Event

An Evening with Swing Fever

Arena Theater presents the authentic big band sound of Swing Fever on Saturday August 8, 2009. The Swing Fever quartetmusicians who cut their chops with jazz legendstreats Swing Era music as a living breathing form, to which the players bring fresh excitement, new arrangements and unusual instrumentation. Their music has been praised by critics as "Toe-tapping and relentlessly swinging...."

Clever, fun, moody, witty and romantic tunes from the 1930s and 40this wonderful, classic music is presented in its full emotional range, played as critic Phil Elwood said, as though the numbers are on todays Hit Parade.

Swing Fever has been performing jazz of the 1930s and 40s since 1978 when it was founded by band leader and vocalist Bryan Gould. The band has toured and recorded with renowned musicians, including Count Basie Duke Ellington trumpeter Clark Terry, who appears on two of the bands four CDs, and clarinetist Buddy DeFranco and vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, who appear on their most recent CD.

As Jazz Now said, Swing Fever keeps its music alive without turning it into a museum piece. Created and nurtured in the San Francisco Bay Area, Swing Fever has always persisted, somewhat against the grain. Its own piano-less Swing style is devoted to classic Gershwin and Ellington on the one hand and jive on the other. Swing Fever has played the Monterey Jazz Festival twice, also the San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento and Los Angeles Classic Jazz Festivals. In 1990, Swing Fever was honored by the California Arts Council with an appointment to its touring roster. It has remained on that roster since then and played more than 400 concerts in California. The band has played two concert tours in Alaska, and is a long time member of Western Arts Alliance.