New Arrivals
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Hick Jazz
Compact Disk: Way Out West Productions Hick Jazz (2006) $18.00
Hello Western Swing fans, thanks for buying our new album! Western Swing, also know as "Hick Jazz, Texas Swing, and Hillbilly Jazz," is truly an American Treasure. It originated in Texas and Oklahoma, where musicians like Milton Brown, Spade Cooley, and Bob Wills, blended hoe downs, blues, and big band jazz into some of the greatest dance music of the 1930's and 40's. Our band is performed in an acoustic style with guitars and fiddle as the lead instruments. We stay true to the Wills' tradition, borrowing from Big Band Swing, Western Hoe Downs, and Classic Western Show Tunes to create our repertoire. The result is an infectious "string swing" that is turning jazz and country enthusiasts into Jangles fans. We hope to see you at our next show, and thanks for listening! Sincerely,
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Juan Reynoso
Genius of Mexico's Tierra Caliente Compact Disk: Arhoolie CD509 (2003) $18.00
Juan Reynoso was born under the blazing sun in Santa Domingo, Guerrero, in the heart of southwestern Mexico's Tierra Caliente on June 24th, 1912. The Mexican Revolution was still raging throughout the country and Juan never had the opportunity to go to school, but from the time he was a tiny child he was enchanted by the sound of the violin. One day an orphan boy who lived with the Reynosos stole a small violin from a nearby market, and he and Juan used to fight over who would get to play it. Juan eventually won out and soon began to learn the region's repertoire. Accompanied by his father Felipe, he would carry his violin to wherever people congregated, offering "tres por dos," or three pieces of music for two centavos. Juan soon began to spend time with the best musicians of the region, carefully learning the sones, gustos, pasodobles and waltzes of the Hot Lands entirely by ear. As he grew to adulthood, Juan's musicianship and fame grew as well, and before long his group was highly sought after for weddings, christenings and parties. However, he loved to work in the fields as well, and for many years supported his large family by sowing and harvesting sorghum, sesame and corn. He now regrets not taking his music more seriously when he was younger. Juan did take a small group to Mexico City in the late 1940's, securing steady work on radio station XEX, but in a recent interview he said that he liked nothing about city life, and, after little more than a year in the city, he returned home to Tierra Caliente. By the early 1990's some of Juan's recordings had begun to be distribute in the United States. His international fame, however, began to grow by leaps and bounds in 1996, when he and two of his sons were invited to play and teach at The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington. Here his remarkable repertoire and passionate, heartfelt playing were introduced to a new and appreciative audience. With his star rapidly rising, Juan in 1997 received Mexico's highest arts award, the National Prize in Science and Arts. In additon, the folks at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes were sufficiently impressed by his virtuosity that he and his group were invited to return each year. Sensing that these audiences truly appreciated the music he had devoted his life to learning, Juan's performances for the past eight years at the Fiddle Tunes festival have always been among his very best. The disc you are now listening to consists of a carefully chosen selection of the best recordings from Juan's festival appearances between 1997 and 2001. Most of these performannces have never been issued before, although a few have been drawn from four Juan Reynoso CDs originally issued on the Swing Cat label (www.SwingCatEnterprises.com). We sincerely hope that you enjoy this music, the life's work of Juan Reynoso, the Genius of Mexico's Hot Lands. - Paul Anastasio, August, 2003 Cuts:
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Anything Goes!
Compact Disk: Swing Cat/Tuxedo 801 (2005) $18.00
Tony Marcus has been a mainstay of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for many years - since dinosaurs roamed the earth, in fact. His work with R. Crumb's Cheap Suit Serenaders and swing trio Cats and Jammers has always been of the highest quality, and he currently performs with Patrice Haan in the swinging duo Leftover Dreams. One can count on the musical level of a jam session ramping up several degrees as soon as he snaps the latches on his guitar case and joins in. I've been a big fan of both Tony's find guitar playing and his dulcet bass vocal stylings for a long time, and it was truly a pleasure to be able to record this disc with him. - Paul Anastasio I first heard of Paul Anastasio 25 years ago, and even then people were speaking of his playing with reverence. When I got a chance to play with him about 15 years ago at the Augusta Heritage Swing Week, I found out it was all true. Paul's playing combines influences from Joe Venuti (who was his first jazz teacher) with Stuff Smith and Svend Asmussen's style, while sidestepping the more frequent Grappelli violinistic touch. He uses bluesy slurs, extended chord tones and a barrelhouse attack to make tunes his own. While his career has included stints playing western swing and country music, and in recent years he has focused a lot of attention on the Mexican music of Juan Reynoso, his jazz fiddling is straight from the heart. He plays standards with a level of commitment and emotion that few, if any, can match. When the two of us began to play music together, it immediately fit together perfectly. For a number of years now we've been talking about recording a CD, and a few months back we had a couple of days when Paul was in the area and free. We set up some mics in my studio and just started throwing tunes back and forth. What you hear is pretty much what occurred, though each of us did a couple of overdubs. Paul played harmony fiddle lines on two tunes, and I added a few guitar solos over my rhythm playing. There's a minimum of studio processing and sweetening, mostly just two guys having fun playing music. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did! - Tony Marcus Cuts:
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Juan Reynoso
Volume Four: With Passion Transcription Book and CD: Swing Cat 1510B (1998,2004) $28.00 This set includes both the original compact disk and a complete transcription of the music of Juan Reynoso. The transcription is extremely accurately notated with note-for-note transcriptions of the complete performance and includes guitar chords and some guitar countermelodies. |
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Juan Reynoso
Volume Three: Viva Tierra Caliente Transcription Book and CD: Swing Cat 1509B (1998,2004) $28.00 This set includes both the original compact disk and a complete transcription of the music of Juan Reynoso. The transcription is extremely accurately notated with note-for-note transcriptions of the complete performance and includes guitar chords and some guitar countermelodies. |
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Juan Reynoso
Volume Two: Hot as Habanero Transcription Book and CD: Swing Cat 1508B (1998,2004) $28.00 This set includes both the original compact disk and a complete transcription of the music of Juan Reynoso. The transcription is extremely accurately notated with note-for-note transcriptions of the complete performance and includes guitar chords and some guitar countermelodies. |
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Juan Reynoso
Volume One: On Fire and In Concert Transcription Book and CD: Swing Cat 1507B (1998,2004) $28.00 This set includes both the original compact disk and a complete transcription of the music of Juan Reynoso. The transcription is extremely accurately notated with note-for-note transcriptions of the complete performance and includes guitar chords and some guitar countermelodies. |
Copyright © 1997-2007 Swing Cat Enterprises. All Rights Reserved.
Last updated November 10, 2007.