KGB
Swing
PROLETARIAN SWING
Taking
a quick glance at KGB Swing's new release, Proletarian Swing,
I was expecting your run-of-the-mill neo-swing band. The packaging
of the band's debut on Birch John Records is quite plain, and
the name makes insistent reference to their genre. But you can't
always judge a bookor a CDby it's cover.
Hailing
from Madison, Wisconsin, KGB Swing has compiled a collection of
12 smooth and lightly arranged swing tunes. All but one of the
songs are covers, but the choices were wise for a chanteuse backed
up by a trio. Singer Megan Flinn starts things off with a nimble
rendition of the 1947 classic "Your Red Wagon" and follows it
up with T-Bone Walker's "Your Wig is Gone." Other covers include
the soft ballad "Baby, Baby," the Calvin Boze classic "Safronia
B," Louis Jordan's "I'll Die Happy," and a few from juke-blues
master Wyonnie Harris. Flinn's voice is often projected as strongly
as Billie Holiday could muster, as elucidated in her version of
"Billie's Blues."
Proletarian
Swing won't jump out of your speakers like many swing recordings
from the last decade. But, In a sea of loud neo-swing, KGB offers
a laid back look at how soft jump blues can be.
-Smilin' Buddha Joe
Visit
the band at www.kgbswing.com
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