Apr 30, 1994 (30 years ago) The Bayou Washington, D.C., United States
3135 K Street NW, Georgetown
Big Band, Jazz, Jazz Rock, Jump Blues, Rock, Rock And Roll, Rockabilly, Swing, and Swing Revival.
Uploaded by Jeffrey Lee
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SETZER 'ORCHESTRA' SWINGS AND ROCKS By Geoffrey Himes - The Washington Post - April 29, 1994
BRIAN SETZER has been infatuated with '50s fashions ever since he launched the Long Island rockabilly trio the Stray Cats in the early '80s. Now, however, his '50s fanaticism has taken an unexpected left turn into the big-band pop-jazz of Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. The new album, "The Brian Setzer Orchestra," reintroduces the former Stray Cat as the crooner, guitarist and leader of a 17-piece horn band. When he croons, "Days turn cold, nights grow long like an old Sinatra song" over a Nelson Riddle-ish string chart, there's a hint of campiness or irony in the lush arrangement.
Nonetheless there's more to this project than the usual Harry Connick Jr. or Linda Ronstadt nostalgia exercise. For one thing, Setzer brings the guitar out of the big-band background to become a lead instrument, not just to imitate jazz horn lines but to add jump-blues and rockabilly licks to the mix. Although Setzer sings numbers associated with Cole and Bobby Darin -- as well as some originals in the Sinatra style -- the album is less interesting when it's paying tribute to big-band crooning than when it's mixing that genre with early rock 'n' roll.
It's not as strange as it first seems. Elvis Presley, after all, often sang with TV orchestras, and Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner toured with big bands. Setzer, his music director/saxophonist Michael Acosta and their arrangers, Mark Jones and Billy May, allow the rhythm to rock without losing its essential swing, and the bluesy twang of Setzer's guitar stands out against the massed harmonies of the horns. This blend of rock and swing works best on the songs from the rock side of the fence, where Setzer is least likely to get overwhelmed by the jazz guys: Carl Perkins's "Your True Love," Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac," Etta James's "Good Rockin' Daddy," Wynonie Harris's "Sittin' on It All the Time" and Setzer's own "Ball and Chain."
THE BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA -- "The Brian Setzer Orchestra" (Hollywood). Appearing Saturday at the Bayou.
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