Dust off your fedoras, strap on your spectators and report to the Copper Dragon tonight for Carbondale’s initiation into the neo-swing Big Band scene.

It may be the Monday before finals, but professors and students alike will be shedding their academic shackles and jumpin’ to the sounds of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Those who cringe when they hear today’s music, longing for the sounds of Cab Calloway and Count Basie, and those who don’t, but are itching for a little something different can enjoy the swingin’ melodies of Daddy, a neo-Big Band collaboration out of Los Angeles. Beginning in 1992, the eight-piece, pinstripe suit-enveloped big band headlined Hollywood’s famed Derby Wednesday nights for nearly two years. Now, with the release of their self-titled major label debut album, Daddy brings its nostalgic sound to virgin territory at 8 tonight at the Copper Dragon, 700 E. Grand Ave.

Advertisement

Best known for their musical cameo in the 1997 movie, Swingers, Daddy invokes the Big Band sound of the ’40s, giving it a polished, ’90s twist. Scotty Morris, guitar slinger and Daddy band leader, describes the sound as a high-octane nitro jive-loud, wild, total edge.

We’re as influenced by Black Flag as Count Basie, he says.

Daddy maintains a relatively small, yet blaring band, featuring a four-piece horn section with Andy Rowley and Karl Hunter blowing the sax, Glen the Kid Marhevka on trumpet and Jeff Harris on trombone. Dirk Schumaker on double bass and Kurt Sodergren on drums round out the rhythm section while Morris croons and Josh Levy bangs the piano.

Daddy’s music undoubtedly is influenced by such swing era greats as Basie, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey but also lends itself to the early rock n’ roll sounds of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Haley. Certain traces of ’90s rockabilly, ska and surf punk also can be uncovered in the Daddy sound.

The Daddy’s stop in Carbondale is part of a nationwide tour that began in California one month ago when the band released its major label debut. Two of the three Daddy tracks appearing on the Swingers soundtrack, You, Me, & the Bottle Makes Three Tonight and Go-Daddy-O, can be found on the album in addition to such jumpin’ treats as Mr. Pinstripe Suit, Jumpin’ Jack and the rejigged Cab Calloway classic, Minnie the Moocher. Though the album was released in February, Daddy has performed more than 200 concerts throughout the United States and Canada since 1995, including appearances at Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s New Year’s Eve party and the Billboard Awards.

Many swingers consider Daddy as the catalyst for what is called the neo-swing sound. While this may be true in part, Daddy joins other modern big bands such as Royal Crown Revue, the Mighty Blue Kings, the Brian Setzer Orchestra and the ska-turned-swing band Cherry Poppin’ Daddies in their push for stardom. What can truly be said of Daddy is, with their appearance in the surprisingly popular Swingers, the new-style swing scene has received considerable visibility and consequently sprouted in cities all over the country.

It’s been a long time in coming, but Carbondale finally will get the chance to experience the neo-swing, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy sound. You may want to arrive early, though. Tickets, which are limited, are now $10. Jumpin’ begins at 8 p.m.

Advertisement*