SwingDJs

I'm very excited to announce the availability of the second CD by my ten-piece orchestra, the Solomon Douglas Swingtet. The CD is called Live at the Legion, and includes 16 songs (more than an hour of music) recorded live at the "Stomp It Off!" dance in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Every song on the album is great for lindy hop, blues, or balboa dancing.

You can hear excerpts from all 16 tracks and order the CD, on my website: http://solomondouglas.com/buy_CD.html . You can also order the t-shirt at http://solomondouglas.com/buy_merchandise.html .

Live at the Legion includes our versions of some old hot jazz from the 20s (Benny Moten's "South", Jelly Roll Morton's "Buffalo Blues", Ellington's "Saturday Night Function", and Bix Beiderbecke's "Singin' the Blues"), some really swinging 30s music (Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm", Basie's "Shorty George"), and lots of great 50s Basie (such as "Splanky", "One O'Clock Jump", and "Two for the Blues").

The band on the new album is an all-star lineup including Vancouver trumpet sensation Bria Skonberg, legendary Seattle drummer D'Vonne Lewis, New York trombone wiz-kid and recording engineer Eric Heveron-Smith, and Portland sax player (and a great bandleader in his own right) Pete Petersen, with me leading the band, playing the piano and writing all the musical arrangements.

The beautiful oil painting on the CD cover and the delightful t-shirt design are by Seattle artist Brecca Smith.

Thanks and I hope you enjoy it!

Solomon

This CD is really quite good. Glad I picked up a copy. Not just the standard fare, there is some really well thought out selections and some real emotion in the music on here. Well done

http://www.DansDanceRevolution.com

I'm enjoying the CD, Sol. I haven't DJed it for dancers yet (as it only arrived yesterday), but it's the sort of stuff I like to have on hand for 'safety songs' - stuff that I know will work with all sorts of crowds.
I especially like that it's live - live recordings are alway so much fun, esp if they're recorded with a crowd of dancers. It's also pretty neat to see dancers' 'favourites' recorded and available in good quality recordings that I can play on any sort of sound system. Phew.

Ditto on the live album aspect of this album. It gives the album a great energy, which makes me really eager to DJ these tracks at a dance. I also really appreciate the wide range of selections--the band plays fresh arrangements of tunes from 1927 all the way through the 1960's.

Bravo Solomon! (More comments here.)

I'm also in agreement with the live aspect of the CD as well as the diversification of the music selections. I moved and am dj'ing in a new scene and this CD gives me a variety of songs to work with out here. The arrangements are great and the CD has a good energy to it overall.

I played "Splanky" last Saturday night, the floor was filled, so I am calling it a success.