Still Swingin’

About “Still Swingin'”

The motivation for making a CD of this nature came as a result of my watching the Ken Burns special on Jazz. I was really moved by a segment in which the Basie Band was playing an outdoor concert which featured Billie Holliday and Lester Young. When I heard Papa Jo Jones driving that band and the level of swing they were coming up with, and then saw the effect it had on the audience which seemed to be in ecstasy as they were dancing in the aisles,

I thought “There has got to be a contemporary equivalent to this!”. Although the term “free jazz” has come to mean something much different than this, the thought struck me that there is something to be said for jazz that makes the people listening to it, as well as the people playing it, feel free. I then decided I wanted to make a contemporary CD that returns to a jazz concept that swings and causes the gladdening of the human heart – to provide a musical experience that serves as a vehicle for the human spirit to soar to heights that makes someone feel that it’s great to be alive. This CD, then, is a humble attempt at that end.

Mike Longo