Blue Shoes & Jump Blues

Fall is upon us. I have a pair of suede shoes that I’ve had for about 10 or 15 years that I love. They are light tan in color. So you can imagine that after 15 years, they’ve lost their luster – if that’s a word that can used to describe suede. The style of the shoe is still very classic. The upper, sole and the heel are in phenomenal condition. They just aren’t pretty anymore. I took them to a shoe shop and the cobbler wouldn’t touch them when I asked if he could clean them. So, I’ve decided to try to dye the shoes. How hard would it be to find some suede dye and bring life back to one of my all time favorite pair of shoes? I googled “Blue Suede Shoe Dye” and look what I found…WOW! My eyes bugged and my heart skipped a beat. These were some of the most beautiful shoes I’ve ever laid eyes on.

There’s an HBO movie called LACKAWANNA BLUES that I love. There’s a scene that features MOS DEF as a Jump Blues artist. And during the performance, the narrator laments how the Saturday Juke Joint night was a chance for the party-goers to show off their shoes – “Nothing compares to the shoes…” The scene in the movie was the first thing I thought about when I saw the shoes.

So what does any of this have to do with SonicVibrations? Well I’m glad you asked. JUMP BLUES.

Jump Blues is another jazz child that features up-tempo blues. Most of its origins are usually attributed to artists like Count Basie and Lionel Hampton; but also, one of my favorite artists, the incomparable Louis Jordan who brought us the story of Beans and Cornbread having a fight. Oh, you remember the little childhood diddy: “Beans and Cornbread had a fight, Beans knocked Cornbread out of sight”! If you’re still not sure you’ve heard the music before, think of the dance the Lindy Hop or Fred Sanford singing Flat Foot Foogie with the Floy Floy…Well I couldn’t find his version…but enjoy The Count doing his thing.

So now, I’m in a bit of quandary. Do I dye my well-worn broken in shoes? Or, do I purchase a pair of the beautiful shoes above? Or, do I do both? Whatever I decide, I’m sure I’ll keep loving and listening to Jump Blues and looking for somewhere to dance in my blue suede shoes…