The Swing Book

by Degen Pener

  They don’t try to be offensive, they just are offensive and that’s the way they like it. A ska-inspired band with a big horn sound, the Daddies started doing swing soon after getting together in Eugene, Oregon, way back in 1989. Fronted by former punk rocker Steve Perry, the band would seem to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Pacific Northwest was then ground zero for grunge, and the group’s antics were anything but angst propelled. They’d wheel a giant phallus-shaped golf cart, dubbed the Dildorado, onstage during their shows. They put out an early album called Ferociously Stoned, with women on the cover so skimpily clothed they would have been at home in a David Lee Roth video. And then there was their risqué moniker, inspired by the double entendre “race” records of early R&B. “It was dirty and filthy and bad and it was funny and it swung, too,” Perry has told Lo-Fi magazine. Needless to say, it was a little too dirty for some people. The Daddies’ in-your-face attitude upset a fair share of PC types; at one point Perry even had hot coffee thrown in his face while just walking down the street. But the band made a shrewd decision in 1997. Before then they’d always mixed up ska, punk, and swing on their albums, but that year they improbably decided to put together a greatest hits CD that gathered all their most swinging songs in one place. Named for their soon-to-be-huge radio hit “Zoot Suit Riot,” the CD blew out of stores in 1998, selling over a million copies. It also made the Daddies emblems of the swing scene, an odd place for the band given that they’re not a favorite of the dance crowd and are more likely to be found touring with such ska bands as the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish. But the band’s pop success isn’t hard to fathom. In their best and most irreverent songs, they smartly marry a blasting swing sound with lyrics that gamely tackle the dysfunction of the nineties. For a signature Daddies’ tune, just check out “Drunk Daddy,” which opens with the following line: “Momma married a big asshole / Whiskey bottles on the floor.”

  Royal Crown Revue

  Give ’em their props! The Royal Crowns are the true pioneers of the swing revival, bringing their pumped-up jazz to a whole new generation for more than a decade. (For the full story of how they did it, check out chapter 2.) They’ve got the cred and the cool and a range of influences as diverse as a Las Vegas buffet table. From Dashiell Hammett and film noir to juvenile delinquent novels and Jim Thompson to punk and bebop, they throw it all into the mix. The result is that they’ve created a hybrid brand of music they call gangster bop that’s hard to pigeonhole. Fronted by lead singer Eddie Nichols, they’ve toured with the B-52’s and the Pretenders, recorded with Bette Midler, played on the Warped Tour, headlined the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, performed at jazz festivals, and even opened for Kiss. “This isn’t anything like Glenn Miller would do,” says the band’s trumpeter, Scott Steen. But is the band starting to show its sweet side as well? For their newest album, Walk on Fire, according to guitarist James Achor, “Eddie’s writing love songs.” Get ready to swoon.

  Brian Setzer Orchestra

  Believe it or not, you can draw a line of inspiration from Tommy Dorsey to Brian Setzer. In the late eighties the former Stray Cat first got the idea to take his brand of rockabilly and put a swing band behind it after he was scheduled to appear on The Tonight Show. A routine TV appearance perhaps. But the producers suggested Setzer do something totally different on air. They offered to let him strum his guitar in front of the Tonight Show band, led by none other than the mighty trumpeter Doc Severinsen, who, believe it or not, got his start back in the forties in the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, and Benny Goodman. And while the Tonight Show appearance never actually happened, the offer planted a seed in Setzer’s head. Cut to the early nineties. Setzer—with some great advance money from Warner Records—decided to put his brainstorm into action. Putting together what are hands-down the best musicians in the business, Setzer reinvented himself with the Brian Setzer Orchestra, which began playing its first gigs in Los Angeles in 1993. “Man, I hit a brick wall,” he once told Pulse magazine. “It was like, what the hell are you doing? First of all, no one’s gonna book a big band, there’s too many guys to pay. Then they’d ask, ‘What is a big band? Is that two drummers and four backup vocalists?’ They didn’t know what it was!” Indeed, Setzer’s first two albums failed to spark. But the third, The Dirty Boogie—released in 1998 just as swing was about to hit critical mass—became a monster hit, no doubt helped immensely by the fortuitous redo of Louis Prima’s “Jump, Jive, an’ Wail,” released at the same time as the Gap commercial, featuring the original. But has Setzer—who won two Grammys in 1999 for The Dirty Boogie—really reinvented himself? Get beyond the Prima cover and this is still greaser rock, music that isn’t really that far afield from “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut.” Not that that’s a problem. What could be better than getting to carry on the tradition of Bill Haley and Eddie Cochran in two successful incarnations? This cat’s got at least a few more lives.

  Squirrel Nut Zippers

  While they’ve been credited with convincing radio execs that retro music can be a hit—with their landmark 1996 calypso-tinged song “Hell”—the Squirrel Nut Zippers, contrary to popular belief, aren’t really a swing band. In fact, they’ve strenuously resisted being tagged with the swing label. Instead, this North Carolina band is a bunch of alt rock eccentrics who like to play twenties hot jazz. Since forming in 1993, they’ve put out three albums, Hot, Inevitable, and Perennial Favorites, but the latest CD to look out for is Jazz Squad, the solo album from singer and resident banjo player Katharine Whalen. With her high but wry tone, she covers such pre–World War II gems as “Deed I Do,” “Sugar,” and “Just You, Just Me.”

  DANCERS’ FAVORITES

  Bill Elliott Orchestra

  Perhaps the most dancer-friendly bandleader out there, Elliott started falling in love with Benny Goodman’s music when he was ten and Fats Waller’s piano playing when he was sixteen, and he hasn’t stopped swinging since. Modeling his Los Angeles–based fifteen-piece group on the orchestras of Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw circa 1939, Elliott plays a traditional big band style of swing. He’s got great sidemen, a thrilling way with the keyboard, and a vocal group called the Lucky Stars who call to mind the Pied Pipers. And he’s also an acute observer of the rapidly evolving swing scene, which shouldn’t be too surprising. Elliott—who’s also a successful composer of movie and TV scores—started a jump blues band back in Boston two decades ago. So what keeps his music fresh? Often it’s because he takes inspiration directly from Lindy Hoppers. In fact, he recently wrote a song called “Shim Sham Shimmy” inspired by the dance of the same name. “Not every band can play at a medium tempo and have it really cook,” he says. “I take pride in the fact that we can do music that isn’t fast but is still exciting.”

  Indigo Swing

  One of the most in-demand dance outfits in the country, San Francisco’s Indigo Swing plays more than three hundred live shows a year. And it’s not hard to see why. Lead singer Johnny Boyd’s crooning voice is smooth as buttermilk. The band members—who look for inspiration from folks like guitarist Charlie Christian and pianist Earl Hines—walk a fine line between tradition and invention. And Indigo Swing’s modern-day lyrics are all about good old love and heartache. “What my band does is real, honest postwar boogie-woogie swing,” Boyd has said. Look for the band’s fourth and most recent album, Red Light, or better yet, dance to ’em live.

  One of the top neoswing albums, Come Out Swingin’ by Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums.

  (PHOTO: TRACY HATCH)

  Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums

  When swing music really swings, according to the Rhumba Bums’ alluring guitarist Carmen Getit, “it makes you moist.” Oh, behave. Or don’t. Carmen’s sirenlike ways and pianist/vocalist Steve Lucky’s handsome looks certainly make this band a must-stare. But it’s their original boogie-woogie pieces and unexpected jump covers that keep you coming back for more. In the last couple of years, this San Francisco band has held the coveted Wed
nesday night slot at LA’s Derby nightclub and has even done parties for Whoopi Goldberg and the casts of Party of Five and ER. Of course, this music’s nothing new for Lucky, who fronted a jump blues-style band back in the early eighties, when Ann Arbor, Michigan, had its own microscene going. “We don’t do a lot of the songs that we used to, like ‘Caldonia’ and ‘Choo Choo Ch’Boogie,’ because they are the chestnuts of swing,” says Carmen, who can always be counted on to be fresh.

  The Eddie Reed Big Band

  How did a rockabilly fanatic come to revere Artie Shaw? Reed was one of the first to make the musical journey from the starting point of fifties roots rock back to the big band era. After fronting a rockabilly band in the eighties called Eddie Reed and the Bluehearts, this multi-instrumentalist began exploring further back in time. He was soon listening to Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey but really got hooked when his young son had him listen to “Traffic Jam” by Shaw. “It blew my mind,” he says. By 1993 Reed, who plays clarinet, guitar, and piano, had his own orchestra up and running. A true traditionalist, he has hooked up with such greats as Anita O’Day, Helen Forrest, and his idol, Shaw himself (who has even given some of his original charts to Reed). And he has consciously catered to the dance community (even listing the beats per minute of his songs in the liner notes of his CDs). “In my opinion,” says Reed, “if you write a song and it doesn’t appeal to someone’s physical body, if it doesn’t make them want to tap their toes, then you are leaving part of the equation out.”

  Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers

  Two bars into one of Lavay Smith’s songs, you realize one thing you’ll never forget. This gal can sing, with a voice that’s both forceful and dazzlingly warm. One of the most authentic jazz singers in the scene, Smith has been entertaining San Francisco crowds since 1989 and has crossed over into the mainstream jazz festival circuit. “I don’t even look at it as swing. I look at it as jazz,” says Smith, who’s known for her signature look, a va-va-voom style that’s all about fishtail dresses and gardenias behind the ear. But what’s most impressive is the depth of musical knowledge of Smith and her partner, arranger and pianist Chris Siebert. “We have thousands and thousands of records,” says Smith, whose commitment to her music involves listening to as little rock as possible. “The rhythm of rock is a lot different. It’s a bad influence for me. I have to be surrounded by good music and listen to it all the time. The more you listen to Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington, the better the swing will sound.”

  THE TOP BANDS — BY REGION

  From Seattle to Orlando, each city or region has its own distinct dancing scene. Because swing is a movement that thrives on live music, there are many great bands in almost every major town across the United States, Canada, and England. Some have national followings; some are local secrets. Here are the best ones to look out for near where you live.

  Arizona

  Kings of Pleasure: Arizona was one of the first states after California to get caught up in the Lindy craze, and the Kings of Pleasure were there from the beginning. Started in 1996, this five-piece group is a dancer’s delight, playing a mix of swing and rocked-out jump blues and having fun on such signatures as “Are You Buyin’ Wine” and “Havana Hop.”

  Plus: Swingtips—the favorites from Phoenix—boasting a big horn section and even a Christmas album, Santa Swings;Swing 42, a traditional big band; Heavenly 7, swing with a George Clinton funk twist; and Hipster Daddy-O and the Handgrenades, a hard-core ska/swing band.

  Atlanta and the South

  Lost Continentals: With the sultry vocals of lead singer Amy Pike, the four-member Atlanta band Lost Continentals is revving up the Georgia scene. And while they’ve got only a bass, drums, and a guitar, they swing with a big sound on their popular CD Moonshine and Martinis. Among the best cuts are quirky romantic numbers like “Please, Please”—as in “please give me another chance”—and “Love Roller Coaster.” Get ready for a great ride.

  Plus: Nashville’s Badabing Badaboom, featuring an Andrews Sisters-style vocal group; Memphis’s classic swing band the New Memphis Hepcats; New Orleans’s Amy and the Hank Sinatras, who mix swing with country and R&B; Athens, Georgia’s ska-meets-swing powerhouse Seven Foot Politic; and Atlanta’s League of Decency, with a sound that ranges from jump blues to James Brown.

  Boston and New England

  Bellevue Cadillac: On their lyrically ambitious album Prozac Nation, Bellevue Cadillac riffs on the overcaffeinated and mood-enhanced 1990s. Fronted by terrifically smooth lead singer Doug Bell, this seven-piece band has a relaxed, swinging sound that’s been described as a confluence of “sixties Memphis R&B and forties swing.” After hearing such simmering songs as “Pull the Plug” (it’s about euthanasia), “Cuppa Joe,” and “Call of the Wild,” you definitely won’t be needing coffee.

  Plus: Connecticut’s Eight to the Bar, a six-piece band that swings from Kansas City to Motown, and Boston’s New Orleans-influenced Love Dogs.

  Canada

  Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra: Who’d have ever imagined that one of the hottest new swing bands would come out of Halifax, Nova Scotia? A ten-piece group of mostly twentysomething Canadian lads, this band is fronted by singer Johnny Favourite, nicknamed Young Blue Eyes, a sweet bad-boy who grew up loving David Bowie’s swingesque Let’s Dance music and wearing suits in high school. Just three years since he started the band in 1996, the orchestra has put out two CDs, including the latest, Holiday Romance; signed a deal with Universal; and won a Juneau Award, the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy, for best new group. “It’s nice to find out you’re not a freak,” says Favourite, whose image now is anything but. “We’re not some retro guys. We’re not like ‘Hey, Daddy-O’ or any of that stuff. For the most part, the band is comprised of shit-kicking Canadian guys that drink beer, like to surf and ride fast cars, and love this music. Sometimes we’ll rock out and sometimes we’ll do like a real nice Benny Goodman number. It just really varies.”

  Plus: The popular Big Rude Jake, a thoughtfully provocative songwriter whose brash humor shows up most forcefully on his song “Let’s Kill All the Rock Stars”; Vancouver’s peerless Western swing and rockabilly outfit Ray Condo and the Ricochets; Montreal’s crooning Swingtown Sinners; Calgary’s top swing band the Dino Martinis (their humorously titled CDs include The Bottle Collector’s Lounge and Steak and Comedian Night); Vancouver’s the Molestics, who throw everything from Jelly Roll Morton jazz to Hawaiian, calypso, and polka into their musical blender; and last but far from least, north-of-the-border star Colin James, a blues-based rock guitarist who’s recorded two great swing albums with his Little Big Band.

  Chicago

  Rhythm Rockets: The title track of the Rockets’ CD Come Ride the Rocket says it all. Plying the suggestive lyrical terrain of late-forties jump blues, the seven-piece Rockets play everything from original material to the best of Cab Calloway and Louis Jordan. Fronted by singer Lesley Byers, they’re a hit not just with hoppers, they’ve also entertained the Chicago Bulls. What makes them distinct? A big-time sound provided by the group’s three saxophonists.

  Plus: The wonderfully danceable Blues Swingers; the New Orleans-influenced Speak Easy Swing; Three Cent Stomp, who swing from Ellington to Sinatra on their CD Jimmy Primo Livin’ At Large; the rockin’ Chicago Jump Company; Alan Gresik’s Swing Shift Orchestra, a traditional late-thirties big band; and the band that swingers love but that for some reason hates being known as a swing band, the Mighty Blue Kings.

  Denver

  Money Plays Eight: Colorado native sons Money Plays Eight, taking the name of their band from a gambling term, bring a little Las Vegas glamour to the Mile High City. They play fast, dress sharply, and perform constantly at Denver’s top swing clubs.

  Plus: The Hot Tomatoes Dance Orchestra, a big band; and the jump blues groups Papa Grande and His Double-Wide Jumptet, David Booker and His Swingtet, and Chris Daniels and the Kings.

  Detroit

  Atomic Fireballs: Charging through lyrics
with his deep raspy voice, Atomic Fireballs’ lead singer John Bunkley sounds like Tom Waits … if Waits had a swing band. This high-octane eight-piece group recently signed a major-label deal with Lava/Atlantic and appeared in the Matthew Perry/Neve Campbell movie Three to Tango. It’s not hard to see what the buzz is about. On their album Torch This Place, they fire up their fast call-and-response style on such songs as “Man with the Hex,” “Lover Lies,” and “Drink, Drank, Drunk.” Says Swing Time magazine’s Michael Moss: “They have anything anybody could want in a live show. They rock like rock stars and swing like maniacs.”

  England

  The Ray Gelato Giants: Sounding almost like Louis Prima reincarnated, Ray Gelato is one of the major pioneers of the swing music revival. Back in the early eighties—even before Joe Jackson went swing—Gelato was in the influential English jump blues band the Chevalier Brothers. After London’s eighties swing scene came and went, Gelato kept perfecting his brand of Las Vegas-inspired music, and he’s now gaining a strong following stateside. A singer and tenor sax player, he’s recorded six albums, including one in Italian and his latest, The Men from Uncle. “Swing is difficult to define,” says Gelato. “I think it just means really great music and lots of people Lindy Hopping to it.”

  The Big Six: The ultimate British retro rockers, the Big Six mix up swing, ska, rock, and R&B into one potent ball of fire. Influenced by everyone from Bill Haley and James Brown to the Skatalites, they’re the one band that’s guaranteed to bring swing and rockabilly fans into the same club. And they do it all in the loudest, maddest plaid suits known to man. They aren’t bluffing when they shout out on their signature song, “We the Boys Will Rock Ya!”