This survivor from the middle of the century hung around long enough to latch onto something for which his colleagues were waiting in vain for decades -- a late-'90s swing revival. His patience thus rewarded, Anthony adopts a variation of the pile-driving jump/rockabilly/swing beat that the younger bands use, adds a rockabilly-tinged electric guitar, rounds up some L.A. session vets and some of the old songs, and re-enters the fray. But after awhile, the beat begins to sound more than a bit monotonous and tired, even desperate, though admittedly that doesn't make Anthony much different from all those Johnny-One-Note new swing bands out there. Vocalist Patrick Tuzzolino does manage to swing "Route 66" very nicely, his duets with Madeline Vergari bring back a Louis Prima/Keely Smith-like feeling, and Anthony's trumpet sounds robust. On a less-trendy note, "Sing Sing Sing" merely apes the Goodman rendition -- and "In the Groove" is a blatant rip-off of "In the Mood," however artfully altered. It will be interesting to see whether the young swing audience cottons to this oldster's soundalike revue.
Ray Anthony
Swing Club
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AllMusic Review by Richard S. Ginell
Track Listing
| Sample | Title/Composer | Performer | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
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4:01 | ||||
| 2 | 3:23 | |||||
| 3 |
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3:35 | ||||
| 4 | 4:39 | |||||
| 5 | 2:24 | |||||
| 6 | 3:34 | |||||
| 7 |
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3:00 | ||||
| 8 |
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3:35 | ||||
| 9 | 3:33 | |||||
| 10 |
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3:46 | ||||
| 11 | 2:56 | |||||
| 12 |
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3:13 |
