Customer Reviews

Swingin the Century

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bill Elliott...a name that is the shining light in today's swing revival. This talented man from Boston has taken Los Angeles and the swing world by storm because of one important factor...quality! He has been faithful to the big band standards through his arrangements, but also has added his golden touch with his own compositions. His singers, The Lucky Stars, bring wonderful memories of Glenn Miller's Modernaires with tight harmonies. "Falling In Love Again," and "When We Dance" are great examples. Miss Cassie Miller does an OUTSTANDING rendition of "Come Rain Or Come Shine" In fact, I would rate her talent in the class of Rosemary Clooney. That's how good I think she is. The whole world should be jealous of the Los Angeles Lindy Hop Community for having such a great organization. And Broadway audiences are discovering "Bill's Bounce" every night at the St. James Theatre in the superb production of "Swing!" It's a no-brainer, a Bill Elliott CD is more than worth the money!

As a swing dancer, I love this CD. Thirteen of the CD's fifteen tracks are great for Lindy Hop (the other two, "Blues in the Night" and "Come Rain or Come Shine," are slower ballads - still great songs, just a little slow, in my opinion, for Lindy). The songs, for the most part, are medium tempos ("Swingin' the Century," "At the Coconut") to fast tempos ("Camp Hollywood Special," "Jeep Jockey Jump"). However, not only does the music have great tempos, but it is also interesting to dance to - breaks, syncopations and the like make dancing even more fun. An added plus is that the CD's liner notes include the tempos (in beats-per-minute) of every song.

I chose this CD based on other reviews and was not disapointed. This music is just so much fun and it is great swing music. There is a nice combination of instrumental tracks with upbeat tempos, and several tracks with great jazz singing. The one main point of difference from Bill Elliot from other swing bands is quality. It brings to mind the original masters of swing such as Glen Miller. Very smooth music, it really is beautiful, fun music. Ten out of ten.

During the swing revival of the late '90s, many previously unknown bands came into the limelight. Bill Elliott's "Swingin' the Century" is a perfect example of the "new swing" style, which is really "old swing" from new artists.

When listening to this swing CD, you just can't help but make comparisons to Glenn Miller and the Andrew Sisters. Many of the songs are fun, and have the spirit of swing artists from yesterday. "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Jeep Jockey Jump" are both memorable, while "Shim Sham Song" and "At the Coconut" will make you wonder why the swing revival didn't seem to come with us into the 21st Century.

Now, although the music is the main point of any album, I'd like to take a moment to single out the retro cover art. Like the cover art on old LPs, it helps set the mood for the music contained inside. For the uninitiated, the odd geometric shapes on top of the globe are the Trylon and Perisphere, from the famous 1939 New York World's Fair (the World's Fair held during the Swing Era).

Unfortunately, the swing revival has faded, but that doesn't mean we should put the new music on a shelf! Check out "Swingin' the Century" for a new slant on tunes from a bygone day.

Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra is one of the BEST big bands that is currently still Swingin'. Not only is this CD Excellent, but their other CD's are just as great! Definately a must have for the Lindy Hopper in your life.

More great Big Band Swing from Bill Elliott. He is the Glen Miller of our era. Great originals like Swingin' the Century and Camp Hollywood Special really cook. Some good vocal songs-- like The Shim Sham Song and When we Dance. This is toe tapping music. Like the first two CD's this also have some classic covers Oh Lady Be Good , Jeep Jockey Jump, and Blues In the Night. This is a must to bring in the New Century!!

If you liked that cd you will like this one. This one is missing a "mildred" song, if they had one on this cd, it would be better that jitterbugs. Camp Hollywood Special is the Bill's Bounce of the new album. The Shim Sham Song is a real cool song after a minute or so(really jumpin after that) Let's get married as a catchy couple of notes. At the Coconut and Boogie Woogie Rhumba. A Very good. A great cd for the neo swing generation as well as the big band era swingers. This music is timeless, too bad he will go virtually unknown.

--Joey

I belong to the Third Street Swingers from Santa Monica, CA. We use this song every other week as we dance the Shim Sham at the 3rd street prominad near a busy shopping area. People stop to observe us and are in awe of the fun we have dancing to Bill Elliots music. He's created a sound like that of days gone by for Swing dancers like myself to enjoy today. Keep cranking out thoes tunes Bill Elliot.

I got a copy of Swingin' The Century in the mail a few weeks ago & I was blown away! This CD is as good as the last two, maybe even better! Bill's Lucky Stars, particulary Cassie Miller are featured a bit more heavily than in 'Calling All Jitterbugs', but it's all good! My personal fave is 'I'm Fallin' In Love Again'. Cassie gets the spotlight in the tune, but the Lucky Stars really belt out that refrain. Another good Lucky Stars track is 'Let's Get Married'. Camp Hollywood Special & Maze of Death stand out as the best instrumentals. The orchestra also does a terrific cover of Glenn Miller's Jeep Jockey Jump. 15 terrific tracks from a band that knows what Swing is all about!

I got an advanced copy of this at the band's release party, and I believe it's the best thing Bill has turned out. He's achieved a better balance here between his originals and the classic swing tunes (the last album had only one cover tune and needed the extra variety). Strongest here are "Oh Lady Be Good", a favorite of dancers who hear Bill's band play, and the swoony version of "Blues in the Night." Some of the original tunes fall prey to silly and cutesy lyrics, like "At the Coconut", but the original intrumentals are great, especially the title track, the fast jitterbug "Camp Hollywood Special", and "Hep Hop". It's all perfect for dancers, and Bill has some of the most polished, professional players in biz. It may not be as great the golden era of Basie, Goodman, Ellington, Barnet, Shaw, et al. (god, there were a lot of great bands backs then), but this is as good as it gets today.