Live At The Legion

Solomon Douglas is a jazz pianist and bandleader, whose various bands have played at countless events in North America, Asia, and Australia in the past nine years. In 2006, Solomon toured with the world-famous Glenn Miller Orchestra as their pianist, and is now working as a full-time musician, bandleader, and dance instructor. The Solomon Douglas Swingtet is a ten-piece dance band whose repertoire is rooted in that of the Basie band (I Needs to Be Bee'd With, Two for the Blues, Splanky, Shorty George, Jumpin' at the Woodside, One O'Clock Jump) and that of the Ellington band (Rockin' in Rhythm, Saturday Night Function, East St. Louis Toodle-Oo), with other big-band standards and classic jazz tunes thrown in as well. Your disc is excellent, perfect for dancing. Congrats on releasing an exceptionally good recording. -Jim Wheatley, swing DJ (Atlanta, GA) This is an awesome CD, y'all. Totally worth it just for 'New Orleans,' 'South,' and 'East St. Louis Toodle-Oo' alone! -Breanna Perry, swing DJ (Nashville, TN) HOLY SCHMOLY! This is a wicked awesome CD! I highly suggest you all get it now! DANG, Solomon, you out-did yourself on this one! Thumbs up! -Jeff Miller, swing DJ (Virginia Beach, VA) I just got mine, and I'm telling you guys, doesn't matter if you like Blues or Bal, there are songs that's great for everyone. Go get it! -Patty Holmes, swing DJ (Houston, TX) Last night at the weekly Penn State swing club meeting, we danced to several tracks from Solomon's new CD. Each one was a big hit with the dancers, getting everyone out on the floor! At first the DJ mixed Solomon's tunes in with others, but the club members were so excited to hear the new CD that it was decided to just let it play. The variety of tempos, the quality of the arrangements, and the talent of the performers involved kept everyone excited both to dance and to listen. But how can you not be itching to dance to such great stuff?? -Annabel Truesdell, swing dancer (State College, PA) This is a fantastic CD. The production quality is amazing and the musicians are so tight. Get it, enjoy it, give it as a gift. You won't tire of listening to Live at the Legion, the newest album from the Solomon Douglas Swingtet. -Darren Scherck, event planner (Vancouver, BC) This is a really good CD. It's not often that a single CD has so many good tracks on it. Not just the standard fare, there is some really well thought out selections and some real emotion in the music on here. This is even better than the previous CD. DJing from an album with this production quality and energy is the next best thing to a live band. It's definitely worth having for anyone who DJs, or as a CD to practice to. -Dan Newsome, swing instructor and DJ (Seattle, WA) We DJ'd your new CD at Penn State. I'm not sure if we intended to let the entire CD run, but Isaac played one, and then I had to hear 'Shorty George' and 'Jumpin' at the Woodside,' and it just snowballed into an awesome night of music and dancing. So, the new CD is great. -Daniel Repsch, swing dancer (State College, PA) This is a pretty nice CD. It's the sort of thing I'd recommend particularly to someone who's just getting into 'music for swing dancing': it covers a few iconic swing songs in a few styles, it's live so the energy is great, it's a good quality recording so it's nice for DJing, it's a range of tempos. It's also the sort of CD I'd recommend to someone who's not really sure they like 'old school' swing-it has a few jumpy olden dayes songs, but in a context that's a bit more accessible than 6-pack of scratchies. It's also a modern band which caters specifically to dancers, and I think it's worth supporting real, live bands whenever we can. -Sam Carroll, swing DJ (Sydney, Australia) The reviews are in...drum roll please...

YES, Live at the Legion is a keeper!!! Of course my favorites are all the Ellington and Basie arrangements but what a pleasant surprise to hear other numbers by Bennie Moten and Fletcher Henderson. You really know this music so well. And what an incredible line-up of musicians. I love readin