The Swing Session

If you want to talk about authentic, check out the meticulous care and devotion this six-piece swing band puts into the 20 tunes on The Swing Session. Vocalist Peter "Pops" Walsh is a journeyman who performed with Seatrain and Pacific Gas & Electric, and played bass for Lou Reed in the Tots and the original version of the Rock & Roll Animal band. This is not like any of those groups; Walsh's voice brings a smooth authority to the vintage music produced with reverence by drummer Bowen Brown. On "That Night" -- the story about the Rhythm Club burning to the ground and the musicians finding themselves out of work -- the horn just erupts and soars. These gentlemen perform with elegance when necessary, Scott Lawrence opening "Out West" with piano that once backed Country Joe MacDonald. The band journeyed to Boston in the summer of 2001 behind this recording, and the twenty-something kids coming out of nowhere to pack a hall and dance to this music from a time gone by just adds to the validity. Jewel Records put the CD inside a nice, ecologically sound non-jewel box, with cool photos of the band, a grinning pic of Walsh at the microphone, and a look right out of the big-band era. The material is culled from the repertoires of Doc Pomus, Doc Sausage, Joe Liggins, Louis Jordan, Tiny Grimes, and others, with six titles from "Little" David Rose, all of it brimming with precision and heart. In a world that embraces the "tribute" CD, with bands reconstructing the Bee Gees, T. Rex, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and whomever, the Swing Session's veteran musicians take on some real classics. The skill required to pull this off is enormous, and do Walsh and his crew ever pull it off! Rusty Zinn and Jerry Cortez put guitar on 13 of the 20 tracks, but aren't listed as members of the group. This disc has the potential to bring this style to a whole new generation of fans. ~ Joe Viglione