The Dirty Boogie
Encyclopedia
The Dirty Boogie is the third album from the swing
band The Brian Setzer Orchestra
. The album is considered as the breakthrough for the band, with their first single being a cover of Louis Prima
's "Jump Jive an' Wail", which Prima had made popular in 1956 and included in his album The Wildest!
. The release of the single "coincidentally" came along the same time as a Gap advertising campaign which featured Prima's original recording of the song. Each helped to propel the larger swing revival
throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Seven of the album's tracks are covers of songs written and originally made popular between 1952 and 1962.
, 1959); "Nosey Joe" (recorded by Bull Moose Jackson
, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
, 1952); and "As Long As I'm Singin'" (Bobby Darin
, 1962). "You're the Boss", also penned by Lieber and Stoller in 1961, is the album's seventh track, a duet featuring singer (and labelmate) Gwen Stefani
; an earlier popular recording of the tune paired Elvis Presley
and Ann-Margret
. The eighth track, "Rock This Town", is an eighth cover on the album, in this case a song originally done in 1982 by Setzer's previous band, the Stray Cats
. "Hollywood Nocturne" was a discarded track from Setzer's previous album, Guitar Slinger
.
The album also features a cover of the instrumental "Sleepwalk", made popular originally by songwriters and performers Santo & Johnny
Farina in 1959. Setzer's arrangement and recording won a Grammy Award
the following year for best pop instrumental recording.
Paul Brandt
later did a cover of the album's fourth track, "Let's Live It Up".
sheets. The album cover began life as a show poster designed by Wentworth to advertise a Brian Setzer Orchestra concert at Detroit's State Theater (currently The Fillmore Detroit
). After Brian Setzer saw the poster, he commissioned Wentworth to reformat the poster and to create a new logo
for the band. The angular, kinetic style employed in Wentworth's illustration sparked a trend of identifying the music of the swing revival
with the visual signifiers of the cartoon modern style (a type of dynamic, minimal design commonly used in 1950s and 1960s limited animation
). Wentworth's retro
logotype is still an essential part of the Brian Setzer Orchestra's brand identityhttp://www.briansetzer.com/images/bso-sfla-deluxe-contents.jpg and has inspired a commercial font
called "Swinger". Wentworth also illustrated the covers for Setzer's Best of The Big Band
(Japan Only CD), Boogie Woogie Christmas
and Christmas Rocks! CDs, and designed the logo for The Ultimate Christmas Collection CD.
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
band The Brian Setzer Orchestra
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
The Brian Setzer Orchestra is a swing and jump blues band formed in 1990 by Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer. The group had success covering Louis Prima's "Jump Jive an' Wail", which appeared on Prima's 1957 album The Wildest!...
. The album is considered as the breakthrough for the band, with their first single being a cover of Louis Prima
Louis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
's "Jump Jive an' Wail", which Prima had made popular in 1956 and included in his album The Wildest!
The Wildest!
The Wildest! is an album by Louis Prima, first released in 1957. It features singer Keely Smith with saxophonist Sam Butera and the Witnesses. It is considered an innovative mixture of early rock and roll, jump blues and jazz as well as eccentric humor....
. The release of the single "coincidentally" came along the same time as a Gap advertising campaign which featured Prima's original recording of the song. Each helped to propel the larger swing revival
Swing Revival
The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima, often mixed with a more contemporary rock, rockabilly or ska sound, known also as neo-swing or retro...
throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Seven of the album's tracks are covers of songs written and originally made popular between 1952 and 1962.
Structure and release
In addition to Prima's "Jump Jive An' Wail", covers include "This Old House" (Stuart Hamblen, 1954); "Since I Don't Have You" (The SkylinersThe Skyliners
The Skyliners are an American doo-wop group from Pittsburgh fronted by Jimmy Beaumont. The original lineup also included Wally Lester, Jack Taylor, Joe Verscharen, Louis M. Tutino and Janet Vogel...
, 1959); "Nosey Joe" (recorded by Bull Moose Jackson
Bull Moose Jackson
Benjamin Clarence "Bull Moose" Jackson was an American blues and rhythm and blues singer and saxophonist, who was most successful in the late 1940s.-Career:...
, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...
, 1952); and "As Long As I'm Singin'" (Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
, 1962). "You're the Boss", also penned by Lieber and Stoller in 1961, is the album's seventh track, a duet featuring singer (and labelmate) Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
; an earlier popular recording of the tune paired Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
. The eighth track, "Rock This Town", is an eighth cover on the album, in this case a song originally done in 1982 by Setzer's previous band, the Stray Cats
Stray Cats
Stray Cats are an American Rockabilly band formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer , upright bassist Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had numerous hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S...
. "Hollywood Nocturne" was a discarded track from Setzer's previous album, Guitar Slinger
Guitar Slinger
Guitar Slinger is The Brian Setzer Orchestra's second album.-Track listing:# "The House Is Rockin'" – 3:02# "Hoodoo Voodoo Doll" – 3:39# "Town Without Pity" – 4:04...
.
The album also features a cover of the instrumental "Sleepwalk", made popular originally by songwriters and performers Santo & Johnny
Santo & Johnny
Santo & Johnny were an Italian-American rock and roll duo from Brooklyn, New York, comprising brothers Santo and Johnny Farina.They are best known for their instrumental "Sleep Walk", which became a regional hit and eventually reached the top of the Billboard pop chart when it was released...
Farina in 1959. Setzer's arrangement and recording won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
the following year for best pop instrumental recording.
Paul Brandt
Paul Brandt
Paul Rennée Belobersycky is a Canadian country music artist, known professionally as Paul Brandt. Growing up in Calgary, he was a pediatric RN at the time of his big break...
later did a cover of the album's fourth track, "Let's Live It Up".
Album Cover Illustration and Logo Design
The illustration and logo for The Dirty Boogie was created by Sir Richard Wentworth, using techniques such as pen and ink linework and cut rubylithRubylith
Rubylith is a brand of masking film, invented and trademarked by the Ulano Corporation. Today the brand has become genericized to the point that it has become synonymous with all coloured masking films....
sheets. The album cover began life as a show poster designed by Wentworth to advertise a Brian Setzer Orchestra concert at Detroit's State Theater (currently The Fillmore Detroit
The Fillmore Detroit
The Fillmore Detroit is a mixed-use entertainment venue operated by Live Nation. The Detroit Music Awards are held annually at The Fillmore Detroit in April. Built in 1925, the Fillmore Detroit was known for most of its history as the State Theatre, and prior to that as the Palms Theatre...
). After Brian Setzer saw the poster, he commissioned Wentworth to reformat the poster and to create a new logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
for the band. The angular, kinetic style employed in Wentworth's illustration sparked a trend of identifying the music of the swing revival
Swing Revival
The Swing Revival was a late 1990s and early 2000s period of renewed popular interest in swing and jump blues music and dance from the 1930s and 1940s as exemplified by Louis Prima, often mixed with a more contemporary rock, rockabilly or ska sound, known also as neo-swing or retro...
with the visual signifiers of the cartoon modern style (a type of dynamic, minimal design commonly used in 1950s and 1960s limited animation
Limited animation
Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames. One of its major trademarks is the stylized design in all forms and shapes, which in the early days was referred to as modern design...
). Wentworth's retro
Retro
Retro is a culturally outdated or aged style, trend, mode, or fashion, from the overall postmodern past, that has since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of "retro" style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc...
logotype is still an essential part of the Brian Setzer Orchestra's brand identityhttp://www.briansetzer.com/images/bso-sfla-deluxe-contents.jpg and has inspired a commercial font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
called "Swinger". Wentworth also illustrated the covers for Setzer's Best of The Big Band
Best of The Big Band
Best of The Big Band is a compilation album from the American swing revival band The Brian Setzer Orchestra, released on 2002 in Japan only.-Track listing:# "Gettin' In The Mood"# "Rumble In Brighton"# "This Cat' s On A Hot Tin Roof"...
(Japan Only CD), Boogie Woogie Christmas
Boogie Woogie Christmas
Boogie Woogie Christmas is a 2002 Christmas album recorded by the Brian Setzer Orchestra.-Original:#Jingle Bells - 2:22#Boogie Woogie Santa Claus - 3:02#Winter Wonderland - 2:40#Blue Christmas - 2:48#Santa Claus Is Back In Town - 3:48...
and Christmas Rocks! CDs, and designed the logo for The Ultimate Christmas Collection CD.
Track listing
- "This Cat's On A Hot Tin Roof"
- "The Dirty Boogie"
- "This Old HouseThis Ole House"This Ole House" is a popular song written by Stuart Hamblen, and published in 1954.-Background:Hamblen was supposedly out on a hunting expedition when he and his fellow hunter, actor John Wayne, came across a tumbledown hut in the mountains, many miles from civilization...
" - "Let's Live It Up"
- "Sleepwalk (Instrumental)"
- "Jump Jive An' Wail"
- "You're The Boss"
- "Rock This TownRock This Town"Rock This Town" is a song by the Stray Cats from their UK debut album Stray Cats. Its first U.S. release was on the 1982 album Built for Speed. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, becoming the first of the band's three top ten hits in the U.S...
" - "Since I Don't Have YouSince I Don't Have You"Since I Don't Have You" is a song by the doo-wop group The Skyliners. Released in 1958, the single reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also the top five of the R&B chart...
" - "Switchblade 327"
- "Nosey Joe"
- "Hollywood Nocturne"
- "As Long As I'm Singin'"
Chart positions
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "Jump Jive An' Wail" | UK Top 40 | 34 |