Talk:Swing revival

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This article might be worth reworking to link more coherently with references to neo swing in the lindy hop, history of lindy hop and lindy hop today articles. I'll see if I can get to it sometime. PlainJane 10:01, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

June, I'm going to do some major editing tonight, and create a few articles for the Bands as well. I have many books and magazines on this as I was very much into the swing movement. I'll have to make a lot of use with the BOOK and NEWSPAPER refs since most of it is not online anymore. --Brian (How am I doing?) 20:13, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

That sounds neat! PlainJane 10:13, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Influence of Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive

Article really needs a section on the influence of Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive album. As far as I know that got the whole ball rolling in the early 80s, when most of the people in revival bands were in high school. Our high school jazz band went from playing horrid rock/jazz fusion arrangements, to a full scale big band playing classic charts as soon as we got ahold of that record. A few people from my school went on to play with some of the major bands. -googuse 17:36, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

  • I think that this article is about the swing fad that got started in the late 1990s, not the revival that started in the 1980s. In any case, we would probably need a good citation that indicates that Joe Jackson's album started the revival. --Cswrye 18:46, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
  • For reasons that aren't clear to me, the Joe Jackson album, while critically excellent and a fairly good seller, did not start a (counter-)cultural movement like the Brian Setzer efforts a decade later. It is clear that almost all the music on Jumpin' Jive is, in fact jump blues...the actual stuff of 90's Swing Revival, and centers on covers of Cab Calloway and Louis Jordan tunes. The noteable exception is Tuxedo Junction, a 1938 Glenn Miller tune that truly comes from the big band swing era proper, although Jackson's treatment is very jump blues. It is noteworthy that Jackson's recordings were sometimes in rotation at Swing Revival clubs of the 1990's. However, by that time Joe Jackson had moved on to other musical environs, and was not really riding the commercial wave like Setzer and others as his own re-invention had taken him elsewere artistically. Also interesting is that when Joe Jackson was making two of the arguably best albums in the New Wave genre, Brian Setzer was deep into rockabilly, elevating rockabilly guitar to the level of high art. Joe then went through several re-incarnations, from New Wave, to jump blues revival, to jazz-pop with Night and Day (where he achieved his greatest commercial success), all in the space of a very few years. Brian stayed with his rockabilly persona through the 1980's, only emerging in the 1990's with his big band swing thing. Jerry picker 22:58, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Colin James

[edit] Primary or Secondary?

I don't know, but I know Colin James is one the of main Swing Revival artists in Canada. He is more famous for his blues and rock hits, but he has also put out 3 swing albums, including a new one. Where does he go? Kevlar67 03:17, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

I saw a very nice nice performance by a band called Phat Cat Swingers. This is a very professional and creative group and think they deserve a place in the list. What are the criterion for Secondary and Tertiary?

[edit] The Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra

"The Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra" was likely the most notable proponent of the swing revival in Canada. They played many notable dates, including engagements at "The Derby" in Hollywood and a mix of pop/rock shows (opening for an 'Our Lady Peace' crowd 28,000 strong) and swing shows featuring such neo-swing peers as the Atomic Fireballs. They received the Juno for 'Best New Group 1998'. http://www.swinginmontreal.com/music/index.asp shows their music reviewed along with their various peers mentioned on this page. The group featured notable Halifax avant-guard jazz group "The Art Ensemble of Halifax" veterans Colin Hudson and Pete Johnston. Hudson, Johnston, as well as other JFSO members David Christensen, Wes Mackey, and Dawn Hatfield all studied under legendary Canadian saxophonist Don Palmer, who was a member of Tito Puente's band and studied with Lennie Tristano and Lee Konitz throughout his tenure in New York City in the 1960's. Other notable saxophonists who have studied under Don Palmer include Kirk MacDonald and Mike Murley. The band went through several minor line-up changes, but the rest of the core group was rounded out by trumpeters Matt Myer and Craig Sheppard, drummer "Hound Dog" Dave Fitzgerald, trombonist Eric Landry, pianist Andrew Killawee, and fronted by vocalist and namesake "Johnny Favourite" Stuart Bastow. Interestingly, the songwriter and early guitar player John Wesley Chisholm left the band prior to the support of their Universal release "Holiday Romance" to be replaced by guitarist Brad Conrad. Dec 14/2006

[edit] Or Maybe this is the truth

1980s and early 1990s

The Swing Revival in America was led by bands such as Royal Crown Revue of Los Angeles which came into existence against the grinding sounds of The Grunge Movement out of the underbelly of the LA punk and music scene. All through the 1980s groups of disaffected people were looking for something other to do musically, some went to Old Ballrooms, like the Venetian Room in the Farimont Hotel in San Francisco, Others went to the Rainbow Room in New York City. They all were seeking something more pleasant and glamourous.

With the introduction of the Compact Disk in the 1980s, Music companies were scouring their back catalogs to find new profit in old recordings. A compilation of Louis Prima songs was and still is the staple of the Swing Revival because of its fun songs and novel arrangements.

In most cities music was being performed by Jazz oriented dance bands like Tim Hesla's Converse All-Stars through the late 1980s as a cocktail and counter culture swanky response to the pain lyric laden alternative rock that followed the New Wave and an alternative to Boy Bands and the increasing Negativity of Hip Hop.

There was a urge to learn to dance to the music of the Swing Era. New bands played Swing older bands revived and folks began writing new songs(some insipid, some sublime.)

Dancing

Many people went to ballroom dance studios in their respective city to learn "Swing Dancing". Others went to movie sources like Buck Privates, A Day at the Races or HellsaPoppin' from the 1930s and 40s to catch moves. Through some research and a phone book; fanatical dancers began tracking down the source dancers from the Era itself. Some still alive and dancing some 50 years later. Los Angeles and Orange Counties and the New York City area had living Legends like Frankie Manning who were brought out of retirement to teach Lindy Hop. The original "Black Swing Dance" from Harlem, while in California others were still doing the Balboa, the original "White Swing Dance." Many of the folks who started with the basics from orhtodox dance studios began peppering their steps with throws and lifts and other acrobatic steps that had originated in Lindy Hop with the afforementioed Frankie Manning in the Savoy Ballroom in the 1930s.

The Split. Lindy Hoppers Vs. "Swingers"

Most people who participated in the "Swing Thing" as some called it, used it as a way to meet and date people. Others used it as an after college networking and friendship environment.

Lindy Hop Nation.

The internet served as a breeding ground for small communities. Clubs and Societies popped up all over the US and the world The information shared this way, like most fan groups, much of the world of Lindy Hopping was connected. Swing dancing Instructors would often host weekend workshops with esteemed teachers who usually would have gone to the trouble of training for and winning major swing dance competitions or appearing in movies, tv shows or music videos. A system of Lindy "Exchanges" started cropping up. Where dancers in a city would organize a swing dance weekend sometimes with a guest teachers, nights of live bands and after hours dances and daytime activities. There are major competitions currently running for all major forms of Swing Dancing that at times include the original dances and sometimes do not.

The Swingers.

A contingent of the "Swing Scene" falls into the cocktailing, suit and dress wearing lifestyler crowd, who did not follow into the dance scene as far as the Hard Core Lindy Hoppers nor showed up to mingle and meet people interested in the fad aspect and no more. Many of these folks came in to revel in the Zoot Suit Swank or Gangster Styled aspect of the Swing Movement. Many of these folks were also falling into a vintage clothing, car and lifestle culture before or during the Swing Revivals early years. Many of these people credit the demise of their New Golden Era of Swing to the Dancers and Tourists who came through during the Revival era 1998-2001, and used up the dance floor space, did not dress as well, and wouldn't buy alcoholic drinks to support the bars and the live music in them. Most of the Swing Lifestylers listen to The Core Rat Pack Singers (Sinatra, Martin and Davis) and also have ties to 1920s through 1940s recreationist societies in their respective cities.

Moved from main article by Jerry picker 20:56, 27 January 2007 (UTC)