Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era, when people were dancing the Lindy Hop. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Musicians of the swing era include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Benny Carter, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Earl Hines, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Jimmie Lunceford, and Django Reinhardt.
The swing revival, also called retro swing and neo-swing, was a renewed interest in swing music and Lindy Hop dance, beginning around 1989 and reaching a peak from the early/mid to late 1990s. The music was generally rooted in the big bands of the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s, but it was also greatly influenced by rockabilly, boogie-woogie, the jump blues of artists such as Louis Prima and Louis Jordan, and the theatrics of Cab Calloway. Many neo-swing bands practiced contemporary fusions of swing, jazz, and jump blues with rock, punk rock, ska, and ska punk music or had roots in punk, ska, ska punk, and alternative rock music.
Mammoth Records was an independent record label founded in 1989 by Jay Faires in the Carrboro area of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The majority of the acts on Mammoth were executive-produced by Faires and the label's general manager, Steve Balcom. The label was the first independent to produce two platinum records.
Andrew Wegman Bird is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing music, indie rock, and folk music. He is primarily known for his unique style of violin playing, accompanied by loop and effect pedals, whistling, and voice. In the 1990s, he sang and played violin in several jazz ensembles, including Squirrel Nut Zippers and Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six. He went on to start his own swing ensemble, Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, which released three albums between 1998 and 2001. Weather Systems (2003) was his first solo album after Bowl of Fire disbandment, and it marked a departure from jazz music into indie music. Bird's 2019 album My Finest Work Yet was nominated for "Best Folk Album" at the 2020 Grammy Awards.
Music of Hair is Andrew Bird's first released album. The album came out in 1996. The tracks featured were written in Bird's early twenties, and the album was released when he was 23. The album features contributions from musicians Colin Bunn, Dave Dieckmann, Kat Eggleston, Al Ehrich, Kevin O'Donnell; and, James "Jimbo" Mathus, Katharine Whalen and Chris Phillips from Squirrel Nut Zippers.
The Inevitable is the first album by the Squirrel Nut Zippers, released in 1995.
Hot is the second studio album by the Squirrel Nut Zippers, a retro swing band. Recorded as a follow-up to their acclaimed debut, The Inevitable, the group continued their use of big band sounds and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Upon its release in June 1996, the album drew favorable reviews from most critics, who praised the humorous lyrical compositions and the record's cross-generational appeal. The album peaked within the top 30 of the Billboard 200, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA in December of the year following its release. It also spawned a single, "Hell", which peaked at No. 13 on the Alternative Airplay chart; and though it did not reach the Pop Top 50, it did manage to garner airplay on 24 pop radio stations.
Sold Out is limited edition EP by the swing revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers that was released in 1997. The album contains live songs and other obscure tracks.
Perennial Favorites is an album by the swing revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers, released in 1998.
Christmas Caravan is a Christmas album by the swing revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers that was released in 1998 by Mammoth Records. Produced by Mike Napolitano. Engineered by John Plymale.
Bedlam Ballroom is a studio album by the swing revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers, released in 2000. It followed several major personnel changes. The album reflects a stylistic shift, with the band incorporating a broader ranges of styles, instrumentation, and production approaches. The band broke up after the release of the album, eventually reuniting in 2007.
Roasted Right is the debut recording by the swing revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers, first released as a 7" in 1994, and subsequently re-released with an additional track as an EP in 1997. Unlike later music by the Zippers, Roasted Right features a more blues-based sound without brass or woodwinds. The tracks "Anything But Love" and "Wash Jones" are early versions of songs later re-recorded for full-length albums.
Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire was an American band fronted by musician Andrew Bird. After releasing his first solo album, Music of Hair, Bird appeared on three albums by Squirrel Nut Zippers before becoming the bandleader for Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire.
Roomful of Blues is an American jump blues and swing revival big band based in Rhode Island. With a recording career that spans over 50 years, they have toured worldwide and recorded many albums. Roomful of Blues, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, "Swagger, sway and swing with energy and precision". Since 1967, the group’s blend of swing, rock and roll, jump blues, boogie-woogie and soul has earned it five Grammy Award nominations and many other accolades, including seven Blues Music Awards. Billboard called the band "a tour de force of horn-fried blues…Roomful is so tight and so right." The Down Beat International Critics Poll has twice selected Roomful of Blues as Best Blues Band.
The Lucky Strikes is a contemporary swing band which achieved mainstream success during the swing revival of the late 1990s. The band was formed in 1989 by guitarist and vocalist Craig Marshall with Milan Moorman (trumpet), Brian Copeland (bassist), and Freddie Mendoza (trombone).
Burlesque: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the film of the same name, released by Screen Gems, Inc and RCA Records on November 19, 2010. The soundtrack consists of ten songs sung by the film's stars, American singers Christina Aguilera and Cher; Aguilera sang eight of the tracks, while Cher performed the remaining two. The album is inspired by jazz music style, in style with Aguilera's fifth studio album Back to Basics (2006), but contrasting to her then-recent release Bionic (2010), which was recorded concurrently with Burlesque. Burlesque served as Cher's first album since the release of Living Proof nine years earlier.
James H. Mathis Jr., known as Jimbo Mathus, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and member of the swing revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers.
Thomas Edward Maxwell is an American songwriter, singer, and musician. Most notably, Maxwell is the former lead singer of the swing revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers. He wrote the single "Hell" from the 1996 platinum-certified album Hot.
Katharine Whalen is a musician, singer, and songwriter originally from Greenville, North Carolina. She contributed vocals, banjo, and ukulele as a member of the Chapel Hill jazz band Squirrel Nut Zippers, a group that she founded in 1993 with then-husband Jimbo Mathus.
These 13 is a collaborative studio album by American musicians Jimbo Mathus and Andrew Bird. It was released on March 5, 2021, through Thirty Tigers. Recording sessions took place at Hollywood Sound Recorders in Los Angeles and at Barebones Studios. Production was handled by Mike Viola. The album peaked at number 65 on the Top Album Sales in the United States.
