The Swingsations: News

Once again I want to say thanks to John Thomas and all the great people at the Art Deco Society for having us perform again on the Queen Mary. What a great weekend - it's so great to see everyone dressed up so nicely and to be able to play some wonderful period music. We hope to see you again next year!

It's coming up soon - our sixth appearance at the Art Deco Society Festival on the Queen Mary, held over Labor Day Weekend. Once again we'll be making public appearances at the Observation Bar on Friday night, Sept. 3 ( 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. ) and Sunday night, Sept. 5 ( 8 p.m. to 12 midnight ). In between, you can see me w/the Dean Mora Orchestra at the Art Deco Ball on Saturday night. A busy weekend of great music - looking forward to it, and hope to see you there.

You'll be able to see me quite often this coming week at Disneyland - I'll be appearing on Wednesday, Aug. 25 with the Royal Street Bachelors ( from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm ) and on Friday, Sunday, and Monday with the Jambalaya Jazz Band ( Aug. 27, 29, 30 - 10:30 am to 5:30 pm ). It's always a pleasure to work with the fine musicians in New Orleans Square. Please drop on by if you're in the area.

Hello after a long absence - I've just returned from an incredible trip to Europe, including a 12 day cruise on the Baltic Sea. We saw so many wonderful places, St. Petersburg , Russia and Berlin Germany among them. What a privilege to be able to see such wonderful places as the Hermitage and the Berlin Cathedral, to gaze on the beauty of the Norwegian fjords, and to enjoy the hospitality of many people in place I may never see again. I met some fine musicians along the way ( in St. Petersburg and in Tallin, Estonia ) and was impressed by their fine playing.
I hope that all of you get the opportunity someday to travel to these wonderful places.

We'll be returning to the SkyRoom in Long Beach this coming Saturday night, July 10, from 8 p.m. to midnight. We had a great time on our last visit and are looking forward to being there again. This time we'll have some special guests on the bandstand - Ken Treseder (sax/clarinet), Dave Eastly (bass/vocals), and Paul Johnson (drums) - three great musicians whom I've had the honor of working with at Disneyland. It will be a swinging time, and we hope to see you there! For more details, please visit www.theskyroom.com.

We'll be returning once again to the Art A Fair Festival in Laguna Beach for our 16th consecutive year! Our first appearance is this Saturday, July 3, from 12 to 3 p.m. and our second appearance will be Sunday, August 15, also from 12 to 3 p.m. come enjoy some great music and beautiful art! for mor information please visit www.art-a-fair.com

Just letting you know that I'll be performing in New Orleans Square at Disneyland:
Tomorrow June 24 w/The Royal St. Bachelors, Friday June 25 w/The Jambalaya Jazz Band and Sunday June 27 w/the Bachelors again. More to come in July...come on by and say hello if you're in the area!

We had a fun gig at the SkyRoom this past Saturday night - what a beautiful place to play. It was a great opportunity to play for a great variety of people, taking their requests, and playing a variety of old popular music in many styles. We'll be back there on July 10, so come on by if you're in the area.

Just a quick reminder - our appearance at the Skyroom is coming up! It's next Saturday night, June 12, from 8:00 p.m. to midnight. Please check the Skyroom website www.theskyroom.com for reservations and further details. I'll have my regular group with me, and we look forward to playing in this beautiful venue.

I've just added two more dates at the Skyroom in Long Beach - they are June 12 and July 10, and the times are 8 p.m. to midnight. If you're looking for a classy place to go and enjoy some great music, please come on by!

Yes, I've finally made the leap. You can check out my page on Facebook ( the one with the silly photo of me in Pisa helping out the famous tower ). I'm slowly but surely adding info to it, so drop me a line if you'd like and tell me what you think.

We had a great time last Wednesday night playing for the dancers at the Strutter's Ball in Orange. It was a treat to have my regular band and be doing a gig out in public again ( as opposed to the private events that we do ). Thanks Shesha Marvin for keeping swing alive and well in the O.C.! As to yours truly, I'll continue to turn up at the Ball with various groups, so stay tuned.

We had an enjoyable gig last night at the Sky Room in downtown Long Beach, atop the old Breakers Hotel. It was a dinner/dance event for the Art Deco Society - our good friends who we also entertain during their Labor Day Festival on the Queen Mary. Everyone had a great time, and there's a good possibility that we'll be back there again for future events - I certainly hope so, because it's a great venue for vintage music.

I'm pleased to announce our return to The Strutter's Ball in Orange, CA. the date is Wednesday, May 5, form 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. This has been the weekly source for live swing music since last fall, and it's still going strong. I'll have the regular band with me, and we look forward to playing there again. By the way, I'll be there with The Campus Five on Wednesday, April 28. Check www.struttersball.com for more details - we'll see you there!

We'll be featuring music of the great Django Reinhardt this year, which is the 100th anniversary of his birth. Not only a genius jazz guitarist but an incredible composer as well, he made a great contribution to the history of jazz. I'll also be looking for tunes related to the drummer Big Sid Catlett on the centennial of his birth. Look for musical tributes throughout the year, as we feature the work of these great musicians.

Well, it was another great time playing for all the dancers Saturday at the 24 Hour Cancer Dance A Thon. We worked as a quartet this time, with special guest George Andrus on drums filling in for Bryan Taylor. We hope that you all had a great time as well, and that you're recovering. Thanks again Shesha and ocswing for all of your hard work in putting on this wonderful event.

We'll be appearing once again at the 24 Hour Cancer Dance A Thon this weekend, joining a roster of great swing groups ( including Stompy Jones and Dean Mora )to help raise money for the City of Hope Cancer Center. This is a wonderful event, expertly run by Shesha Marvin of ocswing, and we're always happy to do it. We'll be there from 4 to 5 p.m this coming Saturday, March 13. Please come out and donate your time and dancing and enjoy some great music!

The complete details are at www.danceathon.org

The photos from last weekend's Bayside Ball 2 are now up - my special thanks to Brian Boskind for coming out and taking them. What a great night of music...it was a privilege as always to play trumpet alongside of the great Bryan Shaw, and to hear all of the great musicians we had assembled. Thank you dancers as well! I hope to see you all again soon - until then, enjoy the photos!

It was a swinging time in Santa Monica last night - thanks to all who came out to Bayside Ball 2! We had a great time battling the Campus Five, and everyone was blessed to hear some great music. One of many highlight was getting to hear Phil Krawzak and Albert Alva duel each other on "Lester Leaps In". For my part, it's always a pleasure to play alongside the great trumpeter Bryan Shaw. Brian Boskind came by to take some photos, so look for some updates to the Photo Gallery soon.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

I'm happy to announce that we'll be donating our services again this year for the 24 Hour Cancer Dance A Thon on Saturday, March 13, located at the 24 Hour Fitness Ultra Sport in Irvine, CA. We'll be performing from 4 to 5 p.m. with a contingent from the regular group, and yours truly will return later in the evening ( probably midnight ) for a jam group. It's run by ocswing and is truly a wonderful event - all proceeds go to The City of Hope to fund cancer research and treatment. Thank you Shesha Marvin for running this event year after year. We hope to see you there!
You can find all the important information at www.danceathon.org

Yes, it's almost here - the Bayside Ball 2, where we'll be going up against the Campus Five in a battle of music. The date is Saturday night, February 13 from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. at the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club in Santa Monica, CA. I hope that you can make it out to cheer us on. Jonathan has a great band, and should be a worthy challenge. But in the end, everyone wins because we'll all hear some great swing music. Hope to see you there!

I've added a few more photos to the gallery. Most are from the past two Art Deco Society Festivals ( Sept. 2008 and 2009 ). Again, thank you Brian Boskind for the photos, and thank you dancers! More to come soon.

Yes, I'm finally adding some pictures into the Photo Gallery ( slowly but surely). The majority are from the Art Deco Festival on the Queen Mary ( Sept. 2009 and a few from Sept. 2008 ). Of course, I'll post more as they come in. Please check it out and enjoy. By the way, my thanks to Brian Boskind for taking the Queen Mary photos.

A quick update - John Reynolds will not be joining us at the Bayside Ball II - rather it will be my wonderful regular guitarist, Tom Hynes. We're looking forward to a spirited but friendly bout with the Campus Five, with lots of fine music being played. There will be a combined band set, so you'll get to hear the contrasting styles of the players ( Tom and Jonathan, Phil Krawzak and Albert Alva, etc.).
Looking forward to it - details to follow soon.

I'll be out again at Disneyland soon, working with my friends in the Royal Street Bachelors and the Jambalaya Jazz Band. The dates are Friday, Jan. 15, 2:00 to 6:00 p.m with the Bachelors and Saturday and Sunday, January 16 and 17, 10:30 a.m to 5:50 p.m. with Jambalaya. If you're in the area come on out to New Orleans Square!