Type and hit ENTER

Commonly used tags...

Brighton Festival Brighton Fringe Brighton Pride British Sea Power Cinecity Lewes Psychedelic Festival Locally Sourced Lost & Found Love Supreme Festival Nick Cave Poets Vs MCs Politics Rag'n'Bone Man Record Store Day Save Our Venues Six Of The Best Source Virgins Streets Of Brighton Street Source Tattoos The Great Escape Tru Thoughts Unsung Heroes
  • Home
  • News
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Food
  • Tickets
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Advertise
  • Home
  • News
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Food
  • Tickets
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Advertise
Features, Reviews

Swingin’ Dick’s 78 Social and Shellac Shakers

Apr 22, 2017
-
Posted by Steve Clements

If you thought DJing with cassettes was the height of retro clubbing this seems positively futuristic next to Swingin’ Dick’s 78 Social, where only original 78s from the 20s to the 50s are played. Taking place every other month at the Office on Sydney Street on a Saturday between 3-7pm, it recreates a speakeasy feel in the heart of the North Laine’s finest gin joint.

We asked shellac selector Shamblin Sexton how it all began.
Initially Chris ‘Sick’ Moore and I started an ad-hoc jazz and swing night at The St James’s Tavern played from LPs and jokingly named after a swing-loving colleague called Dick. Sadly Dick died but he left me his large collection of 78s which included a number of 30s and 40s jazz titles. I suggested a 78s only session to Chris who, after a little hesitation and a job lot purchase, agreed and Swingin’ Dick’s 78 Social was born. It now takes place every other month at the Office on Sydney Street on a Saturday between 3-7pm

Have you had any breakages while DJing 78s?
78s are very fragile indeed and break incredibly easily, especially after a couple of martinis. My worst breakage was a great western version of Cocaine Blues by Billy Hughes. It had managed to last seventy years until then. I was totally gutted but luckily, we haven’t had any breakages for some time.

And you’ve now turned this format into a radio show?
Yes, The Swingin’ Dick’s Radio Show on 1 Brighton FM. I choose the theme and select the tracks, write the script and present the show. There have been a number of specials focusing on specific areas of interest, including the Kansas City scene in the 30s and 40s and the story of Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom and the birth of Lindy Hop. The next show will be a special on the music and career of Duke Ellington. Chris does all the artwork for the records, the posters and the radio show.

Tell us about the album
The Swingin’ Dick’s compilation is released on the 27th April as two 10” vinyl at 33rpm (volume 1 and 2) and as a CD (both volumes 1 & 2 back to back) and will be stocked by Resident Records and Mr Bongo in Brighton as well as being available online from our label Stag-O-Lee and from all good record stores… Plans for volume 3 are underway.

Swingin’ Dick’s Shellac Shakers 1 & 2 review
The two volume set of 10″ albums have an authentic look about them and have been expertly compiled to include a mix of famous and long-forgotten hipsters, flipsters and finger-poppin’ daddy-os. Both albums feature raging horns and dangerous rhythms played at an often-frenetic pace and the opening track is a swinging take on I Got Rhythm by Horace Henderson, where Viola Jefferson namechecks many of the stars and hits of the day. The king of the swingers has to be Slim Gaillard – a man who lived a life so full that it took 4 Arena documentaries to cover his career. His classic ‘The Jam Man’ appears here in a rarely-heard alternate version.

Chicago’s Harlem Hamfats display a gravelly Satchmo style vocal on ‘Root, Hog or Die’ and piano legend Albert Ammons’ ‘Jammin’ The Boogie’ is a wild romp. The hippest of the bandleaders, Cab Calloway delivers a ‘Jive’ talk on being hep while drummin’ man Gene Krupa ignites a ‘Ball of Fire’. The selections compliment each other really well and combine to make a great soundtrack for mixing the cocktail recipes on the back cover.

Swinging Dick’s Shellac Shakers is released on 24th April and there will be a gin-infused launch party at The Office, Sydney Street on 6th May from 3-7pm.

See their Facebook page for more details.

Interview and album review by Steve Clements

Apr 22, 2017
Email
Steve Clements
Steve has been a SOURCE contributor since Summer 2010 and has also written for Latest 7 magazine. He moved to Brighton in 2006 after working in London at the Royal Albert Hall, Our Price Music and Teletext. Favourite quote - "There's no such thing as a sold out gig".
← PREVIOUS POST
Billy Ocean Review
NEXT POST →
Cameron Avery Review
Mailing List

Recent Posts
  • Hansel and Gretel? | Brighton Source
    Hansel and Gretel? A Postmodern Pantomime
    Dec 18, 2020

    A postmodern pantomime with an unrelaible narrator. Outdoors with comedy, dance, camp actors, plenty of fun. On two levels: laughs for kids and jokes for adults

  • Artists Open Houses 2020, until Thurs Dec 31st
    Dec 5, 2020

    After cancelling the May edition, Artists Open Houses tell us what it's like to be back with a December festival that is open to visitors in person for eight days.

  • Cinecity 2020 previewed by Brighton Source
    Cinecity 2020, until Sun Nov 22nd
    Nov 17, 2020

    From the North Laine to Mongolia, Cinecity's lineup is typically eclectic and original this year - catch it before the city's key film festival ends.

  • Macbeth Review
    Nov 2, 2020

    Macbeth in Brighton. One-act play with Scottish Gaelic sounds by This Is My Theatre. Power, ambition, murder, blood. The woods are moving.

  • Lost & Found: Poison Girls
    Nov 2, 2020

    As part of our retrospective series on local bands we look back at the hugely influential and ever-challenging anarcho-punk collective Poison Girls.

  • The Rose Hill | Brighton Source
    Save Our Venues – The Rose Hill
    Oct 26, 2020

    We spoke to the team at the Rose Hill to find out how a series of new creative projects is helping this unique Brighton venue to cope with the current crisis.

  • Spillage! Review
    Oct 19, 2020

    This one-person, one-act play is giddy, funny and seriously entertaining. An odyssey through the madness of corporate pressure on our mental health.

  • Africa In The Lounge – Livestreams
    Oct 17, 2020

    Brighton's leading promoters of African music will be showcasing three star performers, over six nights, in the run up to Christmas.

Website developed in Brighton by Infobo
Copyright © Brighton Source 2009-2020
Swingin’ Dick's 78 Social and Shellac Shakers - Brighton Source