China Boy - Gunhild Carling Big Band
- 16 years ago
China Boy - Gunhild Carling Big Band 2006
When Duke Ellington and most of the big bands from the thirties performed they almost always featured a dancing team in front of the band. Drummer Ulf Carling , the youngest member of the family band realized this as well and already in 1987 when the band was invited to the Smogen jazz festival he had contacted Lennart Westerlund who was leading a young dance troup. These dancers had been watching old films from the 30-ies and 40-ies and had a good idea what this tradition was all about. Since then the relationship between Westerlands dance team and the Carlings was strengthened and now, some 20 years further they perform together on a regular basis.
Two members of the danceteam "The Harlem Hotshots" are doing a tapdance on the classic jazz composition “China Boy”. I am amazed to see that drummer Ulf is using the classic drum set, the kind being used by Zutty Singleton, Baby Dodds and the likes. The bass drum is huge and gives this supportive 4/4 sound which was then so much liked by dancers and audiences. Unfortunately this art is almost forgotten because bass drums are usually only used for accents and the electric guitar bass has mostly taken over that original drum bass sound.
When Duke Ellington and most of the big bands from the thirties performed they almost always featured a dancing team in front of the band. Drummer Ulf Carling , the youngest member of the family band realized this as well and already in 1987 when the band was invited to the Smogen jazz festival he had contacted Lennart Westerlund who was leading a young dance troup. These dancers had been watching old films from the 30-ies and 40-ies and had a good idea what this tradition was all about. Since then the relationship between Westerlands dance team and the Carlings was strengthened and now, some 20 years further they perform together on a regular basis.
Two members of the danceteam "The Harlem Hotshots" are doing a tapdance on the classic jazz composition “China Boy”. I am amazed to see that drummer Ulf is using the classic drum set, the kind being used by Zutty Singleton, Baby Dodds and the likes. The bass drum is huge and gives this supportive 4/4 sound which was then so much liked by dancers and audiences. Unfortunately this art is almost forgotten because bass drums are usually only used for accents and the electric guitar bass has mostly taken over that original drum bass sound.