pandemic

April 2020 COVID-19 Update

It’s amazing how time has seemed to stand still, yet fly by.  I have remained busy, as my day job is deemed essential, but I have also been busier than I thought I would be with various music and other projects.  Here’s a recap of the past month’s projects:

Gordon Au’s Tribute to Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars – Live at Lindy Focus was released on April 15 – this was such a special night of music and we are all very pleased with how this album came out, particularly since none of us had anticipated releasing the recordings from that night and we had only really run through half the tunes in rehearsal that day before performing Gordon’s wonderful arrangements.  This album is full of joy, so if you need some of that in your life right now, this would be a great investment in happiness.  Visit Bandcamp to download this digital release.

Keenan McKenzie put together a virtual collaboration of video/recording of his lovely song The Dwindling Light by the Sea, with yours truly reprising vocals, Lucian Cobb on trombone, Jonathan Stout on guitar, James Posedel on piano, William Ledbetter on bass, and Dan Faust on drums.  Here’s another recording, this time with visual, to add some joy to your day.  If you’d like to see more collaborations organized by Keenan, please consider donating to his virtual tip jar at VENMO: @keenanmckenziemusic OR
PAYPAL: paypal.me/keenanmckenziemusic

On another musical note, Bandcamp is doing musicians affected by the pandemic another solid and reprising their waiver of the revenue share for all sales on Bandcamp – this is in effect May 1, June 5, and July 3 (the first Friday of each month) from midnight to midnight PDT on each day.  If you’ve been planning to buy music, you can do the most good for musicians by purchasing on these particular dates.

On April 9, 2020, I DJ’ed (along with several of my fellow swing band leaders- Jonathan Stout, Michael Gamble, Brooks Prumo, Jonathan Ng, and house DJ Rickard Johansson) for the Global Online Social, a DJ’ed virtual dance party on Zoom and Twitch organized by Paul Riding that features new DJs every Thursday, playing swing music for a good portion of the day.  Maybe you dance, maybe you just need some swing music to keep you motivated as you work, but it’s a lot of fun – consider tuning in!

Finally, I’ve released three more episodes of Lindy Shopper’s Closet, the YouTube series spinoff of my Lindy Shopper blog, covering the topics of moth prevention, my favorite swing dance shoes, and dance undergarments, all posted below – please subscribe to my YouTube channel (I’ll eventually get back to posting music, too) and enjoy!

Lindy Shopper’s Closet Episode 2: Canceled Gig Outfits

Lindy Shopper’s Closet Episode 2 is up and I talk about the pandemic’s effects on the swing dance community and what I would have worn to canceled events for which I had already planned outfits. We’ll call this the learning curve episode, I talk too much, I tried to wear too many outfits, and there are some things I would change and realized I forgot to do, but if you want to hang out with me and talk about clothes and how the pandemic has impacted life and the life of your music/dancer friends, you’re probably going to appreciate it.  I’ve also posted a ton of links to things I mention in the episode – pandemic relief resources, events and musicians affected by the pandemic, and resources for the clothing and accessories I talk about in the episode.

What Makes This (Swing) Song Great?

Be sure to tune in to “What Makes This (Swing) Song Great?” this Saturday, March 21, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. EST, where Jonathan Stout, Michael Gamble, and I will reprise our panel discussion/musical geek out session from Cal Bal in an online format so that more people can enjoy this during these isolated times! Thanks to much to Pasadena Balboa and Jam for sponsoring this – the cost is $15, for more information and to register in advance, visit the Facebook invite.

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Tribute to Louis Armstrong & His All​-​Stars / Live at Lindy Focus

In light of the present pandemic and the cancellation of events and gigs for so many musicians everywhere, Gordon Au decided that his “involuntary unpaid sabbatical” project would be to put together an album from the live recordings of his Louis Armstrong All-Stars Tribute at Lindy Focus and give the proceeds to the musicians who participated in this tribute who rely on music income to meet their needs.  The lineup for the Armstrong tribute includes our fearless leader, transcriber, and arranger Gordon Au plus Jonathan Stout, Josh Collazo, Jen Hodge, Jacob Zimmerman, Keenan McKenzie, Lucian Cobb, Jim Ziegler, and yours truly.

You can pre-order the album and listen to the first track on Bandcamp now – the album is $15 with an option to give a larger donation and all the pre-order profits will go to the musicians on the album.  The album is scheduled to be released on April 15, 2020.

This performance was not live streamed from Lindy Focus because it was a late night, but I can tell you that the energy in the room was a unique electricity felt by all and I’m eager to hear the mixes for this album because we had a blast performing it.  Did I mention we only had one rehearsal and didn’t get to run all the songs?  I’m blessed to work with such pros to pull something like this off.  I don’t know if you’ll get to hear any of Gordon’s insightful narration, but I hope that his thoughtfulness and love for Armstrong shine through even without the words.

I love this quote from Gordon on the Bandcamp page:

“I grew up listening to Louis Armstrong. Last year I had the chance to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: bring the music of Louis & the All-Stars to swing dancers. I heard a few hip DJs play Louis for lindy hoppers over the years, but I always wished there was more, and I knew that I myself would love dancing to the All-Stars. I wanted to give dancers the chance to hear the music of the All-Stars with a live band, and to dance to it and fall in love with it.

Last December, that wish came true. At Lindy Focus XVIII, I presented a tribute to Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars with a dream team of 10 musicians, and finally got to share that music I love with hundreds of people dancing their hearts out, late at night in a packed ballroom, surrounded by smiling faces, at the largest lindy hop event in the nation. And I now I’m happy to share it with all of you.”

I’ll also give a shout out to the incredible artist Conan Zhao who painted the album artwork before this album was even a thought – the timing of its completion and the pandemic hitting the US is rather serendipitous and it’s just perfect.

Consider supporting this project by pre-ordering the album – if you love jazz and/or you’ve always wanted a Lindy Focus live album, this is the ticket!