# Need recommendations for some good party jazz **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 3, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735 "2012-05-03T10:42:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/1 "2012-05-03T10:42:49Z")
Hey all, I’m having a party this weekend with a general Speakeasy theme to it, and I’d like the soundtrack to match the event and era. So I guess I’m looking for some good classic jazz, both with a bit of swing for the start of the evening and a bit more mellow for the end of the evening. Knowing nothing about jazz, I appreciate all suggestions of bands and singers to include in my playlists =) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/2 "2012-05-03T11:34:55Z")
If you need to be chronologically authentic and just do the “swing era”, you’ll have to pretty much stick to Big Band greats like Duke Ellington and his numerous virtuoso bandmembers, plus maybe some Count Basie or Lester Young. And other, non-big-band stuff from that same era (1920 to 1945) could also include Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and Django Reinhardt. But that will already cover a lot of musical territory. Mostly upbeat stuff, with a few ballads, too. One problem, though, is that recordings from that era are pretty “low quality” ton our ears. Might want to instead do great performers of later eras playing the music of these guys. (For example, McCoy Tyner did an albun of Ellington stuff.) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/3 "2012-05-03T12:35:40Z")
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Bessie Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/4 "2012-05-03T12:37:37Z")
If it’s a speakeasy theme, you should stick with Prohibition-era music (no late-30s or '40s swing). Bix Beiderbecke is safe , as he died \*during \*Prohibition! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/5 "2012-05-03T12:54:55Z")
Below links are all Amazon MP3 downloads (ETA: Coon-Sanders is Wikipedia link to band page). [Here’s](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000R01JQM/ref=dm_sp_alb?ie=UTF8&qid=1336048960&sr=8-26) an invaluable download that gets plenty of play on my iPod. [This](http://www.amazon.com/Roaring-20s-Jazz/dp/B001WAZR78/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1336049318&sr=301-2) is more poppy than jazz, but also looks good, 60 cuts for $8.99 and includes many essentials, like Running Wild, Black Bottom, Miss Annabelle Lee, Collegiate, and Chicago (you probably don’t want to play The Prisoner’s Song during cocktail hour). I have several of [these](http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Of-Coon-Sanders-1924-1932/dp/B000S586IK/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336049520&sr=301-1) [Coon-Sanders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coon-Sanders_Original_Nighthawk_Orchestra) CDs and you’ll find plenty of fine, fast jazz there. They were hot stuff. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/6 "2012-05-03T14:41:01Z")
Fats Waller. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/7 "2012-05-03T15:03:46Z")
Also, for a more realistic speakeasy atmos., you should pour some rubbing alcohol or bug spray into, say, every fifth bottle, and have someone burst in and beat the holy crap out of your bartender at some point in the night. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/8 "2012-05-04T02:58:15Z")
Ramsey Lewis - “The In Crowd” [http://youtu.be/m3cZ6W12TUQ](http://youtu.be/m3cZ6W12TUQ) ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/9 "2012-05-04T04:31:58Z")
Artie Shaw, of course. I love swing jazz from the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Sometimes I think I was born 69 years too late. But I’m still glad I was 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/10 "2012-05-04T04:48:30Z")
For something mellow at the end of the evening, I suggest some Eddie Lang. ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/11 "2012-05-04T09:54:56Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions! This is turning into a neat playlist! ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/12 "2012-05-04T11:56:15Z")
Don’t forget **Sidney Bechet** (clarinetist). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/13 "2012-05-04T14:49:12Z")
[Annie Lennox’s cover of “Keep Young and Beautiful”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfk8kLJMab0). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/14 "2012-05-04T15:24:49Z")
There were some Ragtime composers still active, such as Zez Confrey. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-recommendations-for-some-good-party-jazz/620735/15 "2012-05-04T15:45:21Z")
Some stuff at the Internet Archive that should be useful: [1920s Dance Bands](http://archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype%3Aaudio%20AND%20collection%3A78rpm%20AND%20subject%3A%221920s%20Dance%20Bands%22). [Roaring 1920’s](http://archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype%3Aaudio%20AND%20collection%3A78rpm%20AND%20subject%3A%22Roaring%201920%27s%22). [Jazz](http://archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype%3Aaudio%20AND%20collection%3A78rpm%20AND%20subject%3A%22Jazz%22). [Marion Harris](http://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Marion+Harris%22). [Sophie Tucker](http://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Sophie+Tucker%22).