ASNL77 Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) I am getting married in about two months time and it is time for us to choose which tune we will be dancing to at the start of the party. Lynn and I have decided it should be a jazz tune. Yet, I must confess I am a rubbish dancer which makes it quite difficult. We are thinking of going for Anita O'Day 'Ain't in a wondeful day' (Mosaic set disc 1 track 10) which is a beautiful and joyful tune but very difficult for a crappy dancer. Any suggestions or personal experiences? Edited February 4, 2008 by ASNL77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papsrus Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) I'll give it some thought, but I hope your avatar is no comment on this current project. EDIT: I assume, since you're not the greatest dancer, you'll want a relatively short tune. ... Edited February 4, 2008 by papsrus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonym Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 My wife and I danced the Jack Rabbit Slim's scene to Chuck Berry's 'You Never Can Tell' from Pulp Fiction. It could have gone down like a lead balloon but we pulled it off. If you're feeling brave how about something like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcy62 Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) Jazz Tune? Nah...I suggest you this one, much more exciting and easy to learn. It's just a jump to the left... http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=Iunx2MnvN6o BTW Congrats. Edited February 4, 2008 by porcy62 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Weiss Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 A Love Supreme (okay, it's not a song...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron S Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 If you want something classic, we chose "Love Is Here To Stay," and it seemed to work pretty well. If you're looking for a recording of it, there's a very nice--and danceable--version on Frank Sinatra's "Songs for Swingin' Lovers: http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Swingin-Lovers...7172&sr=1-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron S Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) A Love Supreme (okay, it's not a song...) You should use this only if you have Michael play your wedding. Edited February 4, 2008 by Ron S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 Congratulations! I would recommend something Mel Torme did, arranged by Marty Paich. You can find those albums on the Bethlehem and Verve labels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blake Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 We chose Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" for our first dance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 Ours was the Ray Charles version of "Come Rain or Come Shine" with Freddie from Root Doctor singing and my good friend Duncan McMillan on organ. Just a duet. It was nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 my wife and I went with an Ella version of "Cheek to Cheek" (no Louis Armstrong)--simple and sweet...and swingin' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Garrett Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 My wife essentially left the music selection for our wedding reception up to me, so for our first dance I picked "Day Dream", the version on "...and his mother called him Bill". Johnny Hodges at his most achingly sublime. Lots of other Ellington played that night, but this is the one I'll always remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 Congratulations! I just revisited Anita O'Day's "Ain't This a Wonderful Day", and I agree that it would be a very difficult song to which to dance. If you don't mind slowing down things quite a bit, I think that Joanie Sommer's "I'll Close My Eyes" from Look Out! It's Joanie Sommers (Studio West #106 with Shelly Manne and Bobby Troup) is absolutely beautiful. However, a better suggestion may be Ella Fitzgerald's "All the Things You Are" from The Jerome Kern Songbook. It is beautiful yet swinging. This song also appears on a number of compilations, including Verve's The Jazz Wedding Album: First Dances, which I do not find terribly compelling. (BTW, I have a copy of this compilation courtesy of an ex-girlfriend in the music industry. If you would like it, you may have it for the price of shipping.) I also think that June Christy's performance of "That's All" from The Misty Miss Christy is the definitve version of that standard, but hardly danceable. Of course, the best song to have played as a precursor to the ceremony itself is Frank Sinatra's Capitol single, "French Foreign Legion". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 (edited) How about this?? More seriously -- my wife and I don't/can't/won't/shouldn't ever dance, but I did try to have the jazz piano trio that played our reception play "Beatrice". I figured, what better tune to have played at one's wedding?? -- than a tune named for the wife of the composer, and a marriage (Sam and Beatrice) that lasted some 50 (or closer to 60?) years (if I remember right) -- a hell of a long time, in any case. The piano player (a pretty well-known local, who I probably shouldn't mention by name here) was a lovely player -- but he didn't really know "Beatrice" at all, and his eyes weren't at all what they once were, so they kind of slogged through it (with the lead-sheet I dug up), getting a couple of the changes here and there (but mostly not). FFA, you know that 'pre-tribute' project you were on... ...and now you know why I request "Beatrice" so much! Our wedding guests loved the trio, and they swung their asses off, and I never regretted hearing Beatrice quite as I'd hoped. It was the thought that counted. (That, and I was damn sure that the only people in the room that knew that tune even in the slightest were 1) the groom, 2) the bass player, and 3) the drummer. ) Edited February 5, 2008 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 Cole Porter's "Why shouldn't I". I'd go for Chris Connor's version on Bethlehem myself. But the words are absolutely right. Everyone will be crying buckets. And it's slow; you can just stand there and sway. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 Ours was the Ray Charles version of "Come Rain or Come Shine" with Freddie from Root Doctor singing and my good friend Duncan McMillan on organ. Just a duet. It was nice! Similar here. We danced to Ray's version - I've always loved it, plus I'm not much of a dancer, so a slow tune was easy to get by with when we were the center of attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man with the Golden Arm Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 the bar has been raised! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImBaVm7K6Do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michel1969 Posted February 5, 2008 Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 Some ideas : "The More i See You", by Hank Mobley on Roll Call "Flamingo" by Don Byas; reissued on " Laura" (Jazz in Paris series) or "We're all alone", by Boz Scaggs on "Silk Degrees" (better fot the night after...) Or... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASNL77 Posted February 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2008 (edited) Thanks to all for your input. Some very good ideas in here. Keep the suggestions coming... Edited February 5, 2008 by ASNL77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parkertown Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 And now for something completely different...: Ours was the Phil Collins version of "A Groovy Kind of Love." Nice 'n slow. Try not to barf... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elissa Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 I went with "Our Love is Here to Stay" too, but have to admit that one of the day's highlights was Horace Silver's "Song for my Father," to which I danced with both my dad and my father in law when he cut in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elissa Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 Documentation: The band was Alex Blake and Victor Jones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 If you can't dance, and everyone is going to be looking at you dance, any extremely slow romantic song will do. You want to be able to just stand there, shuffle your feet a tiny bit, and gaze into your partner's eyes with rapture. That will be acceptable to everyone. The slower the song, the better. Wikipedia under "Dirges" might be a source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyboy Posted February 6, 2008 Report Share Posted February 6, 2008 Ours was Nat King Cole's 'Embraceable You' from the 18th (!) CD of the Mosaic set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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