"Fidgety Feet"
Parents' Choice GOLD Award
American Library Association Notable Children's Recording

What Is It About Swing Music?
I met Don steirnberg years ago in college. We became fast friends and have been making music together ever since. I sometimes wonder how this friendship has lasted so happily for so long. One clear reason is that we share a love of swing music, which was a favored form of celebration in both of our families.

Don's parents have a great record collection and are conversant in the fine points of players like Bobby Hackett, Eddie Condon, and Pee Wee Russel. His father would even stop the dinner conversation to draw attention to favorite solos.

My parents played dixieland records every Saturday mornings as Mom worked upstairs and Dad cleaned up the basement which my friends and I has destroyed during the week. When I was ranked eleventh "chair" of eleven trumpets in the junior high band and badly needed a musical mentor, Dad suggested we listen to a Louis Armstrong record together. It literally changed my life - I immediately knew I needed to be a musician.

As Kids, Don and I were drawn to this music because it was so joyful and wildly spontaneous. That was the album we set out to make. We collected eighteen of Chicago's great jazz musicians and jumped in with them in different combinations to perform dixieland, small group, western swing and big band music - all different kinds of swing - that were popular from the 1920s through the 1950s.

Although both Don and I embraced the music of our own youth in the 60s and 70s, it was swing music that most profoundly shaped us. Now as parents, it has become important to us to share this significant part of our upbringing with our own families. We are honored to be able to also share it with you.

- Steve Rashid, August 1994

Recommended Discography:
'We hope we've succeeded in getting you excited about swing music. To help you explore its roots, we've divided our songs into four categories and then listed several wonderful recordings in each style that are currently in print. Have fun discovering your own favorites!

Dixieland Traditional Jazz: America The Beautiful, I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter, Fidgety Feet, Struttin' With Some Barbeque, When It's Sleepy Time Down South
Louis Armstrong - The Hot Fives and Sevens Vol. III (Columbia CK 44422)
Bix Beiderbecke - Singin' the Blues (Columbia CK 45450)
The Eddie Condon All-Stars - Dixieland Jam (Columbia CK 45145)
"Fats" Waller - The Joint is Jumpin' (BMG 6288-2-RB)

Western Spring: Roly Poly, Party For The Old Folks
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys - Anthology 1933-1973
(Rhino RD-70744) - Tiffany Transcripts Vol. 1-9 (Rhino)

Big Band Jazz: It Doesn't Mean A Thing, Listen My Children And You Shall Hear, The Jeep Is Jumpin'
Count Basie - Jazz Masters 2 (Verve 314-519-819-2)
Duke Ellington - The Great Paris Concert (Atlantic Jazz 304-2)
And His Cotton Club Orchestra/Jungle Nights in Harlem ('27-'32) (Bluebird 2499-2-RB)
Benny Goodman - Live at Carnegie Hall (Columbia G2K 40244)

Small Group Jazz: Mutiny In The Nursery, Old King Cole, Kee-Mo Ky-Mo, Patty Cake Patty Cake
Nat "King" Cole Trio - After Midnight Sessions (Capitol CDP 7-48328-2)
Lester Young Trio (Verve 314-521-650-2)
Country All Stars - Jazz From The Hills (Bear Family BCD 15728 AH)

Special Thanks:
Kristi Thomas Beavin, Ross Berger, Jeff Berkson, Ryan Beveridge, Rick Bjella, Jethro Burns, Donald Cuthbert, Jim Shirley Duncan, Tom Greensfelder, Fred Koch, Irene & Ken Lay, Sylvia Lopez, Nancy Maes, John Monteleone, Luke Nelson, Spike O'Dell, Lynn Orman, Mike Rapchak, Bea Rashid, Bob Rashid, Robert Rashid Sr., Jackie Runice, Steve Schmidt, Ray Stahura, Michael Stevens Electrical Instruments, Ed & Myra Steinberg, Ilene Stiernberg, Terry Straker and the Guitar Works staff.

For our favorite junior hipsters:
Zachary Berger, Daniel and Robert Rashid, and Bonnie and Charlie Stiernberg.

Produced by:
Don Stiernberg and Steve Rashid

Executive Producers:
Anna Lissa, Norman Berger, and Drs. Cyrena and Sheldon Berger

Assistant to the Producers:
Ryan (is cool) Beveridge

Liner notes by:
Steve Rashid, Don Stiernberg, Jeff Berkson

Design by:
Tom Greensfelder

Photography by:
Bob Rashid

Feet by:
Allison "Allie" Dunleavy (fidgety) and Holly Cohn (non-fidgety)

Recorded, digitally mixed and mastered by:
Steve Rashid at Woodside Avenue Music Productions, Evanston, Illinois, May-August, 1994

This recording © (p) 1994 Steve Rashid

"Rashid's voice is comfortable, polished and relaxed . . . It's like having a group of talented friends drop by your living room for a Sunday afternoon jam session. Turn it up, invite the whole family, put on your dancing shoes, and grab the youngest hand around."
- Kristi Beavin, Parents' Choice

"From New Orleans to Chicago to West Texas, this lively collection embraces swing in all its incarnations . . . elegant mixes of genre swing fronted by Rashid's comfortable voice. A terrific potpourri."
- John Sigwald, Booklist

"Everyone in the family will come to appreciate the big-band genre as top-notch musicians play Dixieland, jazz, and Western swing oldies . . . every cut on this album is delectable."
- Martin F. Kohn, Parents Magazine

"Excellent musicianship combines with swing classics, Dixieland and some Mother Goose add up to a jumpin' and jivin' introduction to an American music genre that will delight all ages."
- American Library Association

"I was wondering recently how we were going to keep these musical genres alive if children couldn't hear them on the radio, and in the mail came my answer. The musicianship is expert, the vocals smooth, and the selections toe-tapping."
- Val Smalkin, Syndicated Columnist

"Rashid collected nineteen stellar Windy City jazz musicians and turned them loose on this collection of fast-stepping classics from Duke Ellington, Nat 'King' Cole, and others."
- Moira McCormick, Family Fun

"A program of swinging classics . . . the superb results speak to the high level of musicianship involved as well as to the producers' knack for picking the right players for each tune . . . this is an album made to cut across generations."
- David Duckman, Chicago Tribune