"Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?"
James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band has joined forces with the Chenille Sisters to create a dynamite collaboration called, "Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?" This album has received rave reviews all around the country.
James Dapogny started his band back in 1976, choosing other members who also understood and savored the first 50 years of jazz. Dapogny says, "Of course they had to be skilled at solo improvising, the mainstay of virtually all jazz. But they also had to be able to improvise the ensembles, essential to New Orleans and Chicago jazz and something of a lost art."
James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band traces its musical ancestry to Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and dozens of other traditional jazz greats. The band plays authentic and spirited traditional jazz, including turn-of-the-century ragtime, New Orleans and Chicago Jazz of the 1920s, and small-band swing of the 1930s and early '40s. Members of the band can be heard individually on over 150 albums, and on eight as a band, including "Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight?" and the Grammy-nominated "Sippie," a collaboration with blues singer Sippie Wallace and Bonnie Raitt.
The Chenille Sisters are contemporary singer-songwriters who form a funny, funky vocal trio with gorgeous close harmonies. They've been featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion and American Radio Company, ABC's The Home Show, and in concert all across the country. They also perform unique kids shows, featuring standard favorites, like the Hokey Pokey, as well as some Chenille originals such as the Kitchen Percussion Song. These shows include choreographed skills, audience participation, and Chenille coloring books for everyone. They have seven commercial CD's out on the Red House label, including two award-winning children's disks. Their latest release, "True to Life," has met with great praise for its mix of signature humor with contrasting ballads and serious numbers.
Together, James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band and The Chenille Sisters provide a spectacular all-around performance that appeals to a wide variety of audiences.