Swingout's New York's Recommended CDs.
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These and other CDs may be purchased from Music Boulevard. Just click on the links below to see more information about the CD including a list of selections. Real Audio Music samples are available for some of the CDs. Know the name of a song and wish to know who plays it. Try Music Boulevard's search engine.

Music Boulevard's Swing Page   Careful, some of the older "swing" is more jazz than swing.

New Selections February 06, 1999. These are not reviewed.


• The Camaros: Evil Finally, the Camaros' CD can be purchased on-line -- this New York City's hard working swing band with a rockabilly tinge and their gorgeous singers with a little rockabilly twinge and funny lyrics. Twangy and danceable and reliable and fun and always nice to look at.
  
• Eddie Reed: While The Music Plays On. This is a follow up CD to this California bands first releas. We have not heard it, but, we hear it is good.
  
• The Big Six: We The Boys Will Rock Ya This band from England will be playing in New York for Lo-Fi's February 20 event. We have not heard this CD but it is supposed to be their best. Big Six Web site.
  
• Jet Set Six: Livin' It Up. Another New York City swing band. More on the lounge sweet swing side. Once known as Beat Positive.
  
• Atomic Fireballs: Birth Of The Swerve This Detroit band was brought to the Supper Club last year by Lo-Fi Lee. I thought they were terrific -- I also thought their music was way too fast. Again, I have not heard this.
  

• Eight to the Bar: Behind The Eight Ball This band from New England used to be one of my favorite rock n roll style swing bands. In a recent appearance at the Swing Society, it seemed their drummer was more rock than rock and roll and the rhthym section was way to pronounced, so the dancing was boring. I have not heard this CD. New Selections November 17, 1998.
  

• Illinois Jacquet: Flying Home: The Best Of The Verve YearsHearing Illinois Jacquet do three versions of Cottontail at the PBS Wynton Marsalis Ellington Special shooting this summer was an experience one could not forget. This recording is of high quality and includes not only Cottontail, but a near defnitive version of Flying Home. This is in the pocket, down and mean playing. Lean Playing and Groovin are awesome dance tunes, and jazz as well.
  
• Maxine Sullivan: A Tribute To Andy Razaf Who is Maxine Sullivan? Who is Andy Razaf? A great songrstress interprets a great lyricist: did you know there were lyrics to Massachusetts and Stompin at the Savoy. Every single selection swings to the end and there are a lot of nice swing dance selections in the 140 bpm range. You have to love this CD. This is a 1991 rerelease of an LP that had become a collector's item, selling for $300 for a single LP and the quality is excellent.
  

• Oscar Peterson: With Respect To Nat Oscar Peterson singing? It sure sound a lot like Nat King Cole. This is Peterson's sweet sounding tribute to Nat King Cole backed by a swinging big band and lovingly reissued in 1998 in 22 bit sound by Verve. Some great dancing cuts, but it is all great listening. "Orange Colored Sky" is worth the price of the entire CD. This is one more great Verve reissue. Big Band Swing
  

• George Gee & His Make-Believe Ballroom Orchestra: Swingin' Live Recorded live at Irving Plaza in January 1997 by George Gee's Orchestra. No, this is not make believe, this is the real thing, real big band sound with real jazz swing musicians playing real music for real dancers or just to listen to. The Make-Believe Ballroom was a radio show in the late 30's that played recorded music. If you like Basie, you will like this.
  
• Calling All JitterbugsBill Elliot Swing Orchestra: Calling All Jitterbugs Elliot's big band is out of Los Angeles and we are waiting for a battle of the bands to see whether his band or Gee's is better. Elliot no doubt though is the pre-eminent swing dance big band in California. With Lavay Smith, Elliot represents the best of the non neo-swing California bands.
  
• Bill Elliot: Swing Fever This is Elliot's first CD.
  
• Cab Calloway: Are You Hep To The Jive? Finally, a Cab Calloway compilation without Minnie the Moocher on it. This CD compilation contains 22 sensational sracks recorded primarily between 1940 and 1942. Sound quality is good and the music is infectious. I am throwing away all my other Cab Calloway CD's. "Everbody Eats When They Come to my House." Check out the listing of the selections on Music Boulevard and sample some counds. A Cab Calloway note: In 1930, Cuban percussionist Machito travels to New York and becomes a member of Cab's band.
  
• Benny Goodman: Best Of The Big Bands With artist like Benny Goodman, it is hard to pick one's way through the mass of recordings available. Here is one with 16 selections, good sound quality, with a good bouncy swing, although many are slow. Peggy Lee and Helen Forrest. These were recorded between 1939 and 1946 on Columbia. Good liner notes, but, oddly no notes on the source of the selections.
  
• Duke Ellington: The Blanton-Webster Band Many consider Ellington's Band of 1940-1942 to be his best featuring bassist Blanton and tenor Ben Webster. This 3 CD set on RCA/Bluebird is definitive and has renditions of Rocks in My Bed, Bli-Blip, Harlem Air Shaft, Cottontail, and Main Stem -- songs played by Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra for the upcoming May 1999 PBS special.
  
• DMP Big Band: Duke Ellington. Sonically magnificent. Swinging enough but not the most swinging. I like this one for the sound.
  
• Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers. Check out the article in New York Press in late August. From San Francisco, Lavay has put together a band of seasoned old-time jazz swing musicians. But this. Listen to this. Dance to this. Jazz swing. Lavat is reminiscent of Billy Holliday and many of the other great female vocalist of the 30;s.
  
• Count Basie: April in Paris This is so smooth and elegant -and recently recently reissued with seven alternative takes of Magic, What Am I Here For and Magic, April in Paris, and Corner Pocket. A dreamy Shiny Stockings. Recorded in 1955 and 1956. Frank Foster and Frank Wess. Benny Powell, and all the greats, playing with maturity and energy. See the Full Count Basie Discography.
  
• Swingsation Sampler Why are the Swingsation CD's so great -- just perusing the fine print I see that the series consultants are Lavay Smith and Chris Seibert. No wonder. Swingsation. This is a sampler CD which contains cuts from the Lunceford, Hampton, Fitzgerald, and Basie CDs plus a bonus cuts from Goodman, Miller, Dorsey and Shaw. Yea, I will let Lavay choose my music. Here are the four individual CDs. All the Cds contain 16 to 18 cuts.
  
• Jimmy Lunceford: Swingsation This is a fabulous compilation of Lunceford and the price is right with 18 songs, all good quality and good engineering.
  
• Count Basie: Swingsation Compilations.. A recent compilations with a good selection of Basie tunes.
  
• Jimme Lunceford: Swingsation This is a fabulous compilation of Lunceford and the price is right with 18 songs, all good quality and good engineering.
  
• Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb: Swingsation More great selections from Lavay and Swingsations.
  
• Lionel Hampton: Swingsation
  
• Swinging At The Savoy 1937-1945This is a European Import, part of the Jazz Archives series. At $19.90, this may be pricey but there are 24 cuts. Chick Webb, Al Cooper & His Savoy Sultant, Lucky Millinder, Erskine Hawkins, Cootie Williams, and Buddy Johnson. I think this is probably a pretty fair representations of what the music really sounded like and it is faster than one may have thought.
  
• Anita O'Day: Let Me Off Uptown. Anita singing and swinging to Gene Krupa's orchestra. This is a classic and a must.
  
• The Big 18: Live Echoes of the Swinging Bands." and More Live Echoes of the Swinging Bands. In 1958, RCA Records assembled some of the top big band musicians to do high-fidelity versions of big band favorites. Since most of the musicians played with the big bands in the 30s and 40s, this set is authentic and driving with high quality sound.
  
• Eddie Reed Band: Hollywood Jump. A popular and sound Southern California swing/jump band. One of the best California bands.
  
• Big Time Operator: High Altitude Swing A San Diego 10 piece swing band wiht the obligatory Sing, Sing, Sing and Minnie the Moocher. Plus other Calloway songs: Plus Are you Hep to the Jive, Calloway Boogie and Hep Cat's Love Song. There is nice Leap Frog. Support these guys.

  Jump Blues or Closer to Jump Than Not
  

• Jumpin' and Jivin' - Specialty Records Compilation. A favorite compilation of "jump blues" from lesser known artists of the late 40s and 50s.
  
• Blues Masters, Vol. 14: More Jump Blues Classics and Blues Masters, Vol. 5: Jump Blues Classics. Two excellent compilations for jump blues, part of the Blues Masters Series. You should have both.
  
• Joe Turner: Shake, Rattle And Roll There are a number of Joe Turner CDs. I like this one but check out the entire list. Does anyone have a favorite? Big Joe Turner Discography.
  
• Jumpin' Like Mad: Cool Cats & Hip ChicksAnother fantastic compilation with 2 cds chock full of jumping, dancin music with informative notes by Billy Vera. My most frequently played jump blues CD. Part of the Capitol Blues Collection. Another compilation in the series, which I have not heard, is Kansas City Blues 1944-49, Kansas City being the home of Bill Basie, Benny Moten etc.
  
• Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five. G.I. Jive Considered to be one of the originators of Jump Blues. Recorded 1941-1944. At $6.99, this is a bargain.
  
• Indigo Swing: All Aboard Tone deaf "music" writers have recently being characterizing Indigo Swing as a neo-swing band. I don't think so. They are great.
  
• Indigo Swing.Get their earlier CD while you are at it. These are two fine CD's.
  
• Capitol Collectors Series - Louis PrimaNot only is this a great collection, but with 26 cuts including Sing, Sing, Sing (which was written by Prima, not Benny Goodman), this is a bargain.
  
• Slim Gaillard: Laughing In Rhythm: The Best Of The Verve Years Potato Chips, Potato Chips. Mishuganah Mambo. Can Gaillard be taken seriously? Yep. Great dancing jump blues music. Another CD with 23 cuts of zaniness is Slim & Slam. Slim and Slam were in the movie Hellzapoppin in 1941.
  
• Blues Jumpers: Wheels Start Turning". Need I say more. New York's premier jump blues band. Buy it if you do not have it.
  
• The Flipped Fedoras CD. Catch them at a gig.
  
• Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums - Come out Swingin Another California band and a cut above some. They played in New York recently -- some of their music is too fast, but they have a good show, and when they slow up, it is great dance music. In the Fall 1998, they have a regular gig at the Derby on Wednesday nights.
  
• Full Swing. Order from Full Swing's Web Site. Full Swing is a NYC band with an R&B background. Most selectons are 220 bpm or over.

  Other Swing and Music I Like
  

• Big Sandy and his Fly Rite Boys: Feelin' Kinda Lucky. Big Sandy is in the genre of Western Swing -- no not rockabilly (though he plays some) and not country and western. Big Sandy is from Southern Califonia and remind me a little of Elvis in his swagger, courtliness and and appearance -- his singing is swinging and soothing. Think of a modern Bob Wills. Many people in New York are uninformed about the brand of swing that was nurtured in East Texas and Oklahoma in the late 30's and 40's and trash the music as hillbilly and country. Big Sandy has a new recording out Dedicated To You which I have not heard yet.
  
• BR-549: Big Backyard Beat Show A retro country and western/rockabilly group that swings a lot of the time. Out of Nashville.
  
• Asleep at the Wheel: Back To The Future Now: Live At... Western Swing again from this Austin band that has been around for years. One thing I have noticed is that most bands coming out of Texas play danceable music and so does this band. These guys and gal (Cindy Cashdollar) are smooth and professional. But, if you are a typical anti-Southern New Yawker [shades of Hillary], well, maybe this will win you over.
  
• Bill Kirchen and Too Much Fun: Back To The Future Now: Live. Kirchen, now living in the DC area, is one of the most talented guitar players around - and plays everything from western swing to rockabilly to anything. This CD features Hot Rod Lincoln, a virtuoso piece, originally performed when he was lead guitar for Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. Another cut on this CD from those days is Rockin' Over China. Lately, Bill has been playing at the Rodeo on Wednesday nights in NY, but I note that Frank & Carole's Lindy Week Review , Washington, DC . regularly list Kirchen's events. I am a fan. I admit it.

Neo-Swing Bands.
You may love 'em, you may hate them. But, you cannot get rid of them. Some Neo-Swing bands that I can listen to more than once as long as I have had two martinis, unless otherwise noted. I admit I do tap my foot sometimes. Okay, I admit, sometime I even voluntarily dance to "it". I just wish the musicians could play their instruments well. And, I wish they would replace all the rock drummers with swing drummers.

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• Soundtrack from Swingers Actually, a little new and old as well. From the movie that started it all, I guess.
  
• The HiBall Lounge Sessions Vol. 1Another Compilation and a good introduction to the California bands.
  
• Swing this Baby This is an eclectic sample of neo-swing and swing bands by Swingtime Magazine and has BBVD,RCU, Crescent City Maulers and then The Bill Elliot Swing Orchestra. Also on the CD is The Flying Neutrino's Mr. Zoot Suit. I love 'em but I still cannot dance to this song. But this one first if you want to know about neo-swing.
  
• New August 25, 1998. Hipsters, Zoots and Wingtips This is another swing CD compilation released August 25, 1998. It is not just neo-swing -- : Here is the play list. 1 It Don't Mean A Thing - Big Time Operator; 2. Swing Shift - Jumpin' Jimes; 3. Hey Pachuco! - Royal Crown Review; 4. Oo Poppa Do - Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers; 5. Mr. Zoot Suit - The Flying Neutrinos; 6. This Cat's On A Hot Tin Roof - Brian Setzer Orchestra; 7. Swing Lover - Indigo Swing; 8. Hit That Jive Jack - Diana Krall; 9. Go Daddy O - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy; 10. Bill's Bounce - Bill Elliot Swing Orchestra (live)
  
• Royal Crown Review: Contender. Just released from the originator of neo-swing. I have not heard it, but, it is supposed to be better than the originals.
  
• Brian Setzer: The Dirty Boogie. Brian Setzer from The Stray Cats ("Rumble in Brighton") starts swing big band to cash in on the craze. This sounds good the first time, but the overplaying and lack of creative arranging gets on ones nerves. Stick with the original big band stuff, but Setzer is a factor, no doubt.
  
• Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. This band lucked out and was in the right place at the right time -- the movie Swingers. The rest is music history or whatever. Go Daddy O.
  
• Cherry Poppin Daddies: Zoot Suit Riot. Zoot Suit Riot has caused me more kicked shins and stomped toes. It should be outlawed. From ska to swing with nothing in between. This CD collects the more swining songs from their earlier Cds plus some new numbers.
  
• Eight and a Half Souvenirs: Happy Feet. This is neo-swing of sorts. The band is out of Texas and plays a blend of Django Rheinhardt and swing and whatever. Very listenable. Oh yea. Cristal Bell is worth looking at too.
  
• Jump From Hell: Lee Press On and the Nails. I described this band before as having the musical ability of a junior high school band, but, I do admit there is some energy in there and a couple of music are good enough to hold them together. See them live to appreciate this. Every band has at least one good song. Check out Big Pants Dance for a good laugh.
  
• Red and the Red Hots: Boogie Man Another favorite California band -- touch of neo swing but well liked by dancers. Mighty Blue Kings: Come One, Come All This CD is by the original Mighty Blue Kings from Chicago -- before they kicked out all of the good musicians who survive now as the Vanguard Aces. Buy this CD, skip their later ones.
  
• Ingrid Lucia & The Flying Neutrinos, I'd Rather Be In New Orleans.. Order from Flying Neutrinos Web Site. This is more Dixieland. Great singing. Not great dancings.
  
• Lo Fi Lee's New York City Swing CD. A picture of some NY City swing bands as of 1997 by Lo-Fi. More fast tempo and some bands that are not so good.
  
• Brooklyn Bums: There Goes The Neighborhood Luigi Babe's Gangsta Neo-Swing Band, if this is what you like.
• Crescent City Maulers: Screamin'.
  
• New Morty Show: Mortyfied A wackier band from SF.