Featured CD for 
Spring 2004

This is another great CD for swing dancers who like tightly played, excellently sung jump blues.  The band formerly known as Swing Session has released another great CD chock full of tight danceable swing songs.  Peter "Pops" Walsh's vocals are relaxed and perfect for every song.  The band's playing is fun, expressive, and squeeky tight, with seemingly not a note out-of-place.  Listen to the intricate playing by the saxophone (Jeff Ervin) and trumpet (Tim Hyland) in "Close Shave" (210 BPM) and marvel.  There are a number of original songs written by Bassist "Little David" Rose, including a fun little diddy--"A Woman's Intuition" (146 BPM), a medium-tempo song with fun horn interjections.   They also cover songs by Louis Jordan, Louis Prima, Roy Milton, Five Red Caps, Ray Charles and Fletcher Henderson.   Song tempos range from slow blues (I love "Can't Find My Baby" (72 BPM)) to blistering, but there just aren't quite enough songs in the middle tempos for me to give this a really high Lindy rating.  But catch them live or buy one of their CDs, you'll love the energy and sound of this band.  For CD ordering info, see www.stompyjones.com. 

New!  Campus Five - Jammin' The Blues (Won Records - 2003)
Reviewed: 21 June 2003.  Ratings: ****, LLLL
Great authentic small-group jazz.   Its a dancer's delight, particularly if you prefer your swing on the faster side.    The band was founded by dancers, after all.  Full Review.

New!  Chick Webb - Stomping at the Savoy (Jazz Archive - 2000) 
Reviewed: 9 August 2003.  Ratings: ****, LLL½
Excellent classic swing.  Tight arrangements, catchy tunes and hot solos.  Some of the best fast stuff I've heard.  Full review.

• 19 September 2004 - Due to declining interest on my part, I will no longer be updating these reviews on any regular basis and maybe not at all.   
• 15 February 2004 - Added 8 reviews of Stompy Jones, LaVern Baker, Stacey Kent, Ella Fitzgerald, Aaron Bell, Ernestine Anderson, Ray Brown Trio, Duke Ellington.  
• 5 Oct. 1999 to 16 August 2003 - Added reviews to get a total of 549.  
• 10 Sept. 1999 - First 114 reviews published with Casey MacGill's Jump! featured.

How to use these reviews: 
These swing CD reviews are written primarily for Lindy Hop swing dancers.  CDs are rated for Musicality and Lindyability.  Taste in music is extremely subjective.  What I might like, you may hate.  Use these reviews at your own risk--we may have totally different tastes.  Look at the summary of ratings below, and read the full CD reviews on the review pages.  Read about my recommended essential CDs.  Note that many of the CDs reviewed on this site are hard to find in retail stores, but can usually be found on-line.   

About me: 
I provide these reviews from the point-of-view of a Savoy-style Lindy Hop dancer, and swing DJ.  I like modern swing, modern jump blues, jazz vocals, 50's R&B swing, and some big band swing.  I don't like a lot of neo/retro/punk swing, rockabilly, or western swing.  I prefer Hi-Fidelity recordings over those lower-fi recordings of the '30s and '40s.  I like some modern jazz, particular jazz vocals, but I prefer songs to have more melody than many bop songs have.  I prefer the tempo range of 120 to 170 BPM.  Read more about me, why I'm providing these reviews, and how to contact me.

The ratings: 
I provide two ratings: Musicality and Lindyability rating.  I only review CDs with at least one danceable swing song. 

Musicality is rated with '*'s, from one to five.   Five '*'s means a CD is awesome to listen to.  I look for songs that are good, in that totally subjective way.  They could be fast or slow, loud or soft.  Some of the things I look for are music and vocals on key, band tight and in sync, interesting melodies, interesting solos, dynamics, and variety.  I may give high Musicality ratings to albums that aren't the best for dancing.  

The Lindy rating is rated with 'L's, from one to five.  Five 'L's means a CD has mostly all great danceable songs.  I look for a number of things when determining the 'L' rating.  I look for songs in the range from 120 to 170 BPM as best to Lindy to.  (Note: some people prefer higher tempos for Lindy dancing.)  Songs outside that range can hurt the Lindy rating, with some allowance given for really good songs.   I like to Lindy to songs that keep a good rhythm going but also have good breaks (pauses in rhythm) that I can play with. I like the songs to have good dynamics (loud and soft).  Of course, I like them to have good melodies and be interesting musically.  But as I'm dancing to this music, I like them to have a certain predictability, too, so I can pick up on repetitive patterns and play with them the next time around.  Jazz solos are good, but long wildly-improvisational solos aren't.  Songs that get into their rhythm soon after the start are preferred, as are songs that have a clear, predictable ending.  Too many ballroom or latin-rhythm songs on an album will hurt the Lindy rating. An album with only a few prime Lindy songs may still get a high Lindy rating if I think these songs are particularly good. 

Ratings Summary: 
Read the full reviews or click on an album name for its full review. The summary below is sorted in groups by the sum of the two ratings, highest to lowest. Within each group, the albums are sorted by music rating. (So if you don't care about danceability, just look for the albums rated with the most *'s at the top of each group.)  I claim the right to be biased, to have different tastes than you, and to change my mind, and my ratings, occasionally. 

Ron's Swing CD Reviews - Ratings Summary