Jammin' the Blues by Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander

The album was recorded by vintage-jazz extraordinaire Dick Hamilton at his studio, the Doing, using vintage RCA 44 microphones to capture the traditional sound of classic small group swing. "Jammin' the Blues" featured Los Angeles' best swing musicians, including Tenor Saxophonist and Clarinetist Albert Alva, Trumpeter and Vocalist Jim Ziegler, Pianist Christopher Dawson, Bassist Jim Garafolo, and Vintage-Jazz drumming phoneme Josh Collazo.

Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander is a septet dedicated to preserving the classic and often overlooked small group swing from the late 1930's and early 1940's. Founded by two dedicated swing dancers and vintage lifestyle enthusiasts, and using only the best of LA's jazz community, the Campus Five was a way to expose many dancers and listeners alike to some of the more interesting and under appreciated tunes from the swing era, while still being the most danceable band playing swing today. The Campus Five picks tunes from the books of notable small groups as the Benny Goodman Sextet, Count Basie's Kansas City Six/Seven, Artie Shaw and his Gramercy Five, as well as the small groups of Lester Young, Illinois Jacquet, Cootie Williams, Django Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, and Coleman Hawkins, and features vocal numbers from Ella Mae Morse, Anita O'Day, Peggy Lee and the young Ella Fitzgerald.

The Campus Five is the Los Angeles swing scene's hottest new band! Since July 2002, the band has played to packed dance clubs, public concerts and private events from San Diego to Santa Barbara and everywhere in between. They have packed many of LA's premier swing dance venues, including the world famous Derby (www.the-derby.com), Suzy Q's, Rusty's Rhythm Club (www.swingshiftontap.com), Memories (memoriesdancing.com), Maxwell's at the Argyle (www.maxwelldemille.com), One O'Clock Jump (ocswing.com) and the Satin Ballroom ("America's Largest Monthly Swing Event"). Large events include Camp Hollywood (a four day swing dance convention -www.camphollywood.net) three years running, the 2003 San Diego Lindy Exchange, DanceFun's Lindy Desert Dance weekend in Laughlin (www.dancefun.com), and prestigious featured slots at the Sweet and Hot Jazz Festival two years running (sweethot.org), and the 2004 Orange County Classic Jazz Festival (oc-clasicjazz.org).

Our Debut CD, "Jammin' the Blues" was released in January 2003 to rave reviews from dancers and listeners alike and sold out of its initial pressing of 1000 units. The album and an interview with leader Jonathan Stout was also recently featured on the KCBX radio program "Swing Cat's Ball". Songs from the album have been in rotation on WBNR & WLNA in New York! "Jammin' the Blues" was featured on Chuck Cecil's, "The Swingin' Years" syndicated radio program. Our new CD, "Crazy Rhythm" was released in June 2004 and was also met with rave reviews from dancers and musicians alike. It will be reviewed in the upcoming LA Jazz Scene magazine as well as Just Jazz Guitar.

November 2003 saw the debut of the Jonathan Stout Orchestra, featuring Hilary Alexander, a 14-piece big band. Already the Orchestra has performed at the Satin Ballroom, Maxwell's at the Argyle, the 3-day Balboa Rendezvous event in San Diego (www.2plyswing.com), and will be performing this New Year's Eve at San Diego's Rhythmic Arts Festival (www.rhythmicarts.com).

REVIEW EXCERPTS:

"This is the real deal - a band carrying on the legacy of the great swing era small groups like the Gramercy Five, Kansas City Six and Seven, Benny Goodman's Sextet among others, essentially Stout has taken inspiration from an older form of music and reinvigorated it. This is no tired tribute band or museum piece trying to sound hip, but a group of young musicians enthusiastic about playing this music and not dissimilar to what one would likely have heard at any club or dancehall in the mid to late '30's. Fans of the Golden Age of Jazz will want to check this out. Highly Recommended!"

- Ted Gottsegen, Just Jazz Guitar Magazine, February 2004

"From the very first tune on the release one is smitten with the band's infectious rhythm and tasteful, well-played, and emotional solos...The bottom line is if you like listening to vintage Jazz and Swing music and can appreciate well-timed and placed solo work you will love this CD. Jonathan Stout and His Campus Five are one of those few bands on the scene today that may proudly wear a medallion that says, Real Jazz. "

- Jeff Parker, host of "Parker's Place" on KAAT-FM 103.1, and www.swingmusic.net

"In a small world of Swing dominated by a few Big Bands, and small groups playing the same old standards, the Campus Five are a welcome change and compliment to the other groups out there. With this CD ("Jammin' the Blues"), the Campus Five have given us some great Jazz, Swing and Dance tunes that we might not otherwise get to hear, apart from the originals."

- Jesse Gearhart, Dancer and Radio Host of "Swing Cat's Ball" on KCBX, FM90.

"As soon as she opened her mouth on her first number, "Cow Cow Boogie", I thought "Wow!" No other singer on the current scene has such a perfect grasp of all the elements of great '40s singing: the phrasing, the right way to use vibrato, the smile in the sound, and the total absence of vocal mannerisms that were invented later.... Keep your eye on Hilary, folks - we've got a big, big talent in our midst!"

- Bill Elliott, bandleader Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra

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