onurblues: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

October 16, 2022

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Live (2004)

► The album is available at the usual place...

Swing, swing, swing and... swing again ! 

Lovers of Cab Calloway's mischievous big band jump and swing should love BBVD just as well, especially on this rejoicing live album. The swing revival band, co-founded by singer-guitarist Scotty Morris and drummer Kurt Sodergren in Ventura, California, in 1989, was later joined by a solid cast of horn players, completed with a bassist, a pianist and a percussionist. During their residency at the Derby nightclub in Los Angeles, they reminded the world, in the midst of the grunge era, that it was still cool to swing. Since then Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (BBVD) has performed more than 2,600 shows over 22 years with a streak of 260 consecutive sold out concerts !

Originally released with a DVD, “Live” captures a full set performed in May 2003. Their horn-infused high energy repertoire mixes big band a la Cab Calloway seasoned with jazzy Afro-Cuban salsa and old New Orleans jazz. With one and only objective : swing, swing and... swing again !

The ten-piece band gathers highly professional musicians, their repertoire swings as much as you hope, and their music is as rejoicing and energetic as can be. Just a treat for your ears and feet. Can't help wanting to get up and dance. There isn't much more to say to translate the jubilation one feels hearing such irresistible swing...

Cab Calloway

Their music and even their early clothing style (zoot suits, bi-color shoes and hats) re-incarnate Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, the famous Harlem Cotton Club and the 1930s-1940s big bands era. Compared to that, much of today's popular music sounds desperately dull and serious… BBVD resurrect a time when people were much cooler, not to say carefree, and knew how to have fun, even without the digital technologies we now have.

Swing and fun are embodied in the iconic "Minnie The Moocher", originally recorded by Calloway back in 1931. You think the other tracks are all covers of songs from this same retro era ? Well you get it all wrong : except Calloway's "Minnie The Moocher" (co-written with Irving Mills), “Jumpin' Jack” (signed Irving Mills again & Duke Ellington) and "I Wanna Be Just Like You (Jungle Book Song)" (signed by Robert & Richard Sherman), the 14 remaining tracks are all products of the incredible Scotty Morris !

Only missing is Calloway's legendary scat drives, almost nonexistent with BBVD. Can't have your cake and eat it too ! As a consolation, Morris is a superb singer and showman, and his vocals are fitting perfectly the band's swing.

These seventeen live tracks are exceptionally good, but I'd like to mention a few I personally find particularly outstanding : except the covers, "Minnie The Moocher" and the excellent "Jumpin' Jack", there are the boogie-woogie "Boogie Bumper", "King Of Swing" and its melancholic chorus, the jubilating "You And Me & The Bottle Makes 3 (Tonight)", "I Like It", nicely infused with an Afro-Cuban flavor, the two highly rhythmic "Mr. Pinstripe Suit" and "Go Daddy-O"… I stop here because I'm tempted to list almost all the other titles !

Scotty Morris

Finally, a word about the musicians. The five trumpet, clarinet, sax and trombone players are as flawless as they are effective, and Andy Rowley's baritone sax brings a colorful low sound. Along with Dirk Shumaker's double bass, drummer Kurt Sodergren and his accomplice Chester Cooley on congas and percussion are carrying the band with rock-solid swinging rhythm. On piano, Joshua Levy excels in boogies and Latin style. And of course the boss, Scotty Morris, discreet but efficient on guitar, pulls the band with his energy.

Such a grand live album should have a place of choice in any swing fan's discotheque. Full stop !☺

Albert Collins

Anecdote How the band got its name

The band's name “Big Bad Voodoo Daddy” came from Scotty Morris meeting with blues guitar legend Albert Collins at one of Collins' concerts. "He signed my poster 'To Scotty, the big bad voodoo daddy'", Morris explains. "I thought it was the coolest name I ever heard on one of the coolest musical nights I ever had. So when it came time to name this band, I didn't really have a choice. I felt like it was handed down to me." (Wikipedia)