Western Swing

Baltar Hornbeek · #1 03-24-2011, 12:03 PM

Starting tomorrow, there's a Western Swing Festival on WKCR radio.
64 non-stop continuously connected hours of the good stuff.
Check it out on computer stream or old fangled air waves.

markerhodes · #2 03-24-2011, 12:11 PM

That's cool. I want to hear a lot of that. I once paid some guy in Virginia 20 bucks to get all the Bob Wills' 78 sides onto a 90-minute tape he could. I wore that tape out. I don't think I ever heard a band have more fun playing well.

23skidoo · #3 03-24-2011, 12:46 PM

Thanks for the heads up....

Baltar Hornbeek · #4 03-24-2011, 01:22 PM

These WKCR festivals are fantastic. Couple weeks ago jazz jockey Phil Schaap hosted two incredible days of tribute. One to Ornette Coleman and one to Bix Beiderbecke. If you haven't ever listened to Phil Schaap talk jazz, do so and treat yourself to an in depth pedantic jazz history like you never could imagine. This guy will melt your mind.

23skidoo · #5 03-24-2011, 02:42 PM

BH - I'll be sure to check it out. You posted a link to this station sometime a week or two ago in another thread and I listened to it for a few days and dug it like a grave. Kind of fell off the radar....thanks for the reminder.... My grandfather is from West Texas and I grew up listening to all of his old western swing 78's, still got em and his old turntable..... He even had a friend whose claim to fame was a short stint playing fiddle with Hank Snow who showed me some stuff on guitar when I was a teenager.... his true love was swing and he was a great player. He would have loved all the stuff that's been reissued on CD these last few years, a lot of it was hard to find on lp or cassette....

JohnW400 · #6 03-24-2011, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baltar Hornbeek

These WKCR festivals are fantastic. Couple weeks ago jazz jockey Phil Schaap hosted two incredible days of tribute. One to Ornette Coleman and one to Bix Beiderbecke. If you haven't ever listened to Phil Schaap talk jazz, do so and treat yourself to an in depth pedantic jazz history like you never could imagine. This guy will melt your mind.

How many DECADES has Phil been doing jazz on WKCR? If my memory is correct at least 4. I think they were around before WRVR even (remember them?)

23skidoo · #7 03-25-2011, 08:14 PM

...we're fifteen minutes into a solid hour of Bob Wills......

paynow · #8 04-02-2011, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baltar Hornbeek

These WKCR festivals are fantastic. Couple weeks ago jazz jockey Phil Schaap hosted two incredible days of tribute. One to Ornette Coleman and one to Bix Beiderbecke. If you haven't ever listened to Phil Schaap talk jazz, do so and treat yourself to an in depth pedantic jazz history like you never could imagine. This guy will melt your mind.

+100. He's hilarious. We actually had a group of musicians in NY who, when we would go out for coffee or were late night at the diner after a gig, would do Shchaap impersonations. Pedantic is an understatement, yet I love listening to him. He's probably the world's foremost expert on Bird. "Bird Flight", which I believe airs from 8:20am-9:30am M-F, is great. Phil can tell you what street corner Bird was standing on when Tiny Grimes drove by to pick him up for a session, and what color tie Grimes had on.

When the towers came down KCR was off the air for quite a while because that's where the antenna was. They finally moved it to Times Square and got the streaming thing, which is good to have so everyone can hear them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnW400

How many DECADES has Phil been doing jazz on WKCR? If my memory is correct at least 4. I think they were around before WRVR even (remember them?)

Since sometime in the early 1970s; he was a student at Columbia. I don't have time to look it up right now, but I believe his profession is recording engineer. I'm fairly sure he remastered Bird sides for Columbia (records in this case, not the school). The only NYC college radio institution who I think has been on longer than Phil is Rich Conaty, who hosts the "Big Broadcast" on Fordham U's station. That's also great; lot's of Armstrong on that show.

Baltar Hornbeek · #9 04-02-2011, 11:45 AM

I first discovered Schaap back in 1990, after WKCR's annual Christmas Bach fest. Let me tell you, if you like Bach you must check out this festival....like the burning bush, as close to the divine as you want to get. Mixed with a bit of LSD and.. man oh man, 2 weeks of heaven.

Since then Schaap and WKCR have been a regular staple of my radio diet.

monk · #10 04-06-2011, 07:43 PM

Baltar,
A large, belated thanks for posting about the WKCR marathon. I spent a good portion of the weekend listening. Heard things I hadn't heard in years and things I'd never heard before. Superb.
Thanks,
monk

Baltar Hornbeek · #11 04-06-2011, 10:31 PM

Yeah man. Keep an eye/ear on KCR, they have the resources to go deep.

budhale · #12 08-30-2011, 08:19 AM

Play dobro(reso).....any suggestions on how to better use in acoustic western swing jam sessions..... Use GBDGBD tuning... Would a 6th tuning be better? Any help appreciated.... Thx bud

monk · #13 08-30-2011, 10:12 AM

C6 seems to be the tuning of choice for swing. CEGACE low to high. You could modify your Dobro tuning to G6-GBDEGB to have more low end.

I've read that Cindy Cashdollar's western swing DVD is a good source for info.

Mike Idhe, who teaches at Berklee, has info on his website for a jazz lap steel tuning that William Leavitt developed that gives all the intervals without having to use slants.

Regards,
monk

JohnoL · #14 09-01-2011, 02:55 PM

Kwgs in Tulsa has a good western swing show every Saturday at 7pm central. Welcome To John Wooley.com

There is live streaming of the show apparently.
John Wooley has a good record collection and he plays a lot of old stuff.
I love hillbilly music.

AlohaJoe · #15 09-17-2011, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markerhodes

I don't think I ever heard a band have more fun playing well.

They were great, but also get some Milton Brown and his musical Brownies for really big, BIG fun. He was the real 'Father' of WS. They were slightly looser (and drunker) and they had Bob Dunn, the wildest slide player on earth.

Brown was also a great singer for the genre and they were the top WS band of their day until Brown died in a car accident and Bob Wills inherited the mantle.
Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies

JZGuitarman · #16 09-28-2011, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlohaJoe

get some Milton Brown and his musical Brownies for really big, BIG fun. He was the real 'Father' of WS. They were slightly looser (and drunker) and they had Bob Dunn, the wildest slide player on earth.

Thanks for sharing! Bob Wills' and Milton Brown's music is so much fun to listen to! I discovered them a few years ago, and I'm totally hooked on this Happy Music! Awesome slide guitar players indeed. They rocked out like no body's business!

markf · #17 09-29-2011, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baltar Hornbeek

These WKCR festivals are fantastic. Couple weeks ago jazz jockey Phil Schaap hosted two incredible days of tribute. One to Ornette Coleman and one to Bix Beiderbecke. If you haven't ever listened to Phil Schaap talk jazz, do so and treat yourself to an in depth pedantic jazz history like you never could imagine. This guy will melt your mind.

Cause someone here posted that station a few days ago,

I heard him the other day, talking about a Charlie Parker recording session.

It was really interesting. well worth tuning in.

texasangel · #18 05-18-2012, 11:46 AM

I love Western Swing music and will certainly check that out...thanks for the info today!
Also, if you know of anyone interested in learning to play "western swing style" here is the info for our camp to be held this summer!! We will have some of the best western swing instructors in the country! Let's spread the word!!