Artist: Jazzy Ash
Album: Swing Set
Genre: Vocal Jazz, Swing
Label: Leaping Lizards Music
Released: 2017
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Li'l Liza Jane (3:59)
- Hambone (feat. Uncle Devin) (1:27)
- She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain (4:49)
- Head and Shoulders, Baby (0:30)
- When the Saints Go Marching In (3:27)
- Sister Kate (3:13)
- Little Sally Walker (0:32)
- Eh La Bas (2:50)
- Everybody Loves My Baby (2:50)
- Ballin' the Jack (feat. Sarah Reich) (2:25)
- Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear (0:28)
- Miss Mary Mack (2:31)
- All the Pretty Little Horses (3:05)
- Down by the Riverside (2:21)
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Ragtime, the musical incantation of New Orleans, is soulfully embedded in Jazzy Ash’s DNA. And with Swing Set, she has taken the sounds, melodies and history that soundtracked her youth and melds them into 14 rousing tracks.
Not a single song on Swing Set is younger than 90 years old. Each is a soulful reminder of days long gone – standards known for generations – now given new life by Ash. We’ve all heard (and sung along to) “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain” or “Down by the Riverside”, but Ash has spent years researching their origins; reviewing and learning the oldest songbooks, studying their roots and discovering how they intertwine with her own.
“The history behind these songs and rhymes is so rich ,” explains Jazzy Ash, a longtime preschool educator as well as nationally touring artist. “As I was researching these and sharing my arrangements with my students and teachers in my workshops, I realized how many generations of people have been personally impacted by these traditional tunes. Many of these songs and games were largely carried along by little girls on the playground throughout time, and it’s not often that we celebrate the work of women. I wanted to convey the grit and soul of that grassroots heritage with these recordings.”
Ash performed with New Orleans’ world-famous second line during Mardi Gras, which reaffirmed her deep connection, now generations back, to the sounds and history of that city – and her ongoing to need to explore and immersing herself in them. Along with her band, Jazzy Ash’s voice echoes of the finest jazz vocalists of old, along with a sound the playfully calls back to the sounds of Ellington’s orchestra. And despite the music having this many years on it, Ash almost effortlessly makes it feel accessible and approachable to even the youngest audience, while it makes for an energetic, soulful listen for more experienced listeners. No earworms here. Only soul. Only jazz.
Produced by Chris Schlarb, who has collaborated with Sufjan Stevens(!), Busdriver(!!) and the Mars Volta(!!!!!!!!!!!!), Swing Set was recorded entirely analog, to preserve the sound of that golden era. Collaborators on the album include Uncle Devin (who we will definitely cover in the future) for “Hambone” and tap dancer Sara Reich on “Ballin’ the Jack”.