StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on the L.A. Swing Barons

This week, let's take a look at some videos featuring the L.A. Swing Barons, who are coming to St. Louis for a performance presented by the St. Louis Jitterbugs this coming Thursday, June 21 at the Intersect Arts Center.

The event is part of an ongoing Thursday night swing dance series sponsored by the Jitterbugs. So far the series has featured mostly recorded music spun by DJs, said co-owner Christian Frommelt, but plans are to present a live band at least once a month, plus jam sessions led by local musicians.

As the name implies, the L.A. Swing Barons are based in Los Angeles, and describe themselves as a "14-piece big band inspired by the vibrant dance halls of the 1930s swing era...We aim to play the energetic music of bands like the Count Basie Orchestra, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, and others that shaped the golden age of swing."

They released their first studio album, Kansas City Stride, late last year, and their performance here next week, part of a two-week tour through the Midwest, will be their St. Louis debut.

The Barons' Basie repertoire is featured prominently on their YouTube page, and you can see and hear several examples of it here today, starting up above with Basie's "Hollywood Jump" as performed live last July at a gig in Orange, CA.

After the jump, you can see the band and vocalist Terrence Taylor do a version of "Every Day I Have the Blues" recorded in March 2018 at the Pasadena Ballroom.

That's followed by performances of three more Basie charts - "Splanky," "Shiny Stockings," and "Lester Leaps In" - from 2015, the latter featuring Albert Alva on tenor sax.

The final video finds the band going from Kansas City to outer space, as they perform their version of the "Cantina Band" theme Star Wars at a gig in December 2015.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...