Swing Music

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT JAZZ: "A HARD DAYS NIGHT" OFF OF TONY FORTUNATO AND THE EMPERORS OF SWING 1

[...]

The ActionAide office was a small cramped suite in an anonymous brick building off Pennslvania Ave. in Washington D.C.. I haven't seen Brenna in at least 15 years. Once upon a time we were lovers or boyfriend and girlfriend or whatever it is that one is when one is in love and in college. She, at Bennington. Me, not.

The ActionAide lobby, if you can call it that, is crammed full of luggage from Iraq. A contingent of women assisted by ActionAide have come to the US to convince congress of something or other. They boarded their planes in the heat of the desert. They arrived in DC yesterday, in late January, their bags arrived today.

In her office a colleague is browsing Brenna's wedding pictures. Both of us married in the past year. She on her first. Me on my first, second, or third, depending on how you count. Brenna felt that needed explanation. My first, a notary public job was the result of a weeklong drinking binge in graduate school-anulled some months later. The second was a common law deal-two kids later no divorce was necessary. This time there was an actual ceremony.

Her husband is an environmental services engineer. He creates safety systems for hazardous materials. They live in Maryland and are planning to buy a home. The frigid air of the DC winter hunches our shoulders and makes our walk brisk. We try one restaurant but it is booked. We try another and are seated quickly.

"You know, it was just one of those things," she said. "I was just to sing one song and ended up singing all night."

"It was your old band, yes?" I asked.

"Yea, they came down for the wedding," she said. "We did one album together, Tony Fortunato & the Emperors of Swing."

"If its anything like I remember..." I smiled. We used to hang out and drink booze and smoke cigarettes together while she played piano and sang. I mean, I used to hang out and drink booze and watch her smoke cigarettes, play piano, and sing.

"It's kind of cool," she said. "You know, a lot of us are still out there, doing it.


"What do you mean?" I said.

"I mean, people we know, the real thing, they are doing it. Like Teri." She said. Teri was a friend of ours from art school, an actress. We see her on TV Commercials every other year or so. Insurance. Cars. "She does a lot of theater, too."

"Yea," I said, thinking of some of the others. We dropped names. Jack was the carpet cleaning guy on Seinfeld. Some one or other founded the Blue Man Group. A student of ours from art school was writing her second book. Another a fashion designer. A woman from my college short fiction class was a stand-up comedian. Another friend was in the philharmonic. It seemed like more at the time.

She and her husband met online. In a chat room. Even now they still hop online and post to a site that is popular in the Baltimore area. Every now and then we admit we Google people's names to see what they are up to. To see if they exist. We know it's not true but if you can't be found by Google we almost believe you must not be succeeding. We agree it is a horrible falsehood but admit to its felicity.

After college she spent a year teaching English in China. Now, looking back, Monganshan was a great experience. At the time it was misery. After returning to the states there was a long period of doldrums in Ohio. Too many years of working in a recovery center for addicts and alcoholics. It wasn't all bad, there was the one album. But nothing more. Nothing more.

I think she thinks that my entrepeneurism is good. I founded my own software company, sold the first few deals to large organizations to get the company rolling and helped raise over a million dollars in investment to keep the company moving forward. I insist to her it's all the same impulse-innovation, invention, imagination. It is not exactly true. But it is not false.

The pettiest and most selfish people I have met, have all been artists. The kindest, most creative, most balanced, and most generous people I have met have all been businessmen. I tell her this is not what I would have expected to find when I was deepest into my "resistance" in college and graduate school.

As I paid the bill, we were happy. It was a happy time. I'd recently unpacked some boxes from an old storage unit. In those boxes I found a stack of old letters from Brenna. She'd taken a Barbie and Ken coloring book, colored in the pictures and annotated them with her sharp wit. There was always the requisite longing, a longing we both felt back then. But there was also a bit of that, "it isn't this all so silly and fleeting."

Back then we still felt like it was all in our grasp. I think she really believed I was a great writer. She crooned her way into many of those poems from that time. When I hear her sing, it all comes flooding back. She taught me what is to be felt when a Jazz singer sings. Even then it was apparent that what I was hearing, had never been heard before, would never be heard again.

It was the beginning of what I'd only later understand. I know what I am after when I seek real meaning or true feeling. It was as if she placed a small tuning fork in my chest. I read this, I hear that. So and so is a tremendous success. But some part of me can always tell what is what. What optimism we had, what hubris.

At the entrance of the D.C. Metro, we smile, we hug. I promise to send her my translations of Tu Fu. She promises to send me a CD of the album she made with Tony Fortunato and the Emperors of Swing. I tell her to tell her husband I said hello. That we should get together the next time I am in town. She tells me to tell my wife hello. I exit down the tunnel. Elsewhere a small flock of shivering Iraqi women are whisked into the congressional. Later that day the Bill Gates Foundation receives a call asking them for support.

[...]

Some parents try to teach their children the value of a dollar. If a big bang for the buck is what you aspire to, then let me recommend the smooth album Tony Fortunato & the Emperors of Swing (DOK ROK Records), and their ambitiously titled CD release "1" (as in volumes). There are 22 tracks of music waiting for the listener, served up to order by Tony "TJ" Fortunato in his multi-tasking role of saxophone, vocals, and conductor. The throaty Brenna Thorpe rounds out the performing sounds with a voice that is rich with honey. The taste is particularly sweet on "When I Fall In Love" and Fly Me To The Moon," and I'd be remiss not to point out the swingtastic arrangement of "Summertime."
No mistaking, this is an album of standards. Some of the more inventive arrangements include "My Opener" and "Jump Jive & Wail," the former making a star-spangled declaration that every swing deejay must possess, and the latter being predictable until you catch a fascinating mambo backbeat that throws you off balance. The album is very danceable. It approaches the material with a great desire to stir the heart of a lindy dancer. From the opening "Whistle Me Some Blues" and onto "It's Almost Like Being In Love." The tracks pop with an abrupt pace and then move into slow dance torch songs, so don't go looking for east coast swing, here. If anything, the amount of syrupy love ballads might be a bit much for a harder edged listener. The ideas all tend to be grand. You have to love a sound that is big, and 22 tracks tries its best to contain it, along with a full range of trumpets, trombones, tuba, guitar, bass and drums.

Like all his other recordings I see no Mistakes.He's a very talented person with what ever he set's his mind to do.Weather it's writing,sanging,picking the guitar or playing the fiddle,he's a super gifted super star.

Like all his other recordings I see no Mistakes.He's a very talented person with what ever he set's his mind to do.Weather it's writing,sanging,picking the guitar or playing the fiddle,he's a super gifted super star.

I grew up on 70s rock, and listen generally to nothing but that. However, way back in the 80's I accidentally tuned to a 'country' radio station, and "House of Blue Lights" was playing. I was captivated, and ran out and bought the cassette tape "10". As much as I listened to that tape, I'm amazed it still plays well after all these years. I'm listening to it right now after finding it in a box of old stuff, and every song on it sounds amazing. I'm still no country fan (and this ain't exactly 'country'), but I'll make an exception for this. Still one of my all-time favorite recordings ever made. Very up-tempo and uplifting. Even if you don't dance, you will feel like it when you listen to this. Expertly crafted in every way. Sorry I can't provide more details or insights on the band, as I really know nothing about them. However, last week I did purchase the DVD "Asleep At The Wheel: Live at Billy Bob's Texas", and also very highly recommend that if you like their music. That was recorded a couple years ago and it looks and sounds fantastic!

This is a good album. All the tunes are fast tempo swingin' dance tunes except for "Blues Stay Away From Me," which is slow and melodic. Ray Benson sings all the lead vocals. Stand out songs are "Way Down Texas Way," "Tulsa Straight Ahead," "House Of Blue Lights," and "Boogie Back To Texas." "Way Down Texas Way" and "Boogie Back To Texas" are essential recordings for your Asleep At The Wheel collection, so you need to buy this album or the compilation album Swing Time to get those. "String Of Pars" is an instrumental.

This album is named 10 because it's their 10th album, and it's their first recording made available on CD. It was released in 1987. Band line up: Ray Benson, Tim Alexander, David Dawson, John Ely, Michael Francis, Larry Franklin, David Sanger. Additional personnel: Johnny Gimble, Pete Anderson, Ray Campi, Tom Anastasio, Chris O'Connell. Sorry, no lead vocals from Chris on this album.

Back when I stubbornly insisted that punk rock and Charlie Parker were the only things that truly mattered in music, a friend loaned me this album. I have been a fan of their hip and swingin' hoedown tunes ever since. No, it's not the mosh pit, and it's not a dark blue bar in New York City. It's a bunch of really cool cowboys who CANNOT sit still. You won't either!

Everything these guys do is nothing less than great..though the band has periodically gone thru several personnel changes, they are never lacking in true talent. If you'd like to get started with your own AATW music collection, don't forget to include this one! Great fun & music you'll want to hear over & over again.

I grew up on 70s rock, and listen generally to nothing but that. However, way back in the 80's I accidentally tuned to a 'country' radio station, and "House of Blue Lights" was playing. I was captivated, and ran out and bought the cassette tape "10". As much as I listened to that tape, I'm amazed it still plays well after all these years. I'm listening to it right now after finding it in a box of old stuff, and every song on it sounds amazing. I'm still no country fan (and this ain't exactly 'country'), but I'll make an exception for this. Still one of my all-time favorite recordings ever made. Very up-tempo and uplifting. Even if you don't dance, you will feel like it when you listen to this. Expertly crafted in every way. Sorry I can't provide more details or insights on the band, as I really know nothing about them. However, last week I did purchase the DVD "Asleep At The Wheel: Live at Billy Bob's Texas", and also very highly recommend that if you like their music. That was recorded a couple years ago and it looks and sounds fantastic!

This is a good album. All the tunes are fast tempo swingin' dance tunes except for "Blues Stay Away From Me," which is slow and melodic. Ray Benson sings all the lead vocals. Stand out songs are "Way Down Texas Way," "Tulsa Straight Ahead," "House Of Blue Lights," and "Boogie Back To Texas." "Way Down Texas Way" and "Boogie Back To Texas" are essential recordings for your Asleep At The Wheel collection, so you need to buy this album or the compilation album Swing Time to get those. "String Of Pars" is an instrumental.

This album is named 10 because it's their 10th album, and it's their first recording made available on CD. It was released in 1987. Band line up: Ray Benson, Tim Alexander, David Dawson, John Ely, Michael Francis, Larry Franklin, David Sanger. Additional personnel: Johnny Gimble, Pete Anderson, Ray Campi, Tom Anastasio, Chris O'Connell. Sorry, no lead vocals from Chris on this album.

Back when I stubbornly insisted that punk rock and Charlie Parker were the only things that truly mattered in music, a friend loaned me this album. I have been a fan of their hip and swingin' hoedown tunes ever since. No, it's not the mosh pit, and it's not a dark blue bar in New York City. It's a bunch of really cool cowboys who CANNOT sit still. You won't either!

Everything these guys do is nothing less than great..though the band has periodically gone thru several personnel changes, they are never lacking in true talent. If you'd like to get started with your own AATW music collection, don't forget to include this one! Great fun & music you'll want to hear over & over again.