12 Tuesday Feb 2013
Let’s all head to Satchmo’s (the one and only Louis Armstrong, not that brat of a sister I have) place* of birth today!
*Although if y’all want to come visit, I would be very happy to have you
Down in New Orleans where the Blues (and Jazz) was born
It takes a cool cat, to blow a horn
Yes, dear Satchmo, you are the coolest, heppest cat that ever lived
25 Tuesday Sep 2012
Posted in Cute Overload, It's a Cat's Life, Jazz, The Kid
On a lighter note, I give you…
The little ball of fur!
(a.k.a. Little Satchie)
The human and I are finally getting around processing all the footage we have. I -of course, am helping with the song choices!
11 Tuesday Sep 2012
This playful song reminds me of the kid. And of course, it’s done by the great Satchmo, after whom she was named.
You will recognize the song as part of “The Jungle Book” soundtrack. In the movie, it’s done by Phil Harris as Balloo. Incidentally, he portrayed another bear in yet another Disney movie, Little John in Robin Hood. He was also Thomas O’Malley in the Aristocats. Bear or human, Phil Harris was a cool cat!
07 Thursday Jun 2012
Posted in Jazz, Jazz Cats Series, Reblogged
Rebloggin’ cuz this is a very fine song and I like it a lot
The Tom Cat Blues. This is a song close to my heart. Why, do you ask? well, let me tell you.
The Felis catus (a.k.a Felis silvestris catus or Felis domesticus) often called the housecat, is a small carnivore mammal of the family of felines of which the Jazz Cat Jay is a proud member. Some of our remarkable traits include social nature, obvious body language, love of play and high intelligence. And a great love of music, of course.
A group of cats is referred to as a “clowder”, a female is called a “molly” or “queen” and a male cat is called a “tom”. Which I am. A tom cat, that is. Ergo, this song is about me.
Now, back to the song. Tom Cat Blues was composed by one hep cat called Joe “King” Oliver. King Oliver is one of the greatest figures of Early Jazz…
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30 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in It's a Cat's Life, Jazz, Jazz Cats Series, Music, Swing
Since my blogging days started over at Blogger, I figured I should reblog some of my favourite posts for you -WordPress crowd, to see. Hope you enjoy it!
For my first post I thought I’d let my paws peruse teh Internets so I could share with you one of my favorite vintage jazz songs. See, being a hepcat it’s important to me to be able to share with you the wonderful world of jazz because, well, I don’t spend all day staring out the window and licking my feet, you know.
Can you guess why it is one of my favourite songs? MOL
This version is by Anita O’Day from her short stint (11 months) with Stan Kenton and his orchestra in 1944
30 Wednesday May 2012
I have to say, the kid has a lot of potential. Good kid.
My big bro Jazz Cat Jay said something interesting about my name.
Now, for those of you who don’t know, Jay is an authority in Vintage Jazz. Even my human mommy takes advice from him. When my human daddy gave me the name, I just thought, oh that sounds like a good name and thought nothing more of it. And it allows for a lot of fun variations. So far I’ve heard my humans calling me Mr. Satchs, Satchie and Satchers.
But my big bro said to me: “Listen kid, Satchmo is not JUST a cool name. It’s a name to be proud of. You are now part of a very musical family. Furthermore, a family with a great jazz tradition. The human mom is a DJ that specializes in Vintage Jazz, Blues and Black Gospel. The human dad -even though a classically trained musician, played with a Jazz…
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21 Monday May 2012
Posted in Jazz, Jazz Cats Series, Music
Not THAT Prince
ANYway…
During Count Basie’s so-called Kansas City years, he had the opportunity to play with Benny Moten’s band, amd even taken over the direction of it due to some internal problems.
This era in Basie’s career is very important in that this is when he enrolled a certain hep cat called Lester Young who -just like JazzCat Jaz, played the tenor sax. together, Basie and Young gave us what is no doubt Basie’s signature piece, One O’Clock Jump [favourite of many a Swing Cat]. But that is material for another post.
17 Thursday May 2012
Last night when I was writing the Jazz Cats post, this song kept going through my head:
Down in New Orleans
Where the blues was born
It takes a cool cat
To blow a horn.
On LaSalle
and Rampart Street
The combo’s there with a mambo beat.
The song is called Mardi Gras Mambo, and it goes like this:
Now, listen to the song again, but sing this words instead
16 Wednesday May 2012
Tags
Bourbon Street, Chuck Galey, David Davis, French Quarter, Jazz Cats, Preservation Hall, Swingin' Cats
Down in New Orleans where the sounds are sweet
In a back-alley corner off of Bourbon Street
There’s some hipster kitties (they don’t chase no rats).
They make swinging music – ’cause they’re Jazz Cats!
Jazz Cats!
Swingin’ Jazz Cats!
Now, this is a book that you all should have in your personal libraries. With beautiful illustrations by Chuck Galey (who must be a hep cat himself) this book is truly a jewel!
Book description (from Amazon):
A rhythmic jazzy story in verse, Jazz Cats tells about the escapades of some real cool cats that know how to entertain. Their jazz combo plays together in the streets of New Orleans. From the blow of the clarinet and trumpet to the pluck of the fiddle base and beating the trash can drums, these Dixie, dancin’ jazz cats know how to have fun.
09 Wednesday May 2012
Posted in Cartoon Cats, Famous Cats, Jazz, Music
Tags
Because….
Everybody wants to be a cat,
because a cat’s the only cat
who knows where it’s at.
Everybody’s pickin’ up on that feline beat,
’cause everything else is obsolete.
Now a square with a horn,
can make you wish you weren’t born,
ever’time he plays;
and with a square in the act,
he can set music back
to the caveman days.
I’ve heard some corny birds who tried to sing,
but a cat’s the only cat
who knows how to swing.
Who wants to dig
a long-haired gig
or stuff like that?
When everybody wants to be a cat.
A square with that horn,
makes you wish you weren’t born,
ever’time he plays;
and with a square in the act,
he’s gonna set this music back
to the Stone Age days.
Everybody wants to be a cat,
because a cat’s the only cat
who knows where it’s at;
while playin’ jazz you always has a Welcome mat,
’cause everybody digs a swingin’ cat.
Everybody digs a swingin’ cat.
’cause everybody digs a swingin’ cat
Oh yeah!
