That twenties feeling
Tonight was the premiere of the SwingCity DVD. The band was the Cairo Club Orchestra, and we’ve just arrived home tired and aching and covered in sweat. Cairo Club is an authentic 20s dance band, and there really is nothing quite like it in Melbourne. They play charts you won’t hear anywhere else, like ‘My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes’ and a really beautiful version of ‘The Mooch’, which remains one of my favourite songs. The quality of the band is such that every soloist is compelling without dominating the arrangments. I also absolutely love the trumpets in this band, of which the bandleader Peter Milley is the lead. They always amaze me with their precision, and they make a lot of use of mutes, which I always love.
The DVD went down very well, and we finally have our first batch of re-authored DVDs (i.e. without the sound glitch in the first run). It’s satisfying to see it on the big screen and hear people laughing and joking in the audience. Naturally we talked all night about what we were planning for this year’s event. We’re officially excited again. It always takes a long while.