The Not-Pop Jukebox

What do you get if you cross Frank Sinatra with Sylvester Stallone? I don't know, but it would look and sound a lot like Dany Brillant. It would swing hard to some fantastic big band music. For evidence, I offer you Ca l'fait de Big Band. Sorry, that's all I've got to say about it. Have a watch and see if you disagree.

Some people might be ready for drinks and a night out, but I'm offering you instead a steaming heap of Jambalaya, chock full of bayou sass and made by everyone from Hank Williams to The Carpenters. Should that not be enough to tempt you I also threw in a crazy helping of Brenda Lee, the essential seasoning of Clifton Chenier with spoons in hand, and the unexpected flavor of Los Felinos.

"But," you say, "what about that well-known Cajun swingster, Harry Connick, Jr.?" He's in there, too, with a side of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Creedence Clearwater Revival to whet your appetite. Jeff Healey brings the bite of serious boogie and then The Residents balance the recipe with a creepy take on the whole concept.

All together I've assembled fourteen ingredients to make one enormous pot of Jambalaya (On the Bayou). Dip in and have a taste. I won't blame you a bit if you eat the whole thing, though this is one meal that will likely leave you starving when you've finished dancing your way through it. If I've missed your favorite cover, I'd love to know who performed it.

It's not everyone who can sing a charming song about a woman who's afraid of the number thirteen. Perhaps you should have expected that Jimmy Sutton's Four Charms would combine their powers to do so. Perhaps not. Whatever the case, have an old song that could never have been a hit because no one can spell Triskaidekaphobia. If you know of any other number phobia songs I'd love to hear them, though I'll be mighty surprised if you do.

As a tidbit, this is the same Four Charms that performed Hit That Jive, Jack so long ago (or sound like it, as "Flatland Boogie" was released in 2000). Triskaidekaphobia is the title track from their 2005 album. I've tagged this as "oldies" for the sound, not the actual age of the song.

It's flood time again, which means volunteer work for me and short posts for you. I couldn't let you get away without giving you the wonderful Koop and their sample-made big band sound. I chose Come to Me as the introductory post here on The NPJ because I love Yukimi Nagano's voice and the swing is so strong. Enjoy and do look for more Koop here in the future and all over the web in the meantime.

Of late, no one seems to know the difference between "jive" and "jibe". For those of you who want to know how to use jive properly in a sentence, I have eight songs, from across a few decades and at least six genres, to help explain it. Also, I'm fond of making theme posts like this, much like my Big Shuffle list.

Have a listen to The Four Charms and then Grammatik remixing the same song (though the Nat King Cole version). Don your roller skates and jive with the Bee Gees and then take them off again for some 80s goodness from Men at Work. Swing between Guns n' Roses and Mojo Nixon, with a little Screamin' Jay Hawkins thrown in the mix. And if you just can't get enough, pop over to my playlist of Java Jive for a steaming pile of coffee-flavored jive talkin'.

Let's pit a legend against a relative newcomer, today, with two takes on the theme of Under My Skin. In one corner we've got Gin Wigmore: part Amy Winehouse, part Dusty, part Mae West. In the other corner is Frank Sinatra: he's Frank Sinatra. He needs no build-up on my part.

Though I've Got You Under My Skin has long been a favorite of mine, I have to say that Gin Wigmore really rocks this song. Of course, I tried to stack the deck with the version from my favorite Sinatra album--Sinatra at the Sands--where he's wailing it with Count Basie but...I don't know.

Thus I'm posting the both of them here, my darlings. Have a listen to both takes on Under My Skin and let me know which you like best or if you can't decide, either. Also, look for more Gin Wigmore in the relatively near future.

I started out the day intending to share with you the BB King version of Knock Me a Kiss. Thankfully for all of us, I stopped to listen to the original before I posted. Much as King rocks, Louis Jordan owns this song. How can you listen to that chorus and not make a smoochy face? Even Ella Fitzgerald couldn't outdo him on this one.

So, as we approach the weekend, I offer this up to you all as the perfect serenade song. Follow Louis Jordan's pouty approach and I can guarantee the object of your affection will knock you a kiss after the second chorus! [Please note that this guarantee is not backed by anything other than my own snark and that video evidence of your having tried and failed will be required by me.]

I was waxing philosophical elsewhere about the start of my love affair with swing music and I realized I hadn't shared with you what I consider the pinnacle of swing: Benny Goodman's take on Louis Prima's Sing, Sing, Sing. While normally I wouldn't add a static video like this, I'm led to believe that this wonderful version includes the legendary Gene Krupa on drums.

Say what you will about swing music, you just can't beat the energy and sheer joy of Sing, Sing, Sing. I found several other versions, featuring anything from saxophones to guitars on the melody, but none of them could touch Benny Goodman's mastery on clarinet. From the full blare of horns behind him to the solo sections every moment is gold.

The original Louis Prima version, of course, had words. It's a little hat tip to The Music Goes 'Round and Around. I have to say, however, that I much prefer the instrumental version, as nonsensical as it makes the name. Have a listen and tell me if this one didn't make you want to dance your fool head right off.

Today is the anniversary of Stephen Foster's death, that pioneering gent so far ahead of his time that he tried to make a living as a songwriter and died, penniless and destitute, at the age of 37. Even if you have never heard of the man I guarantee you know at least one or two of his songs. He was that influential, eventually, he just couldn't make any money.

For today, let's have takes by well-known folks on Stephen Foster's well-known songs. I've started with a fantastic version of Old Folks at Home by Ray Charles titled Swanee River Rock. Then Taj Mahal's bluesy, harmonica-filled Oh, Susannah, Sam Cooke's soulful I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, and noddle around with Dave Brubeck and his quartet offering their take on Camptown Races. Finally, we come around full-circle to Louis Armstrong back on Old Folks at Homes.

Spare a thought for the music makers among us today and, the next time you download something that's "pay what you like", throw in an extra buck for them. You never know who's going to be the next lynchpin in the musical vocabulary of a country or even the world.

Today is one of those days when, in the pursuit of one thing, I find myself distracted by something entirely...ooh, shiny! Wait, where was I?

In truth I can't even remember where I started when I found myself confronted with a song titled Bim Bam Boom from four different artists, one of them the Oingo Boingo song from the Forbidden Zone soundtrack. Naturally I got to wondering if that song had been a cover, as Violent Love was.

Happily, I can say that that particular bit of bizarre is, in fact, not a cover. However, we're left with The El Dorados with their doo-wop song, Roger Klug with his neo-swing song, and Surferosa with their synth-heavy 80s surf-punk shouter. Yet all of them are named Bim Bam Boom.

I blame Percy Faith for this. He recorded a raucous, swingin', late-60s ruckus of a track that made everyone want to use that name for their own. They don't have that one on Groovshark so I've included a static video so that you can hear the whole thing. I'm not generally a fan of his but, dang, this one really moves.

I demand real swing today, a crooner crooning and a horn section wailing. Thankfully, there's always Ain't That a Kick in the Head. While the song has been recorded by others, notably Robbie Williams, Dean Martin owns the tune. It fits his swoony-croony, slightly looped style to a T. Of course, he was the first to record it, too.

So for today, celebrate love in its most potent form, the kick in the head that makes you dizzy with happiness or at least hormones. Tell me this doesn't make you want to dance. Go on, tell me.

It's Friday. That calls for a goofy song, one that's gone around for decades and still retains its swingin' goodness. That's right, boys and girls: it's time for Louis Jordan's Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens. Eight times. Don't miss the great BB King version.

I’ve posted sets of mashes before, notably the ever-popular smelly Nirvana hit and the perpetually geeky music of Star Wars, but I can’t resist building a little pile of such combinations. It tickles me to find different takes on the same song from various mashup artists.

It seems most of them have taken a swing at House of Pain’s Jump Around. For today I’m offering eight mashups, from such luminaries as FAROFF (three times), DJ Schmolli (twice), Party Ben, MashMike, and The Bootleague. As usual, those links take you to their respective sites where you can download each mashup for free.

Apparently House of Pain brings out the creative in DJs. We’ve got a klezmer band, AC/DC, Beethoven’s Fifth, Queen, Kriss Kross, Mick Jaggar, and Cee-Lo Green’s cover of Kung Fu Fighting. FAROFF even combined Jump Around with Cab Calloway. And then there are the massive Mash Together with Joan Jett, Cypress Hill, Rage Against the Machine, and The Beatles, as well as Super Bowl Anthem, which pits them against Tag Team, Madonna, LFMAO, Queen (again), the White Stripes, and Metallica. I was only able to find seven on Grooveshark so you'll have to have Jump on the Fifth via Soundcloud.

Note: In my infinite attention to detail, I missed Mashup of the Month day this month. The mega-post is my apology.

If I told you that DJ Zebra, purveyor of brilliant mashups like Roxanne Should Be Dancing, was about to release an original album, would you be excited? I certainly was. And Plus Rien ne M'arrête made me doubly so.

Zebra and Bagad Karaez have taken a live brass section (well, at least a trombone, according the track details), some great beats, and added percussion, bagpipes, and vocals to make this glorious mess of high-energy fun. Oh, and the lyrics are in French, so you know I'm all over it.

The album doesn't release until October 20th but I'm already impatient for more. Have a listen and click over for Celtic Suckers, the other song they've released for preview.

It's time for some old-school rhythm and blues, a boogie woogie oldie that's certain not moldy. The Treniers bridged a gap from swing to rock and roll to R&B, 'way back in the 1940s and into the 50s. I'm decided to give you Go! Go! Go! because it's an excellent example of that bridge. They also performed some much-naughtier songs, including Uh Oh (Get out of the Car) about a girl who won't "treat me right" and Poon Tang which purports to be about hugs and kisses but is sung from the point of view of a soldier coming home after a long absence.

In part this is a part of my on-going effort to prove that all of those stories your elders tell you about being so chaste and pure are a load of bunk and in part its to draw a oft-overlooked group that influenced a large number of acts to your attention. If you like Go! Go! Go! have a listen to some of their other songs and do let me know what you think.

Once upon a time, a guy named Eddie Cantor sang a jazzy, breezy little ditty titled Makin' Whoopee. That swingin' song became a standard and has been recorded by dozens of people, including such notables as Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, and Scatman John.

For your delight this Thursday evening, I offer a full dozen and a half versions of Makin' Whoopee, with all of those and more. I've got Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Cindi Lauper with Tony Bennett, and Rod Stewart with Elton John, of all things.

Most versions of the song stay pretty playful, as the tone intended, despite the rather dire warnings of to what such whoopee can lead. Should you be contemplating some whoop-de-doo of your own, consider the eighteen versions of these warnings before you commit. Sadly, the wonderful version from Willie Nelson, Wynton Marsalis, and Norah Jones was not on Grooveshark so you'll have to either check out "Here We Go Again", their Ray Charles tribute album, for yourself or wait until I find a way to share it here.

In the meantime, enjoy this mess of Makin' Whoopee. Don't miss Shirley Bassey, while you're exploring the list! Let me know which one you like best or if I've missed your favorite completely.

It's time for the ultimate elevator music, the all-pervasive Bossa Nova standard, The Girl from Ipanema. I've been holding it back, trying to resist forcing you to listen to sixteen versions of the song, but the dam had to break sometime. It just did.

And so I present to you everything from a very lobotomized Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass version to Fatboy Slim's remix of The Girl from Ipanema. (Note: I believe this last to be the future of elevator music. All sci-fi filmmakers take note!) I've got not one but two different Gilbertos, naturally with the original Portuguese lyrics as well as the English. And then there's the Antonio Carlos Jobim version with just the music he wrote and no lyrics at all.

You'll also find Stan Getz, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong. You'd expect each of those, so I tossed in The Peeping Toms (unexpectedly mellow), Sammy Davis Jr., and something called The Liberation Jumpsuit. Don't miss Lou Rawls while you're at it, and Amy Winehouse, as well. Stick that in your elevator and listen to it!

It's Tight Like That, with or without the "it's", has stayed a blues mainstay for a lot of years. But sometimes strange things happen to standards. They tend to wander across genre lines and show up in interesting ways.

Today I'd like to share a couple of traditional guitar blues versions of Tight Like That, one from Leadbelly and the other from Tampa Red with Georgia Tom. As a contrast, have a listen to the Benny Goodman version, a swung-to-the-rafters take on a great song, with some scat sauce for awesome, but the fun lyrics have all been removed.

One presumes the more risque versions of the song might have offended Goodman's audiences and he likely wouldn't have been allowed to perform it on the radio, though you'd be amazed what slipped past the censors back in the day. But, having heard the song, I imagine people ended up with a recording or two of the wordier versions, which was all to the good.

Whatever the case, enjoy these three takes on a fun blues standard. I have a great version from Jeff Healey & the Jazz Wizards that unfortunately wasn't on Grooveshark but if you happen across it (on the album of the same name) I recommend it, as well. Let me know if you think Benny Goodman was right to drop the verses or if you like his version.

In my pursuit for some quiet time, I'm listening to songs called Hush. With luck I'll find a way to convince every to to just shush it for a bit so I can write this for you.

Okay, I made that up. I do, however, have four songs titled Hush and I thought it might be interesting to listen to the lot of them in a row. I was right.

So for this Sunday night or Monday morning, let's have Squirrel Nut Zippers versus The Knux versus Deep Purple versus KRS-One. That's one neo-swing, one classic rock, and a pair of hip hop songs from different decades.

Have a listen to the four and let me know which Hush you like best. The Squirrel Nut Zippers song drags a bit for my taste but it's a lullaby sort of tune so that works with the lyrics. I have nostalgic ties to the Deep Purple and KRS-One versions but I'm familiar with all four and I don't really have a favorite.