Jazz

Traditional Tuesday Dance – Black History Month!

/ Cassidy Kuchenbecker / Leave a comment

The hot jazz we love and the swing dance to which we groove were created and enriched by Black Americans. The weekly Traditional Tuesday night swing dances (with live bands!) is adding to the typical routine in February to pay homage to the Black artists and dancers that have forever changed the world.

Each Tuesday night at Falcon Bowl we will be teaching the swing line Dance “Shim Sham” from 7:30 to 8:00 (basic swing lesson at 7:00) and we will have a 2-hour Shim Sham lesson on Sunday February 23 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. All free! Lessons by music/dance educator Meaghan Heinrich. Video below is Meaghan demonstrating the entire routine, along with us dancing the Shim Sham on a recent Tuesday night.

The DJ breaks feature a different pairing of early Black musicians who have inspired each other. The pairings and sets are being crafted by band leader John Mroz (Troubadours of Rhythm).

Week 1: The band break musician pair was King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Based in New Orleans, Oliver shaped the landscape of early jazz. His move to Chicago in 1918 marked a turning point and in 1922 he summoned his protege – Louis Armstrong – to join his Creole Jazz Orchestra. Armstrong flourished and this duo ignited a musical revolution. Listen to the bands Creole Jazz Orchestra, Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, and Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven.

Week 2: Fletcher Henderson was paired with Duke Ellington – both influential band leaders, composers, and arrangers. Henderson was a pioneer of big band jazz and paved the way for many other band leaders, such as Ellington. In turn, Ellington became a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, blending blues, ragtime, and swing into a uniquely Black American sound. Henderson and Ellington both played in New York City and would be inspired by each other’s work. The great depression was hard on Henderson and he began composing for Benny Goodman. Henderson essentially created the structure for the sound of the swing big band era.

Week 3: Black women were highlighted by DJ and music educator Meaghan Heinrich during this week’s band break. Black women have deeply shaped swing jazz and swing dancing, often with the their contributions overlooked or under-appreciated due to the double hit of both misogyny and racism. Big Maybelle, Big Mama Thornton, Julia Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Mildred Bailey, and Norma Miller are a few of the Black women we honored this week through the music we played and the Lindy Hop we danced.

Troubadours of Rhythm Album Release Party – September 6, 2024

/ Cassidy Kuchenbecker / Leave a comment

The Troubadours of Rhythym play at the release party for their new album – It’s Tight Like That – at Bar Centro on September 6, 2024 (more details below).

Headed by Jon Mroz, The Troubadours of Rhythm have stormed the Milwaukee hot jazz and swing dance scene. They specialize in hokum style – a light-hearted (and often risque) hot jazz that is heavily influenced by blues. Their entire set is danceable with a range of tempos and vocals usually by Mroz and Aidan White. Mroz says that the idea for Troubadours of Rhythm germinated with Aidan White, as a vehicle to showcase the micro-niche styles of Milwaukee (and Chicago) jazz and blues of the late 1920s/early 1930s and originals in that vein.

Although most of the current dancers are just recently beginning to know and appreciate Mroz’s musical talents and showmanship, he is not new to the Milwaukee dance scene. He says that “I had come up as a harmonica player and shouter in the blues world, under the spell of Jim Liban and the 1950s Chicago thing, but had been diving deep into post-war jump blues that was sending the dancers!” 

In the 1990s he played with Swingin’ Kools (with Kid Mally, Matt Davis, John Carr, & Paino Willie). “The Kools pre-dated the “swing revival”, but once it hit around 1995 we were poised to conquer the scene. Man, what a great time to play music!”, says Mroz.

Mroz took time off from gigs to raise kids, continuing to hone his music skills between diaper changes. In early 2022 he re-emerged into the scene playing string bass for the locally beloved Professor Pinkerton Xyloma (see the blog post on the 2019 album release Antiquated at Best). Bass was a new instrument for Mroz. “I was so blessed that the world’s best early jazz bass players also happen to be some of the kindest, most generous people. Guys like Beau Sample & Ryan Gould have been immense in their assistance with me studying a new instrument.”

As for this new album, It’s Tight Like That, Mroz says that “We had a blast with this album, recorded in one afternoon in January (the coldest day of the year) at National Recording in Walker’s Point. We had only played a few gigs together at that point, so there’s a rawness that jumps out at you. We got the opportunity to showcase some original material plus pay tribute to some of our historical influences.”

They are selling CDs and vinyl at their shows and on Bandcamp beginning September 6. The big album release party and performance (with special guest from Austin, Texas-Lauryn Gould-on reeds) is at Bar Centro from 8:00 to 10:30 PM. Don’t expect to be able to swingout at this cozy venue, but bring your dancing shoes for the potential of close dancing with blues and Balboa. Not sure how to blues or Balboa? Visit the Milwaukee dance groups Good Land Balboa and Brew Town Blues. Be ready for when Troubadours plays larger venues with those big Lindy Hop moves by learning with Cream City Swing.