The Rust Discography

Have you heard of this? Years ago I was lamenting to my guitar player Jake that I wished there was a place I could look up who a musician was on an old track I love. The artist digitally listed for a song was often the bandleader's name, but when I heard an amazing solo I would say "Who is that?" and have to wonder. I could have looked up who played what in each big band but often times there would be multiple people on the same instrument and some of these bands rotated through a ton of personnel over many years. Jake looked at me and said "Do you know the Rust books?"

It was like he granted my wish. Brian Rust was a British jazz enthusiast who wrote for Melody Maker and Gramophone magazines. He first published "Jazz Records" in the 50's and kept refining it until he passed in 2011. It's a super clear reference for exactly who played on each studio session for every jazz 78 record made from 1897-1942. I have the 2 volume hard copies, and if you prefer physical books you can buy them used on Amazon BUT they are also in the public domain which means they're available online in PDF form for free, so I attached them here. Enjoy!

-N

Brian Rust Jazz Records

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Download PDF • 5.37MB

That's Old News - Savoy Ballroom opens

I've spent a lot of time combing through public newspaper archives for lindy hop treasure. Now that we have this blog I think it's the perfect place to share my finds. Check out this clipping about the Savoy from the Afro American newspaper on March 27th 1926. The ballroom opened March 12th and according to this article thousands of people showed up for opening night!

Favorite Clips - Ramiro and Sylvia

I looove this clip of Ramiro Gonzalez and Sylvia Sykes social dancing. Many lindy hoppers and balboa dancers know Sylvia. She's what we'd call a "middle timer", not an original dancer from the swing era, but someone who directly learned from them. She took years and years of private lessons from Dean Collins and Maxie Dorf, got to teach with Frankie Manning, and dance with the old timers at various hangouts and events during the 70's through the 90's. Ramiro is someone you may not know. He's not a lindy hopper but was a top west coast swing dancer in the 1980's and 90's, when that dance had a much different look and feel. I think he's a true master dancer, a real genius. He's one of my favorite people to dance with or watch on the planet, whether leading or following -N

Some of my favorite moments:

0:35 His footwork!!!!

1:28 was that an accidental moment of spank-musicality?

2:09 Footwork

2:50 Always staying in time and within the 6 count basic those are frickin quintuple steps. Seriously. Count them out. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

http://www.dancewithramiro.com/ https://www.sylviasykes.com/