Sheiks of Dixie  

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Danceable? Always! (Except for concerts)

Loud? Not if you don't want it loud

In your living room? Try the trio, even the quartet

Weddings? Great dance music, with some beautiful slow tunes

Dinner music? We wish you would ask. We'd love to play the pretty tunes more often, but they are too "laid back" for the usual Dixieland event

Funerals? Jazz funerals are a New Orleans tradition and occur with surprising frequency in the DC area

----> Tune List

Instrumentation

But first, click HERE for more information on Dixieland bands and music.

• Trio: Banjo, Tuba, Clarinet (for some events a Trumpet or Trombone may be better.)
• 4 pieces: Add Trumpet (or Trombone)
• ---Add-ons: Trombone, Drums, female Vocalist, Piano.
• 5 piece mobile format: Trumpet, clarinet, trombone, banjo, tuba. This is the smallest group that gives you the full traditional Dixieland sound and can move around the site.
• Small 20s band: Trumpet, Clarinet/Soprano Sax/C Melody Sax, Alto Sax, Banjo, Tuba, (piano), (drums). Unique in the DC area, this variation features the rhythms, pop-tunes, and sounds reminiscent of the 20s orchestras, rather than the jazz bands, though it can play as much jazz as desired.
• 7 piece dance band: Clarinet, Trumpet, Trombone, Piano, Bass, Drums, Guitar.
• Female Vocalist is a great addition to any kind of show, dance, or party.
• Funeral band: Trumpet, clarinet, trombone, tuba, banjo, snare drum, bass drum. (Depending on circumstances, 4-5 pieces may suffice, particularly if the band will mainly be stationary, eg. playing in the church or at the grave.)

White Lightnin' is a hokum variation of the Sheiks that features, of course, a washboard, saxophone, banjo, and usually a washtub bass (yep, the cat sticks a heavy chord in a galvanized washtub, attaches it to a pole, puts the pole on the edge of the washtub, and makes real notes!). White Lightnin' features hot instrumentals, Spike Jones sound effects, including the infamous "bucket", and novelty vocals. This band is just that touch of inelegance to make your affair the talk of the town!
 

Charleston Sheiks Orchestra

If you want the bright spirit of Dixieland, the banjo and tuba sound, but something different, perhaps less jazzy, the Charleston Sheiks Orchestra fills that bill nicely. This 8-12 piece band plays authentic vintage dance band arrangements of the popular hits from the 1920s. This is not the hokey stereotype heard on all too many records of more recent times, but real music for listening and dancing. It is perfect background music for receptions.
 

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Getting our terminology straight

Now, in the world of Dixieland, most of these terms have specific meanings with regard to style, sound or instrumentation, and repertoire. And there are many sub-types--Chicago, New York, Eddie Condon, Bix, Bunk Johnson New Orleans Revival, West Coast /Turk Murphy, etc. Most bands play the standard tunes, but if you have a certain style in mind, make certain you give us specifics--names of artists, bands, etc.

Ragtime. Ragtime to most people is Honky Tonk barroom/pizza parlor banjo/piano music, but some think of the movie The Sting, and its theme "The Entertainer", which is the "real" ragtime--a type of formal chamber or dance music. This difference is crucial, so make sure you tell us exactly what you want.

Red Striped-Vest / Turk Murphy 2-beat style. Striped-Vest style features good old pizza parlor sing-along and popular dixieland tunes, with a 2-beat feel, and has the banjo and tuba. Roaring 20's has more Charleston beat tunes, plus popular songs not in the usual Dixieland repertoire. For the unique "classic 20's" sound, you should consider the Charleston Sheiks, which with 8-11 pieces plays vintage 1920's arrangements, and can also play Dixieland on demand; a great substitute for the full-size Dixieland band. Turk Murphy style is similar, but the repertoire is New Orleans Traditional, plus the West Coast compositions of Lu Watters, Murphy, etc.

Eddie Condon / New York Dance band style. Eddie Condon/New York danceband style, with its string bass, piano and guitar, has a more mellow sound, and swing-type rhythms, but can drive as hard as you want. For Dixieland dances and banquets it is the most flexible of all the styles.

New Orleans / Traditional Jazz. New Orleans Jazz/Traditional Jazz is mainly for aficionados, featuring specifically the less-known tunes and arrangements of King Oliver, Johnny Dodds, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Seven; or, alternately, Bix or Red Nichols. Some of their tunes have become standards, played by most dixieland musicians, but the "hard-core" repertoire is played by musicians who specialize in these types of jazz.

Most of the time the Red Striped-Vest style is best bet, because it is bright and bouncy, and instantly makes people feel happy and tap their feet. When using 3 or 4 pieces, it has by far the greatest impact on the audience.

Now return to Instrumentation

The following are tunes the Sheiks are most likely to play at you event.
 

After You've Gone   Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll   Ain't Misbehavin'   Ain't She Sweet   Alabama Jubilee   Alexander's Ragtime Band   Am I Blue   Angry   At Sundown   At the Jazz Band Ball   Avalon   Baby Face   Baby Won't You Please Come Home   Back In Your Own Back Yard  Ballin' the Jack   Basin St. Blues   Beale Street blues   Big Butter and Egg Man   Bill Bailey   Birth of the Blues   Blue Turning Grey   Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me   Bourbon Street Parade   Bye Bye Blackbird   Bye Bye Blues   Cabaret   Careless Love   Cakewalkin' Babies   Charleston   Chicago   China Boy   Clarinet Marmalade   Coney Island Washboard   Copenhagen   Darktown Strutter's Ball   Davenport Blues   Dinah   Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans   Down By the Riverside   Dr. Jazz   Empty Bed Blues   Everybody Loves My Baby   Fidgety Feet   Five Foot Two   Floating Down That Old Green River   Four Leaf Clover   Give My Regards To Broadway   A Good Man Is Hard To Find   Happy Days Are Here Again   Hard Hearted Hannah   Hello Dolly   High Society

Hindustan  Honeysuckle Rose   I Ain't Got Nobody   I Found a New Baby   I Never New   I Want a Little Girl   I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate   I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself a letter   Ice Cream   Ida   If I Could Be With You   If I Had You   If You Knew Susie   In a Shanty In Old Shanty Town   In the Shade Of the Old Apple Tree   Indiana   It's a Long Way To Tipperary   Jambalaya   Jazz Me Blues   Just a Closer Walk With Thee   Keepin' Out Of Mischief   Kiddy Medley: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Small World, Do-Re-Me   Lazy River   Limehouse blues   Louisiana   Love Me With A Feeling   Love Nest   Mack the Knife   Margie   Mean to Me   Melancholy Blues   Memories Of You   Midnight In Moscow  Mississippi Mud   Muskrat Ramble   My Baby Just Cares For Me   My Blue Heaven   My Gal Sal   My Honey's Lovin' Arms   New Orleans   Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out  Nobody's Sweetheart   Oh Baby   Oh Daddy   Old Fashioned Love   Once In a While (Louie's)   Original Dixieland One-Step   Panama   Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone   Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet

Riverboat Shuffle   Rose of Washington Square   Rosetta   Royal Garden Blues   Runnin' Wild   Sailin' Down the Chesapeake Bay   San   See See Rider   Sheik of Araby   Shine   Singin' the Blues   Sleepytime Down South   Sleepytime Gal   Somebody Stole My Gal   Someday Sweetheart   Someday, you'll be sorry  South   South Rampart Street Parade   St. James Infirmary   St. Louis Blues   Struttin' With Some Barbeque   Sunday   Sweet Georgia Brown   Sweet Sue   That Da Da Strain   That Old Gang Of Mine   That's A-Plenty   There Ain't No Sweet Man Worth the Salt Of My Tears   There'll Be Some Changes Made   Tiger Rag   Tin Roof Blues   Tishomingo Blues   Toot Toot Tootsie   Trouble In Mind   Undecided   Waiting for the Robert E. Lee   Washington and Lee Swing  Way Down Yonder In New Orleans   Weary Blues   Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang Of Mine   West End Blues   When My Dreamboat Comes Home   When My Sugar Walks Down the Street   When the Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin'   When the Saints   When You And I Were Young Maggie   When You Wore a Tulip   When You're Smiling   Whispering   Wild Women Don't Have the Blues   Wolverine Blues   World Is Waiting For the Sunrise   Yes Sir That's My Baby   You're A Grand Old Flag

 
Consumer warning:  This photo of an alienoid may be hazardous to your sanity. 
                                                                                                                                         

 

Revised 4/19/03. Copyright 2003 by David W. Littlefield