The Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra - Swingin' The Century

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 45:10
Size: 103.4 MB
Styles: Swing, Jump blues
Year: 1999
Art: Front

[3:00] 1. Swingin' The Century
[2:59] 2. The Shim Sham Song
[3:17] 3. 69 Camp Hollywood Special
[3:07] 4. When We Dance
[2:36] 5. I'm Fallin' In Love Again
[3:14] 6. Hep Hop
[3:26] 7. Blues In The Night
[2:37] 8. Somebody Loves Me
[2:33] 9. Let's Get Married
[3:19] 10. Oh, Lady Be Good
[3:19] 11. Boogie Woogie Rhumba
[2:43] 12. Maze Of Death
[2:14] 13. At The Coconut
[3:48] 14. Come Rain Or Come Shine
[2:50] 15. Jeep Jockey Jump

Long time favorites in the L.A. swing scene, the Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra deftly recreates the sound of big bands from the 1930's and 1940's. On their third album Swingin' The Century, Bill, his vocal group The Lucky Stars, and the 15 piece orchestra lay to rest any rumours that the swing scene is dying. The instrumental title track, "Swingin' the Century," starts off the album and re-introduces the use of a clarinet, which was noticeably absent on the last album Calling All Jitterbugs!.

Much Of Elliott's music on this album is geared towards dancers, "The Shim Sham Song" having been written specifically for the Shim Sham, a sort of swing line-dance, at the urging of Rusty Frank, an L.A. dance instructor who specializes in Shim Sham. Bill also pays tribute to the dancers in "Camp Hollywood Special." Camp Hollywood is a popular L.A. dance camp/workshop that teaches the Dean Collins 'smooth style' Lindy Hop, which is often referred to as 'Hollywood Lindy' because of its prevalence in films of the 1930's like Hellzapoppin' and The Groovie Movie. And while I never thought I would hear an ode to Merv Griffin, that's just what "At the Coconut Is." It was written as a sort of thank you to Griffin, who is the owner of the Beverly Hills Hotel and opened up The Coconut Club last year and turned it into a haven for big bands to play to a dance floor where "Swing kids mix with the Hollywood elite."

Ten of the fifteen songs on the album are original compositions like the hilarious "Let's Get Married" and "Maze Of Death," which sounds like the theme to a forgotten noir thriller from the 40's. With the vocal stylings of Cassie Miller and the Lucky Stars, Bill also takes on classics like Arlen & Mercer's "Come Rain Or Come Shine" and Gershwin's "Oh Lady Be Good" to spectacular results. Maybe khakis don't swing anymore, but Bill certainly does. ~Courtney Knopf

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California between December 1998 and May 1999.

Michael Lescault, Cassie Miller (vocals); Barry Zwieg (guitar); Don Shelton , Bob Reitmeier (clarinet); John Reilly, Gene Burkert, Ray Herrmann (reeds); Jay Mason (alto saxophone); Roger Neumann, Jeff Driskill (tenor saxophone); Chuck Erdahl (baritone saxophone); Darrel Gardner, Donald Clarke, Gary Halopoff, Jeff Bunnell, Wayne Bergeron, John Grab (trumpet); Charlie Morillas, Andy Martin, Bruce Otto (trombone); Brad Dutz (bongos).

Swingin' The Century

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