The Swing Project

It’s the first week of a new block and so we’re welcoming lots of new folks to Level 1 from Intro this month 👏

It’s so lovely to see them hit the floor with their classmates after the lesson for our between class social 🙌

♥️ Local to Canton & Pontcanna? Our between class socials are only 25minutes but they are free to join! Break up your evening with a little hang out (plus on Tuesday, folks head to the pub after it!)

In Level 2 this month, we’re learning more about the members of the Ellington Orchestra - and this week it’s Ivie Anderson 🎙️

🎵 Anderson was with the Ellington Orchestra for a decade, setting the bar for big band vocals throughout the swing era. You will find her vocals on iconic tracks like “Hayfoot Strawfoot” “It don’t mean a thing” and “Chocolate Shake.”

🎥 In this clip, we see her perform “I’ve got it bad and that ain’t good” alongside Ellington in the 1941 soundie of the same name.

✨ Before joining the Ellington Orchestra, Anderson was a chorus dancer and singer in a vaudeville troupe and was performing with the Earl Hines band.

🎥 Anderson also appears in the dance scene for “Day at the Races” alongside Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, performing “All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm.” Learn more about the social context for this scene: https://swungover.wordpress.com/2020/04/24/a-gaze-into-a-day-at-the-races/

📚 Learn more about her here: https://www.jazztimes.com/columns/final-chorus/for-the-love-of-ivie/?v=7885444af42e

In honour of Pride month, this week’s Level 1 class have been celebrating the legacy of the godmother of rock & roll - Sister Rosetta Tharpe 🎸

Born in Arkansas in 1915, Tharpe was raised by her mother, a travelling evangelist with the Church of God in Christ. By six she was already playing the guitar & performing in church.

By her twenties, she’d hit her stride; after years performing with Duke Ellington & Lucky Millinder, she toured the south with fellow gospel icons the “Dixie Hummingbirds”. In 1945, her single “Strange Things Happening Every Day,” with its hot guitar solo, was the first gospel single to cross over on the Billboard charts. It’s considered the very first rock and roll record 🎵

📚 Learn more about her legacy at:
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/27/759601364/how-one-of-musics-biggest-stars-almost-disappeared-and-how-her-legacy-was-saved
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***rhistory

Exciting Summer Swing Out Announcement folks! ☀️ 🏖️

For the Saturday night of our summer weekender, I’m so excited to be welcoming back Cardiff’s best, the incredible Sarah Meek with a very special expanded band ESPECIALLY for us…

Are you ready to dance to Sarah Meek and the Savoy SEVEN!? 🎷 🎶 🎙️

If you’ve been to some of our events, you may have heard their killer solos, hard swinging vibes and ever changing repertoire - here they are as a quintet killing it at our last Welsh Weekender with and ✨

Seven piece live band, a massive sprung dance floor plus a guest teacher taster class and performances - you won’t want to miss it!

🗓️ Summer Swing Out 24-26th July: Full Social Passes are just £30, with individual nights on sale too! All available at: www.swingproject.co.Uk/summerswingout

We’re continuing our celebration of q***r artists and their legacies in Level 1 this week - and it’s the turn of Lady Day herself, Billie Holiday 🎙️ 🌈

Born Eleanora Fagan, Holiday named herself after the film star Billie Dove and went on to be one of the most iconic jazz vocalists of all time, known for her incredible story telling and magical touch with phrasing and tempo.

After a difficult early life, Holiday found solace in the music of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong. She would actually go on to work with Armstrong when the two of them starred in the 1947 musical “New Orleans”.

She worked with the orchestras of Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Artie Shaw as well as created legendary collaborations with pianist Teddy Wilson and saxophonist Lester Young.

📚 Learn more about her here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/3BGjtP9XNYzbJ5rLCVxtMKg/billie-holiday