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Big-T & the Bada-Bings

 
 

Jimmy Luxury
and the Tommy Rome Orchestra
My True Love Is...

A new big band sound has finally arrived, blending classic swing and hip-hop and delivering the mix with rapping lyrics. It's called "swing-hop," and it takes an established musical style to a new level.

Jimmy Luxury (James Kelleher), with the assistance of Tommy Rome (James D'Angelo) and his turn-tables ("the orchestra"), cleverly samples classic bars of music and occasionally the vocals from recordings of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin and even Billie Holiday. The standards provide the foundation for new stories told with innovative lyrics.

My True Love Is... is actually an independent rerelease of an album originally recorded in 1999 for Sony and titled A Night In The Arms Of.... But Sony got cold feet when executives decided that swing music was a passing fad, and finally relinquished control of the recordings. Thankfully, the innovative debut is back on sale. The opening track, "My Baby," features Holiday-esque backing vocals, while "Sweet Apple Pie" lays down a classic swing beat with lyrics about the excesses of being in the Rat Pack. The vocal delivery on "I Love Life" is strangely reminiscent of the '90s band House of Pain. And on "Love Me Cha Cha" and "Cha Cha Cha" Luxury and Rome dabble with...ah...call it "cha-cha-hop."

Sadly some great material from the original recording didn't make it onto the new release, including "Kick In The Head" and "Sentimental Guy." With their dismissal from the majors, Jimmy Luxury and the boys also lost their retail distribution deal, and the CD is currently available only at www.jimmyluxury.com.

-Smilin' Buddha Joe



Year 1999 Reviews
Year 2000 Reviews
Year 2001 Reviews
Year 2002 Reviews
Year 2003 Reviews
Dave Berger and The Sultans of Swing—Doin' The Do!
Blue Lunch—Not Live at the Copa
Blues Jumpers—Royal Motel
Johnny Boyd—The Last Word In
Buddy Blue—Pretend It's Okay
BR549—This is BR549
Dennis Caiazza and Swing Factory—
Enhanced
Liz Callaway—The Beat Goes On
Matt Catingub's Big Kahuna and The Copa Cat Pack—Shake Those Hula Hips!
Cocktail Angst—Big Top Parade
Gerard Carelli—Lucky To Be Me
Rebecca Kyler Downs—
Love Me Like Candy
Gas Money—Hopeless Love Affair
The Good Fellas—Salute!
Charlie Gracie—I'm All Right
Wayne Hancock—A-Town Blues
Skip Heller—Jazz From Hell(er)
Jools Holland—The Swing Album
The Jaztronauts—Swank
Jump 4 Joy—Cutest Lil' Boogie
KGB Swing—Proletarian Swing
Laika And The Cosmonauts—
Laika Sex Machine
Linda & The Big King Jive Daddies—
Linda & The Big King Jive Daddies
Jimmy Luxury—My True Love Is...
Maci Miller—A Very Good Night
Swing Nouveau—Shakin' When Stirred
Alex Pangman—They Say...
The Prairie Cats—'Til the Daytime Fades
Lee Press-On & The Nails—Playing Dirty
Dexter Romweber—Chased By Martins
Frank Sinatra—Sinatra Love Songs
The Stingrays surf Band—
Don't Fear the Reverb
Stardust Records Presents—
Vocal and Jazz Ecstacy
Ron Sunshine & Full Swing—Candy
The Swing-O-Matics—
The Swing-O-Matics
The Swingtips—Roswell
Joe Turley—When The Jitterbug Bites
Mitch Woods—Jump For Joy
Yalloppin' Hounds—New Yalloppin' City
 

Retro Reading Reviews
The Aloha Shirt
Cine Mexicano, California Crazy & Beyond, Poker
Cult Vegas
Dark City Dames
Entering Germany 1944-1949
The House That Jack Built: My Life As a Trailblazer in Broadcasting and Entertainment
Leni Riefenstahl: Five Lives
Making The Wiseguys Weep:
The Jimmy Roselli Story
Truer Than True Romance
My Father's Daughter—Tina Sinatra
Tell It To The Future

 


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