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Swingadelic

Swingadelic began in 1998 as the neo-swing movement was cresting. Bassist Dave Post gathered his jazz & blues playing pals together to play engagements at New York City's Supper Club, Swing 46 and Windows On The World. As the swing scene waned the band turned to dances, concerts, festivals, schools and private engagements to keep active.

Swingadelic has performed at Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing, NJPAC, and at many festivals, including Bele Chere (Ashville NC), MusikFest (Allentown PA) the CD 109 Jazz & Blues Festival (Red Bank, NJ) and the sanofi-aventis JazzFest (Madison NJ).

The band plays about 100 dates per year and has traveled from Maine to Atlanta. Swingadelic has maintained a residency for eight years at Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ where it performs as an eleven piece "little big band". The group often plays for many regional Swing Dance Societies and performs as a quintet doing a Duke Ellington program in Hudson County (NJ) schools.

Swingadelic has six CD's and has been recording for the ZOHO Music label since 2011. Their first release on ZOHO was titled "The Other Duke", a tribute to Duke Pearson. This CD was in the JazzWeek Radio charts top thirty and garnered many critically acclaimed reviews in jazz publications such as Jazz Times and All About Jazz.

The newest ZOHO release (May 2013) "Toussaintville" is a collection of songs written by legendary New Orleans piano player, songwriter, producer & arranger Allen Toussaint.

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7
Album Review

Swingadelic: Bluesville

Read "Bluesville" reviewed by Jack Bowers


If you're partial to music that is sunny and freewheeling and almost commands a smile, you should have no trouble warming to Bluesville, the eighth recording by New Jersey-based Swingadelic, now twenty-two years old and counting. As its name implies, the orchestra (more often than not a mini-big band a dozen or so strong) re-creates an era wherein young fun-lovers (and some older ones as well) listened, danced and grooved to bands whose essential purpose was to make sure everyone ...

5
Album Review

Swingadelic: Mercerville

Read "Mercerville" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Swingadelic loves a good tribute. This little big band's first date for Zoho was all about Duke--Pearson, not Ellington--and its second set on that imprint focused on the music of New Orleans icon Allen Toussaint. Now the group has set its sights on another singular figure, taking a trip to Johnny Mercer country with positive results. Toussaint was occasionally a tough nut to crack for Swingadelic, as the soul quotient in his world was difficult to consistently ...

3
Album Review

Swingadelic: Toussaintville

Read "Toussaintville" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


It's tempting to say that the great Allen Toussaint is a musical phoenix who rose out of the ashes of a Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, but that's not really true. Toussaint wasn't reborn when his city was in ruins; people just started to wake up and take notice of him again in the wake of that tragedy. Participation in benefit concerts, a well-publicized collaboration with Elvis Costello--The River In Reverse (Verve Forecast, 2006)--and a Joe Henry-produced jazz album--The Bright Mississippi (Nonesuch, ...

197
Album Review

Swingadelic: The Other Duke: Tribute To Duke Pearson

Read "The Other Duke: Tribute To Duke Pearson" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Most four-letter words come with a negative connotation attached, but that's not always the case. When big band fans hear the word “Duke" uttered aloud, positive thoughts tend to take over and Duke Ellington immediately comes to mind. His legendary compositions and historic recordings elevated him to the very top of the jazz world, and one need only utter that four-letter word to cheer up many a big band lover. Ellington is, without a doubt, the most well-known “Duke" in ...

101
Album Review

Swingadelic: The Other Duke

Read "The Other Duke" reviewed by Greg Simmons


Swingadelic has a standing Monday night gig at the New Jersey club Maxwells, which surely makes this band the greatest thing to come out of Hoboken since they built the Lincoln Tunnel. These eleven musicians--a smallish big band--blow an enormous amount of sound out of The Other Duke, a collection of Duke Pearson songs with new arrangements. Pearson was a great pianist who both led small and large ensembles and was an A&R representative for Blue Note in the 1960s. ...

348
Live Review

Swingadelic at Maxwell's

Read "Swingadelic at Maxwell's" reviewed by Tom Dwyer


Swingadelic Maxwell's Hoboken, NJ June 24, 2006

It's a Monday evening around 8:30 pm when a group of musicians wanders into Maxwell's, the venerable music club in Hoboken, NJ and start tuning up. Swingadelic, an eleven-piece “little big band has been gigging the front room at Maxwell's every other Monday for the past three years--playing some of the most infectious jazz/blues out there in a free-for-all setting that's part improvisational workshop and part ...

395
Album Review

Swingadelic: Big Band Blues

Read "Big Band Blues" reviewed by Jack Bowers


As its name implies, Swingadelic, a “little big band from Hoboken, New Jersey, focuses primarily on music from the Swing Era, especially the blues. The band has no vocalist as such; instead, various members of the ensemble double in that capacity, with some faring better than others. There are vocals on eight of the album's twelve tracks, three each by guitarist Fausto Bozza and trombonist Neal Pawley, one by pianist John Bauers, and another by alto saxophonist Buddy Terry.

As ...

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Recording

Swingadelic: Toussaintville

Swingadelic: Toussaintville

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

One of the most surprisingly imaginative CDs to cross my desk in some time is Swingadelic's Toussaintville (Zoho). The album—released today—pays tribute to the songs of Allen Toussaint [pictured], who turned 75 in January. The music is an intelligent and swinging fusion of big band jazz and soul-pop. The album not only skillfully reminds the listener of Toussaint's important contribution as a composer of top pop hits—Southern Nights, What Do You Want the Girl to Do, Sneaking Sally Through the ...

156

Recording

Swingadelic Big Band Pays Tribute to Duke Pearson on "The Other Duke"

Swingadelic Big Band Pays Tribute to Duke Pearson on "The Other Duke"

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards

Swingadelic holds forth at Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ, on selected nights. A regular gig, some decent soloists and some good arrangers plying their craft on a regular basis can do wonders. We have the evidence of that in their tribute to Blue Note pianist, composer and A&R man, the late Duke Pearson, The Other Duke (Zoho 201107). It's a straightforward, straight-ahead little big band outing that features many of Duke's most familiar tunes plus a few related ones from the dusty ...

102

Recording

Swingadelic - The Other Duke: Tribute to Duke Pearson (2011)

Swingadelic - The Other Duke: Tribute to Duke Pearson (2011)

Source: Something Else!

Better known for helping shape the Blue Note Records hard bop sound as a producer in the 1960s, pianist Duke Pearson also led his own big band before succumbing to the ravages of multiple sclerosis at age 47. Pearson displayed an underrated flair for unconventional arranging in a setting that couldn't have been further from his dates with the likes of Donald Byrd, Grant Green and Bobby Hutcherson. These forgotten contributions are brilliantly explored on The Other Duke, to be ...

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