Music & Dance
Writing
Articles on rhythm, partnership, jazz structure, dance technique, and the deeper links between music and movement.
Writing
Notes, recaps, transcriptions, and essays from the overlap of music and movement.
July 27, 2025
Andrea Gordon and I have been doing this class recently on the subject of common rhythmic feels that swing dancers encounter and some ideas to respond to them. I thought it’d be useful to try to distill it into a post for reference. This post is intended to familiarize you with some of the common […]
January 3, 2025
Happy to be back at Lindy Focus after all these years. Here’s a quick playlist rundown for two of the heavily music-related classes that Andrea and I taught. Thanks for being there! The Floor Is Not Lava (Texture & Feel) In this class, we focused on the rhythmic and textural feel of the dance and […]
October 13, 2020
Here’s the opening chorus of Johnny Hodges’ soulful and commanding “Sunny Side of the Street” from Duke Ellington’s 1963 The Great Paris Concert record. This song, which often leans toward sweetness and sentimentality, is anything but either of those in this recording. I also love how he really sets up space for the backbeat here […]
October 1, 2020
Here’s a chorus of Velma Middleton & Louis Armstrong’s Honeysuckle Rose as played by the great Arvell Shaw in 1955. Arvell played with Louis from the late 40’s and through the 50’s – during the iconic All Star Band era, and he is a big part of that band’s powerful, buoyant drive. What a great […]
March 23, 2020
When the first chorus isn’t even the melody of the tune but could speak for itself, it’s worth digging into. When a chorus stays in your head for years, it’s worth digging into. Here’s part of the intro plus Frankie Trumbauer’s iconic first chorus of “Singin’ The Blues”, recorded in 1927.
February 5, 2020
October 31, 2019
Bunk Johnson’s bounce is so honest and groovy in this solo. I started to really get a sense of it playing along with this solo, especially right in the middle of it. This is from Bunk’s 1946/1947 “Last Testament” recordings.
September 19, 2019
This is a first installment of doing a quick recap of tunes used and video clips referenced in a weekend workshop. I’ve been doing it on Facebook for a few years, but I’d rather it be here because Facebook is no good. It’s nice to head back to DC, where I lived for 8 years […]
July 25, 2019
I love this song. I’ve used it in my dance classes for years. I has the nicest feel, and of course it would… the rhythm section is Basie’s rhythm section. This solo is a masterful, bluesy lesson. Personnel in this recording: Charlie Christian (guitar) Freddie Green (guitar) Count Basie (piano) Buck Clayton (trumpet) Lester Young […]
March 13, 2019
I came across these gems of recordings of duos between Art Hodes (piano) and the legendary George “Pops” Foster (bass). I wanted to dig into it, so I transcribed Pops’ bass part.