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Hand jive
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Hand jive
The hand jive is a dance particularly associated with music from the 1950s, rhythm and blues in particular. It involves a complicated pattern of hand moves and claps at various parts of the body. It resembles a highly elaborate version of pat-a-cake. Hand moves include thigh slapping, crossing the wrists, fist pounding, hand clapping, and hitchhike moves.
In 1957, when filmmaker Ken Russell was a freelance photographer, he recorded the teenagers of Soho, London, hand-jiving in the basement of The Cat's Whisker coffee bar, where the hand-jive had been invented by Leon Bell of Leon Bell and the Bell Cats. According to an article in the Daily Mirror, "it's so crowded [at The Cat's Whisker] the girls hand-jive to the band as there's no room for dancing." Russell told interviewer Leo Benedictus of The Guardian that "the place was crowded with young kids... the atmosphere was very jolly. Wholesome... everyone jiving with their hands because there was precious little room to do it with their feet... a bizarre sight. The craze fascinated me. It seemed like a strange novelty; I used to join in."
His Master's Voice licensed Capitol Records to release the song "Hand Jive 6-5" in the U.S., backed with "Ramshackle Daddy" (3937), by British group Don Lang and his "Frantic Five" in March 1958. This recording does not feature the Bo Diddley rhythm.
In April 1958, the UK record label Decca Records, released a song called "Hand Jive" by Bud Allen, performed by the Betty Smith Group. The song lyrics describe the hand dance the title refers to.
The hand jive was popularized in the United States by Johnny Otis's "Willie and the Hand Jive", described as a "funky blues rendition in a Bo Diddley styling" and "another approach to the growing Stateside interest in the British originated hand dance."
This song exhibited the Bo Diddley beat, a rhythm that originated in Afro-Latin music and was brought into mainstream American music by Bo Diddley. It has since influenced generations of musicians.
Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis has a track titled "Hand Jive," written by drummer Tony Williams, on the album Nefertiti from 1967.
Eric Clapton did a version of the Johnny Otis song in 1974 that reached the Top 40.
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Hand jive
The hand jive is a dance particularly associated with music from the 1950s, rhythm and blues in particular. It involves a complicated pattern of hand moves and claps at various parts of the body. It resembles a highly elaborate version of pat-a-cake. Hand moves include thigh slapping, crossing the wrists, fist pounding, hand clapping, and hitchhike moves.
In 1957, when filmmaker Ken Russell was a freelance photographer, he recorded the teenagers of Soho, London, hand-jiving in the basement of The Cat's Whisker coffee bar, where the hand-jive had been invented by Leon Bell of Leon Bell and the Bell Cats. According to an article in the Daily Mirror, "it's so crowded [at The Cat's Whisker] the girls hand-jive to the band as there's no room for dancing." Russell told interviewer Leo Benedictus of The Guardian that "the place was crowded with young kids... the atmosphere was very jolly. Wholesome... everyone jiving with their hands because there was precious little room to do it with their feet... a bizarre sight. The craze fascinated me. It seemed like a strange novelty; I used to join in."
His Master's Voice licensed Capitol Records to release the song "Hand Jive 6-5" in the U.S., backed with "Ramshackle Daddy" (3937), by British group Don Lang and his "Frantic Five" in March 1958. This recording does not feature the Bo Diddley rhythm.
In April 1958, the UK record label Decca Records, released a song called "Hand Jive" by Bud Allen, performed by the Betty Smith Group. The song lyrics describe the hand dance the title refers to.
The hand jive was popularized in the United States by Johnny Otis's "Willie and the Hand Jive", described as a "funky blues rendition in a Bo Diddley styling" and "another approach to the growing Stateside interest in the British originated hand dance."
This song exhibited the Bo Diddley beat, a rhythm that originated in Afro-Latin music and was brought into mainstream American music by Bo Diddley. It has since influenced generations of musicians.
Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis has a track titled "Hand Jive," written by drummer Tony Williams, on the album Nefertiti from 1967.
Eric Clapton did a version of the Johnny Otis song in 1974 that reached the Top 40.