W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at The Suffolk Theatre – 206-09-04

Who could forget the Swing Revival of the mid to late 1990’s? Or maybe I should rephrase that…who remembers the 1990’s Swing Revival? Unfortunately, probably not too many of you, and many of you that actually do, probably remember it as a niche and gimicky subgenre of punk rock’s infatuation with rock-a-billy. Nonetheless, bands like The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Brian Setzer Orchestra and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy all experienced their figurative 15 minutes of fame back then. Largely due to the success of the cult comedy classic movie “Swingers” from 1996, these bands experienced a meteoric (albeit short lived) rise in popularity following the Jon Favreau written fim which also helped propel the acting careers of Vince Vaughn, Heather Graham as well as Favreau. This so called Swing Revival would ultimately reach it’s pinacle in 1999 when Big Bad Voodoo Daddy would perform along with Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan during the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami, FL. (In case you don’t remember The Atlanta Flacons were defeated by The Denver Broncos).

Which brings me to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy who are still out on the road lindy hopping their way from town to town after all these years. The band formed in 1989 when lead singer, Scotty Morris and drummer, Kurt Sodergren got together. The band itself was named after an autograph inscription which Scotty had gotten years earlier from guitar legend Albert Collins. The autograph read, “To Scotty, the big bad voodoo daddy”.

Currently in the middle of what is roughly a 50 date set of shows throughout the U.S., the band made their way to Eastern Long Island’s Suffolk Theatre on Friday night to help kick off the Labor Day Weekend festivities to a packed and enthusiastic crowd of swingers. The band itself has largely remained intact throughout their 30 plus years in existance, no small feat in and of itself for such a large ensemble.

The band’s 60+ minute set hit all the right spots for the soldout crowd, performing such fan favorites as Duke Ellington’s “Diga Diga Doo”, “The King Of Swing”, Cab Calloway’s “Minnie The Moocher” and to bring the evening to a resounding crescendo “Mambo Swing” which had countless couples lindying in the aisles followed by their hit from the Swinger’s soundtrack, “Go Daddy Go” which needless to say kept all of those dancers (and then some) boogying in those packed aisles.

While this isn’t the type of show I traditionally visit, the night of swing jazz was absolutely fantastic. I would be negligent if I didn’t mention how virtuosic the band performed. Between trumpeter, Glen “The Kid” Marhevka, Andy Rowley on bari sax and Karl Hunter, doing duel duties on sax and clarinet I don’t even know where to begin to throw around superlatives regarding their playing. Furthermore, after all of these years, Scotty can still command a stage not only with his vocals but also with his banjo and guitar chops. And last but certainly not least there was Sodergren behind the skins. Kurt is still pounding out and maintaining impeccable rythms keeping time and directing the various band members to stay in line. All in all, these dudes, across the board still have the chops to incite a wonderful evening of swinging fun.

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