BIG TIME OPERATOR - HIGH ALTITUDE SWING

 Big Time Operator - High Altitude Swing

Big Time Operator is a big 10-piece, 1940's style swing band from San Diego, consisting of three saxes (alto, a tenor and a bari), guitar, bass, drums, two trumpets, a trombone, and a talented vocalist in Warren Lovell.   

The incredible brass section and the percussion establish very dance-able rhythms, accompanied by Warren's velvety voice, remaining “true to the past, and yet completely contemporary,” according to their press-book.

They won San Diego Music Awards for Best Big Band every year  from 1997 to 2001. They also won the 1998 Jim Croce’s Excellence in Entertainment award.

Any fan of 40's era big band music will undoubtedly love this CD. They excel at playing classic big band and original arrangements keeping that true big band sound to them, unlike many of the neo-swing bands of the 90's swing craze. A big band that energetically plays great swing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The album High Altitude Swing, is comprised entirely of covers which includes versions of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway tunes, (with the exception of the "Big Time Operator" track, by Warren Lovell, the singer).

 

Track highlights include, "Big Time Operator," a noir depiction of a gangster-cum-crooner, voiced by Lovell, with grandiose drama; "Leap Frog," a peppy instrumental number; a longer version of "Minnie The Moocher" than most of us are used to, with lyrics absent from many modern versions; "Bugle Call Rag," a short, frenetic standard, popularized in renditions by Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller; the Sinatra classic, "Fly Me to the Moon;" and of course, the extra long (10 minute) version of Louis Prima's "Sing Sing Sing," with extended drum and clarinet solos. The last (hidden) track is a reprise, old-time vacuum tube radio sounding performance, of "Big Time Operator,", and makes a perfect ending to this fine album.

Big Time Operator – High Altitude Swing
Label:  Not On Label (Big Time Operator Self-released) – BTO 001
Format:  CD, Album
Country:  US
Released:  1997
Genre:  Jazz
Style:  Swing

Tracklist

1.  Big Time Operator  
2.  Are You Hep To The Jive?
3.  Leap Frog
4.  Hep Cat's Love Song
5.  Minnie The Moocher
6.  Bugle Call Rag
7.  I Can't Get Started
8.  Smack Dab In The Middle
9.  Lunceford Special
10.  Calloway Boogie
11.  Boogie Stop Shuffle
12.  It Don't Mean A Thing
13.  Fly Me To The Moon
14.  Sing, SIng, Sing
15.  Big Time Operator (Alternate Version)