Search - Jumpin Jive! :: Jumpin' Jive

Great swing dance album

Philip Manijak | Corvallis, Oregon | 05/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In spite of its outward appearance and cheesy title, this small-label record is one of the best swing compilation albums I've found.



I've been swing dancing for almost two years, and I've been doing some light DJ-ing for about a year.



All of the tracks are solid (at least 3 stars), with a good mix of standards and lesser-known tunes. For me, most of the songs are danceable -- all of them are if you're into faster music.



This is a great album for Lindy hoppers. The beats-per-minute range is about 135 (Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby) to 240 (Jumpin' at the Woodside), but the average is around 165, which is great for a mid-tempo dance. The fast tunes are generally fast swing, and not in a "Charleston" style.



The actual recordings are of good quality -- there's little-to-none lo-fi hissing that's found in a lot of swing records.



All told, I put 15 (out of 23) of these songs (or a version that's pretty close to it) in my personal DJ collection, which, if you've ever searched for music to dance to, you'll know is a lot."