Duke Heitger & His Swing Band

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Matthew · #1 Post by **Matthew** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 4:57 pm

A while back, when I was just getting into swing dancing, I was browsing Vinyl Fever's budget rack, and I came across this CD by Duke Heitger & His Swing Band. It was cheap CD, and I bought it.

Now, many Basies and Ellingtons later, I'm very impressed with this CD. This is a very skillful band. The players stay together very well, and in general, the recording sounds very much like a vintage recording, except that the sound quality is superb. They have a couple of other CDs out, but I haven't heard those. If you haven't heard this band before, check it out!

KevinSchaper · #2 Post by **KevinSchaper** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 5:14 pm

I think I've heard that recommended before - but never really paid attention.. that's good stuff.

in a similar vein check out Bob Wilber's Buffadora Blow-Up..

Greg Avakian · #3 Post by **Greg Avakian** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 6:39 am

Duke is from New Orleans, yes? If so, I can tell you that (live) he is an awesome player -technically gifted and spiritually full of swing. He is one of many players at the Summer satchmo Festival that really stuck out, but he really stuck out.

Lawrence · #4 Post by **Lawrence** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:52 pm

I like this quote from the Allmusic description of the Duke Heitger CD pictured at the top of this thread:

The 1990s Swing revival has been a mixed blessing for jazz fans; a lot of the practitioners talk the talk, walk the walk and wear the uniforms, but simply don't cut it as songwriters or performers because they rely too heavily on rock and omit any classic material from the genre. In spite of the appearance given by the cover of this CD, this is the Real McCoy.

Compliments (condolences) to Johnny and Kari....

Ron · #5 Post by **Ron** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 9:51 am

So are there any songs you can play for Lindyhoppers?

Roy · #6 Post by **Roy** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 10:31 am

Anything with Johnny Swing and Karie on the cover must be superb. haha, I took my first swing lesson ever with them way back when at the Hi-ball lounge.

Matthew · #7 Post by **Matthew** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 12:01 pm

Ron wrote:So are there any songs you can play for Lindyhoppers?

Yes, though some are quite fast - well outside of the 120-170 BPM (thanks for the reviews!) range that you like. In a range of about 110-180 there are seven tracks that I'd play. CD Universe lets you hear previews of all of the tracks.

mousethief · #8 Post by **mousethief** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 12:55 pm

Roy wrote:Anything with Johnny Swing and Karie on the cover must be superb. haha, I took my first swing lesson ever with them way back when at the Hi-ball lounge.

Damn! You beat me to it.

Damn shame about ol' Johnny 'n' Lee...

Kalman

funkyfreak · #9 Post by **funkyfreak** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 1:43 pm

I'll spin a large portion of the CD, some excellent cuts of wide tempos on there.

-FF