Echoes Of Swing - Blue Pepper (2013)

Can a band of today catch the excitement and fire of the swing era? The quartet Echoes Of Swing has proved this is possible since its formation in 1997. Some bands of the 1920s and 30s adopted trumpet, reed, piano and drums, such as those of Lovie Austin and Willie The Lion Smith, but these were essentially chamber jazz groups. Echoes Of Swing refused to think exclusively on such a small scale. Instead, they found ways to transfer the sounds of much larger forces to a compact tight-knit setting. How do Echoes Of Swing avoid sounding like a repertory band? By adding new music. Not only have they arranged standards old and new, plus some less-well-known songs, but created strongly written original material too.