Grand Jete Jump
Jeff Medaugh from Denver, US
Dance and Music
•Amazing Flamenco •Balanchine’s Nutcracker •Baryshnikov, Push Comes to Shove •Gregory Hines
•Hines, Briggs,Sandman,Sims,Slyde •Jimmy Slyde •Jimmy Slyde II •Kamel Battle
•Meda and Kamel •Miss Twist Demo •Nicholas Brothers •Rhythm Prism Promo
•White Nights, Baryshnikov and Hines, •Gene Kelley Singing in the Rain
Haste to the Wedding, by Gilbert and Grossmith,
Copyright Expired
Jimmy Slyde
An American legend demonstrating the best in an American art form. Quality of the YouTube video isn’t the best, but you can’t complain because you get to see Jimmy Slyde go through his moves. Kudos to That.
Jimmy Slyde, 1977
Photo Lioneldercoster
Jimmy Slyde, Part 2, – All Blues
Another YouTube video of Jimmy Slyde. This clip captures Slyde at a live performance in Rio de Janeiro in 1998. Bruce Henri, on bass, and Jose Carlos Ramos, on sax, are accompanying him.
Gregory Hines in Tap Dance Shop 
This clip is a self contained dramatic scene. Tap is an acoustic and visual art. It demands grace, athleticism and an ear for music. In this piece, the acoustics of the dance are seamlessly blended into the environment. A dripping faucet, a deep sigh, all are an organic part of the performance. I have to say Kudos to Gregory Hines, who was not only a great dancer but a gifted actor and singer. He did not live a long life–he died at 57 of liver disease–but in his all-too-brief career managed to work with legends of his time and also to create unforgettable moments of his own.
White Nights, Mikhail Baryshnikov & Gregory Hines
Hines and Baryshnikov face off in this choreographed duet. Interesting to compare this “battle” and the one between 1000% Meda and Kamel (a little further down this page).
Gregory Hines, Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown,and Sandman Sims
Five legends of tap in one clip. This clip from 1989 shows, as Hines says in the intro, how dancers borrow from each other. The chemistry between the five dancers on stage is electric.
Nicholas Brothers in Stormy Weather
These brothers began performing in the Cotton Club in 1932 and had a career that lasted into the 1990s. They are considered to be among the greatest tap dancers of all time.
MissTwist Break Dance Demo.Mov
Breaking: another American art form which has become classic. Miss Twist is one of the pioneering breaking-dancing females. She broke down barriers by proving “power moves” were not strictly the province of “the boys” . Her distinct style won her gigs with leading performers, such as Mariah Carey and Missy Elliott. Kudos to That.
Miss Twist in a “Freeze”
Kamel Battle
The first time I saw some young guys carrying around rolled up linoleum I didn’t get it. Then I learned that the linoleum was for breaking-dancing; the breakers would unroll the linoleum and turn just about any place into a dance floor In this clip, one of the top breakers in the world is being challenged by three “bboys”.
1000% MEDA VS KAMEL (boogie brats) au WHO IS WHO 2009 by YOUVAL
Kamel again, in a classic bboy battle. Here you see what looks like aggression, but it’s really a kind of ritualized respect as each competitor proves himself.
Rhythm Prism Promo 1 
And as the art of break-dancing evolves, it goes mainstream. Street artists become entertainers. Dance schools offer instruction. Suburbanites hire the best to put shows together and perform. This clip is a promo for just such an entertainment company.
Baryshnikov Push Comes to Shove
This is considered a crossover ballet, combining ballet with modern dance. Choreographed by Twyla Tharp in 1976, crossover ballet became a vehicle for Baryshnikov as he transitioned into a new phase of his career.
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker
It’s wonderful when an adult and a child can watch something together and both are entertained. Not only did a very, very young child find this story enchanting, but the music was recalled affectionately many times and an interest in ballet inspired.
Amazing Flamenco 
I think tap and flamenco share a few elements. For one thing, both styles of dance are dramatically acoustical. And both are highly emotive. Contrast this with ballet, which is rigidly defined and executed. Flamenco grew out of a blending of the Romani and Andalusian culture. It is, in a sense organically Spanish. Tap was influenced by African and Caribbean dance culture. It is, in a sense, organically American.
Spanish Dancer
John Singer Sargent
Wikimedia commons copyright expired
Gene Kelley, Singing in the Rain 
A versatile performer who was an accomplished dancer, actor and singer, Kelly’s range is on full display in this YouTube clip. The rain in the sequence–which Kelly choreographed–became a partner in the dance. The scene is iconic; Singing in the Rain is the movie most people today associate with Gene Kelly.
While Kelly helped to shape the history of dance in film, in 1948 he also played a minor role in the racial politics of cinema. That’s the year he teamed up with the Nicholas Brothers in a Vincent MInnelli movie, The Pirate. The scene in which Kelly and the Nicholas Brothers dance together had to be edited out in some Southern states because Kelly was white and the Nicholas Brothers were black.
MUSIC
The Itinerant Fiddler 1860s, Myles Birkett FosterCopyright Expired
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•White Nights, Baryshnikov and Hines
MUSIC Index
•Bill Withers Billie Holiday Dave Brubeck Ella Fitzgerald Jelly Roll Morton John Lee Hooker
•Judy Collins Chick Corea •Lena Horne Muddy Waters •Roy Orbison •The Animals
•The Doors •Tina Turner •Tito Puente
Haste to the Wedding, by Gilbert and Grossmith,
Copyright ExpiredJimmy Slyde 
An American legend demonstrating the best in an American art form. Quality of the YouTube video isn’t the best, but you can’t complain because you get to see Jimmy Slyde go through his moves. Kudos to That.
Jimmy Slyde, 1977
Photo Lioneldercoster
Jimmy Slyde, Part 2, – All Blues 
Another YouTube video of Jimmy Slyde. This clip captures Slyde at a live performance in Rio de Janeiro in 1998. Bruce Henri, on bass, and Jose Carlos Ramos, on sax, are accompanying him.Gregory Hines in Tap Dance Shop 
This clip is a self contained dramatic scene. Tap is an acoustic and visual art. It demands grace, athleticism and an ear for music. In this piece, the acoustics of the dance are seamlessly blended into the environment. A dripping faucet, a deep sigh, all are an organic part of the performance. I have to say Kudos to Gregory Hines, who was not only a great dancer but a gifted actor and singer. He did not live a long life–he died at 57 of liver disease–but in his all-too-brief career managed to work with legends of his time and also to create unforgettable moments of his own.
White Nights, Mikhail Baryshnikov & Gregory Hines 
Hines and Baryshnikov face off in this choreographed duet. Interesting to compare this “battle” and the one between 1000% Meda and Kamel (a little further down this page).
Gregory Hines, Bunny Briggs, Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown,
Five legends of tap in one clip. This clip from 1989 shows, as Hines says in the intro, how dancers borrow from each other. The chemistry between the five dancers on stage is electric.
Nicholas Brothers in Stormy Weather 
These brothers began performing in the Cotton Club in 1932 and had a career that lasted into the 1990s. They are considered to be among the greatest tap dancers of all time.
MissTwist Break Dance Demo.Mov 
Breaking: another American art form which has become classic. Miss Twist is one of the pioneering breaking-dancing females. She broke down barriers by proving “power moves” were not strictly the province of “the boys” . Her distinct style won her gigs with leading performers, such as Mariah Carey and Missy Elliott. Kudos to That.
Miss Twist in a “Freeze”
Kamel Battle 
The first time I saw some young guys carrying around rolled up linoleum I didn’t get it. Then I learned that the linoleum was for breaking-dancing; the breakers would unroll the linoleum and turn just about any place into a dance floor In this clip, one of the top breakers in the world is being challenged by three “bboys”.
1000% MEDA VS KAMEL (boogie brats) au WHO IS WHO 2009 by YOUVAL
Kamel again, in a classic bboy battle. Here you see what looks like aggression, but it’s really a kind of ritualized respect as each competitor proves himself.
Rhythm Prism Promo 1
And as the art of break-dancing evolves, it goes mainstream. Street artists become entertainers. Dance schools offer instruction. Suburbanites hire the best to put shows together and perform. This clip is a promo for just such an entertainment company.
Baryshnikov Push Comes to Shove
This is considered a crossover ballet, combining ballet with modern dance. Choreographed by Twyla Tharp in 1976, crossover ballet became a vehicle for Baryshnikov as he transitioned into a new phase of his career.
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker 
It’s wonderful when an adult and a child can watch something together and both are entertained. Not only did a very, very young child find this story enchanting, but the music was recalled affectionately many times and an interest in ballet inspired.
Amazing Flamenco 
I think tap and flamenco share a few elements. For one thing, both styles of dance are dramatically acoustical. And both are highly emotive. Contrast this with ballet, which is rigidly defined and executed. Flamenco grew out of a blending of the Romani and Andalusian culture. It is, in a sense organically Spanish. Tap was influenced by African and Caribbean dance culture. It is, in a sense, organically American.
Spanish Dancer
John Singer Sargent
Wikimedia commons copyright expired
Gene Kelley, Singing in the Rain 
A versatile performer who was an accomplished dancer, actor and singer, Kelly’s range is on full display in this YouTube clip. The rain in the sequence–which Kelly choreographed–became a partner in the dance. The scene is iconic; Singing in the Rain is the movie most people today associate with Gene Kelly.
While Kelly helped to shape the history of dance in film, in 1948 he also played a minor role in the racial politics of cinema. That’s the year he teamed up with the Nicholas Brothers in a Vincent MInnelli movie, The Pirate. The scene in which Kelly and the Nicholas Brothers dance together had to be edited out in some Southern states because Kelly was white and the Nicholas Brothers were black.
MUSIC
The Itinerant Fiddler 1860s, Myles Birkett FosterCopyright Expired
Blank space
Proud Mary was first recorded by Clearance Clearwater Revival in 1969. The version performed by Tina Turner in 1970 differed significantly from the original. Proud Mary became one of Turner’s signature songs.
The building featured below, the Avalon Theater, is reported to be where John Fogarty of Clearance Clearwater drafted the first version of Proud Mary.
The Avalon Theater in San Francisco
Picture by Roger Siegel (aka Gurudas)
Uploaded from Wikimedia CommonsThe Animals – The House of the Rising Sun
The first known recording of this song was by Clarence “Tom” Aschley and Gwen Foster in 1934. Lead Belly recorded two versions, one in 1944 and one in 1948. However, the song has roots that go back further than that and its origin is unclear. Although many great singers have offered renditions of the song, The Animals‘ recording in 1964 became an international hit.
Lead Belly
Author unknown
From Wikimedia Commons public domain copyright expired The Doors – People Are Strange
This song was recorded on the Doors’ second album, Strange Days, in 1967. The group released five more albums before Jim Morrison’s death in 1971 (at the age of 27). Dave Brubeck -Take Five 
Though performed and made popular by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Take Five is actually a Paul Desmond composition. The song was first performed live at the Village Gate in 1959 and recorded that year on the album Time Out. I used to own this album, on vinyl, but it has, alas, been lost to time.John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom
I don’t know when this performance was taped, but Hooker first recorded Boom Boom in 1962. He left home at the age of 15 and at some point in the 1930’s ended up on Beale Street, in Memphis, where he performed at the New Daisy Theater. Boom Boom eventually became one of his signature songs. Though many other artists have recorded this song, Hooker wrote it and will always “own” it.
Beale Street
Author Jeremy AthertonCreative Commons Attribution on Wikimedia Commons Muddy Waters – Champagne and Reefer
According to Jas Obrecht in Rollin’ and Tumblin’: The Postwar Blues Guitarists, Champagne and Reefer was included in the 1981 album Muddy “Mississippi” Waters – Live. This song was apparently a concert favorite before that. Just listen and you don’t have to ask why.
From the Muddy Waters Exhibit at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, MI
Photo by Emmet D. Smith
From Wikimedia Commons
Bill Withers at a 1973 BBC Concert :
Tape of a live performance. I don’t care what kind of music you like–Withers delivers. Lena Horne, Stormy Weather “ 
YouTube clip of Lena Horne singing Stormy Weather. This clip is an excerpt from a film and I don’t think it captures the full richness of Horne’s more mature renditions of this classic song. Stormy Weather was written in 1933 and was first performed by Ethel Waters that year at the Cotton Club in Harlem.I was lucky enough to catch Lena Horne on Broadway in a one woman show much later in her career. Tickets to the show were a birthday gift, one of the best I ever received. The show was unforgettable.
Ethel Waters, Photo by Carl Van Vechten
Tito Puente – El Cumbanchero
A YouTube clip of Tito Puente from 1965. The end of this clip is spectacular. Also interesting are the comments posted at the bottom of this entry. If you have a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish you can follow the discussion about the origins of Salsa.
Tito Puente’s Timbales, used in closing ceremonies of 1996 Olympics
Photo by: RadioFan at English Wikipedia
On Wikimedia Commons
Ella Fitzgerald Singing “Stormy Weather “
The incomparable Ella Fitzerald in a YouTube clip, singing Stormy Weather. Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Virginia, in 1917. As she learned her craft and gained respect in the music community formidable barriers to success existed because of her race. In 1955 she experienced was some consider a breakthrough when she sang at the Mocambo Club in West Hollywood, California. It is also reported that the owners of the club only gave Fitzerald this opportunity because of vigorous lobbying by Marilyn Monroe.Below is a picture of the Mocambo marquis; this photo was taken in 1955, the same year Ella Fitzerald got her break. 
Marquis of the Mocambo Club in West Hollywood CA.
Picture by Antarctic96 on
Wikimedia Commons Billie Holiday Singing “Stormy Weather “
I couldn’t resist offering a rendition of this song offered by the great Billie Holiday. In a way, listening to each of these legendary singers interpret the lyrics to this song is like taking a walk down music history. It’s also a wonderful way to pass a few minutes on a quiet afternoon.
Two-year-old Billie Holiday, 1917
Author Unknown
On Wikimedia Commons, Copyright Expired
Jelly Roll Morton –Hesitation Blues
He’s credited with being the first “true” composer of jazz music by some. I don’t know what it means to be a “true” composer in an art form that grew organically in the culture. Jelly Roll Morton certainly does represent a milestone in the development of Jazz.
“I Got the Blues” Sheet Music 1908
Public Domain, Copyright Expired
Amazing Performance by Chick Corea on LEGENDS OF JAZZ
Watching him, listening to him play, you get the feeling that the piano isn’t an instrument separate from his body but is a part of him. Piano is just a medium through which the sound in his head is communicated to everyone else.Judy Collins-I Think It’s Going to Rain Tod ay This YouTube clip shows Collins performing on the Smothers Brothers Show. Since the show ran for about four years in the late sixties, I date the performance from sometime in that period. It was while she was performing at the legendary Village Gate in New York that Collins was approached to make her first album. The year was 1961 and the star that rose with the recording of this album is still riding high in the sky.
Picture of the Village Gate
By Srosenstock
Uploaded to Wikimedia CommonsRoy Orbison – In Dream s
The great Roy Orbison in a YouTube clip. This is an Orbison composition and was first released in 1963 as a single. Orbison sang it when he toured with the Beatles and the song was re-released on an album in 1987. I don’t know what the vintage of the performance on this YouTube clip is.No Paid Advertising No Warranties or Guarantees
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