us!  Email mintjulepjazzband@gmail.com.  Otherwise, I’ll use that free time to decorate and make holiday cookies. 😉

December 27-31, 2018 I’ll be with the Jonathan Stout and the Lindy Focus All-Star Orchestra and with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders at the Disney World of Lindy Hop events, Lindy Focus, in Asheville, NC.  As I’ve posted previously on this blog, we’ll be debuting the newly transcribed charts of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra (who featured a very young Dinah Washington in his band in the 1940’s) and his all-stars and smaller groups, thanks to the generosity of the swing dance/music/fan communities that help support live music via the Indiegogo campaign and keep these charts in the hands of musicians who can continue to perform them.  If you can’t be there, you can tune in and hear the orchestra on the Lindy Focus live stream!

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Big Band Revival: Lionel Hampton – Indiegogo Campaign to Fund Chart Transcriptions

42658367_2120897154829766_4192294711219716096_nIt’s live!  This year’s Big Band Revival transcription project bandleader is Lionel Hampton and we’re excited to announce that the song lineup will be three sets of big band tunes and two sets of small group tunes – more music for your listening ears, more bang for your buck in terms of contributing to the project.  If you’re not familiar with the past transcription projects (Chick Webb and Jimmie Lunceford), here’s the abbreviated version:

  1. A lot of this music that we love from the swing era isn’t available in chart form to purchase for big bands to perform.
  2. This Indiegogo campaign goes to fund the transcription of the songs listed in the campaign (and the associated music publishing licensing fees), usually 30 songs, which equates to an entire night of big band swing music for the length of a swing dance; this year there are two extra sets of small group material included.  Fund as little or as much as you like – get some swag or fund an entire song of your choice.  You can listen to all the songs that are a part of this project here.
  3. These charts will be performed at Lindy Focus on December 29 – if you can’t attend in person, there’s a live stream on YouTube
  4. Licenses will be pursued for these charts to be published and available for purchase at a reasonable cost on the Heritage Sounds website for you and/or your local swing/big band to perform for your dancing and listening pleasure.

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I am personally excited to be delving into the songs performed by Dinah Washington, who appeared with Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra in the 1940’s.  Dinah never recorded any records with Lionel’s orchestra (she did with his small groups), but a number of air check recordings exist of varying audio quality – I’m excited that these big band charts will be getting a second chance, to be heard in greater fidelity, and maybe someone will even record them someday!

Thank you in advance and thanks to everyone who has already donated – the music means so much to all of us, it’s amazing that this level of support exists from all of you who love swing music and want live swing music to continue to be a part of your lives.