Heritage Sounds

Big Band Revival: Lionel Hampton – Indiegogo Campaign to Fund Chart Transcriptions

42658367_2120897154829766_4192294711219716096_nIt’s live!  This year’s Big Band Revival transcription project bandleader is Lionel Hampton and we’re excited to announce that the song lineup will be three sets of big band tunes and two sets of small group tunes – more music for your listening ears, more bang for your buck in terms of contributing to the project.  If you’re not familiar with the past transcription projects (Chick Webb and Jimmie Lunceford), here’s the abbreviated version:

  1. A lot of this music that we love from the swing era isn’t available in chart form to purchase for big bands to perform.
  2. This Indiegogo campaign goes to fund the transcription of the songs listed in the campaign (and the associated music publishing licensing fees), usually 30 songs, which equates to an entire night of big band swing music for the length of a swing dance; this year there are two extra sets of small group material included.  Fund as little or as much as you like – get some swag or fund an entire song of your choice.  You can listen to all the songs that are a part of this project here.
  3. These charts will be performed at Lindy Focus on December 29 – if you can’t attend in person, there’s a live stream on YouTube
  4. Licenses will be pursued for these charts to be published and available for purchase at a reasonable cost on the Heritage Sounds website for you and/or your local swing/big band to perform for your dancing and listening pleasure.

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I am personally excited to be delving into the songs performed by Dinah Washington, who appeared with Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra in the 1940’s.  Dinah never recorded any records with Lionel’s orchestra (she did with his small groups), but a number of air check recordings exist of varying audio quality – I’m excited that these big band charts will be getting a second chance, to be heard in greater fidelity, and maybe someone will even record them someday!

Thank you in advance and thanks to everyone who has already donated – the music means so much to all of us, it’s amazing that this level of support exists from all of you who love swing music and want live swing music to continue to be a part of your lives.

All Balboa Weekend 2018
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Photo by @bobbykatedance

This will be my 12th All Balboa Weekend, attending and/or working in some capacity, and it’s always a joy to bring excellent swing music to these particular shuffling feet.  This year I’ll be singing with Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders octet on Friday night (June 15) and with the Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders Orchestra on Saturday night (June 16).  Michael always works in some new material for Balboa dancers and I’m excited to see what he brings to the table for this weekend and also excited to revisit all the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald charts that Michael utilizes to showcase the Heritage Sounds collection of charts (which you can buy on the Heritage Sounds website!).  See you soon, Cleveland!

School of Hard Knox – March 23-24, 2018

22730119_1423315634384476_5301930625398209716_nI’ll be Knoxville-bound soon enough, but this is an extra special weekend because Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders Orchestra will have its debut performance at the Saturday night main dance at School of Hard Knox!  If you’ve been following the transcriptions projects and Indiegogo.com campaigns for Chick Webb, Jimmie Lunceford, and (soon to be launched) Lionel Hampton, you’ll know that Michael has spearheaded this endeavor and has all these great big band charts that should really continue to be heard outside of once a year at Lindy Focus.  It is my understanding that his new orchestra will be a showcase for these charts and bandleaders, so that more people can hear them, learn about them, and spread the love to other bandleaders, educators, music lovers, dancers, really anyone who may take an interest in this music.  Michael will probably also have some other things up his sleeve, so this will, at least in part, be a surprise for me as well!

If you are interested in learning more about what charts are available right now, visit the Heritage Sounds website – we are still in the process of clearing licenses for many more arrangements (which takes a long time), so stay tuned!

If you are interested in dancing, come take classes and dance at School of Hard Knox – there’s a stellar instructor lineup for the weekend, great DJs, and shenanigans to be had!

Big Band Revival: Jimmie Lunceford

20245792_1883076361945181_6443729510126131418_nIn the second installment of transcribing arrangements for an entire night dance music from one swing era bandleader, Jimmie Lunceford is on deck and the Indiegogo campaign is live to raise the funds to transcribe all these arrangements and then make them available to the public for bandleaders to purchase for their own bands to perform (or, as in some cases, for dance communities to purchase for their local big band to perform!)   Michael Gamble covers a lot of bases in the video (posted below and in the Indiegogo campaign, about how the Chick Webb project worked from start to finish (and to print) and how we are doing it all over again to bring Jimmie Lunceford’s orchestra back to life for one dance-long night of music.  Please do watch the video, there are a lot of interesting things about this project, some digging into the national archives for existing arrangements (in whole or in part), and some unique things about Lunceford’s band.  Once again, I’m delighted to be working on the transcription project with a team of people dedicated to making sure this music is performed again! #teamLunceford

Chick Webb Night Live Stream Recording

Here it is, 3 sets (and two encores!) of Chick Webb music in all its glory at Lindy Focus 2016!  As with any tribute, we hope that the band was able to capture the magic of a night at the Savoy Ballroom, with the most famous of the Savoy’s house bands.  Much love to everyone who contributed to the transcription project to make this dream a reality!

Transcriptions by Mark Lopeman, Dan Barrett, and Keenan McKenzie.  Performed by the Jonathan Stout Lindy Focus All-Star Orchestra, with Jonathan Stout (guitar), Chris Dawson (piano), Marquis Howell (bass), Josh Collazo (drums), Gordon Au (trumpet), Ken McGee (trumpet), Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet), Lucian Cobb (trombone), Dan Barrett (trombone), Albert Alva (reeds), Dan Levinson (reeds), Jonathan Doyle (reeds), Keenan McKenzie (reeds), and Laura Windley (vocals).