A rebirth for Swing

Wanna know what I would love to see?  I would love to see another wave of the swing era.  There are signs of it’s impending renaissance in all the right places.

For instance:  The hip styles of the past two decades have been variations on older trends.  We can see this in the 80′s sunglasses that are trendy now – tights being worn as pants – all of that is “like, totally” 80′s.

I move to push the trend envelope onto hipsters to put a modernized vitality into the swing genre.  I can see its inception in the clothing while I am out and about St. Louis.  The same kids that are wearing the skinny ties are also sporting the 40′s style cabbie hats, pork-pies and fedoras (there is a difference!).

Early trend setters like Pokey LaFarge are paving the way into the bright new life of jazz.  Pokey categorizes his playing style as a “roots” Swing and blues style.  That is a good word for it.  The roots are all around this city.  It’s in our blood.  After all- We are the Sister city of New Orleans and jazz has a new look and a healthy pulse down there!

Make no mistake, This next one will not be just a “cult” movement like the following of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy or Brian Setzer’s return.  The next one will revitalize the music and bring new flavor to the framework that has been around since the early 1920′s.