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
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