Swing and Jazz Music   I'm NOT trying to follow any kind of "trends" here! I honestly am a fan of the whole modern Swing thing that's going on in music. Also, I'm a big fan of old-style Jazz. I just wish I was a better Jazz guitarist. *sigh* Oh well! Here are some of my favorite Jazz and Swing artists and links to some pages dedicated to them. So, throw on your "glad rags" and have some fun, because "The Suits Are Pickin' Up the Bill"!!!       My favorite band is  The Squirrel Nut Zippers. All of their CDs are excellent! They're newest one is called "Perennial Favorites" and they just put out a Christmas CD called "Christmas Caravan".     I saw the  Cherry Poppin' Daddies play in Indianapolis on October 26th. They put on one kick-ass show! The energy Steve Perry puts out is nothing short of amazing! After the show, I even got to meet the trumpet player (the guy on the far right in the shades). He was a really nice guy!      Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a GREAT Swing band. They even do a cover of "Minnie the Moocher" on their CD. Well worth checking out. They're great!       The Royal Crown Revue's newest CD is called "The Contender". Personally, my favorite CD by them is their live CD, "Caught in the Act". They're music is VERY high energy and VERY much influenced by 1940's music. Great stuff!!          I actually saw Brian Setzer play live back in his Stray Cats days. They opened for Stevie Ray Vaughn. Talk about a guitar player's wet dream!  The Brian Setzer Orchestra is his newest band and they're jump, jivin' and wailin' good! I saw Brain and his Orchestra play in Louisville on November 27th! He was even a millions times better a guitar player then I remember when I saw him play with the Stray Cats! And the Orchestra was red hot! GREAT show!!!!    Indigo Swing is one of the newest Swing bands on the scene. They have two CDs out. One is just called "Indigo Swing" and their newest is called "All Aboard!" I highly recommend both of them. These guys have really captured the true essence of what 1940's music was all about!     This is Wes Montgomery. He's my #1 all-time favorite guitar player. The soul and emotion he put into his music was nothing short of pure genius. Sadly, Wes passed away in 1976. But, his music will live on forever!       Say what you will about  Miles Davis but the simple fact is that Jazz doesn't get any cooler! Miles invented the word "cool"! To me, "Kind of Blue" is one of the greatest Jazz CDs ever.      Django Reinhardt was a huge influence on the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The most amazing thing about his guitar style was that he lost the use of his third and forth fingers on his fret hand. Everything he played was with only two fingers! Yet, even if I had three hands, being able to play half as good as Django would still be an unreachable goal.   (There's more to come, so check back soon!)