Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Americana DeLuxe

Album: Americana DeLuxe
Size: 126,5 MB
Time: 54:29
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1998
Styles: Swing, jump blues
Art: Full

1. The Boogie Bumper (3:38)
2. Mr. Pinstripe Suit (3:37)
3. King Of Swing (4:58)
4. Minnie The Moocher (4:43)
5. You And Me And The Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby) (3:35)
6. Jump With Me Baby (6:09)
7. Maddest Kind Of Love (5:04)
8. Go Daddy-O (3:12)
9. Please Baby (4:59)
10. Mambo Swing (5:07)
11. Jumpin' Jack (4:47)
12. So Long-Farewell-Goodbye (4:35)

For their major-label debut, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy don't change their tune at all, which is a good thing. Like their two indie releases, Americana Deluxe is a rollicking set of big-band swing, performed with energy and tongue-in-cheek. The group runs through a number of standards and originals, and while their ironic humor may irritate purists, their vigorous, exciting performances make the album a delight. /Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic

Note: Not to be mixed up with their selftitled debut album from 1994 as the album cover prominently displays a stylized "Big Bad Voodoo Daddy" logo and does not feature the phrase "Americana Deluxe" on it.

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

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Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Size: 96,4 MB
Time: 41:44
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1994
Styles: Swing, jump blues
Art: Front

1. Jumpin' Jack (4:41)
2. 13 Women (5:04)
3. Cruel Spell (5:21)
4. King Of Swing (5:15)
5. Beggar's Blues (5:35)
6. Machine Gun (5:31)
7. Fire (2:55)
8. She's Gone (3:08)
9. So Long, Good Bye (4:11)

California's Big Bad Voodoo Daddy are an old-school swing-and-jump blues outfit who first came to prominence in the '90s as one of the main progenitors of the neo-swing revival. Along with similarly-inclined neo-swing acts like Squirrel Nut Zippers and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy helped to revive big-band music and popularize swing dancing for the MTV generation and beyond. As with many of their neo-swing contemporaries, BBVD concentrated on the swinging days of the '40s and '50s, borrowing some of the Rat Pack lingo in addition to the zoot suits that cloaked each bandmate. Though heavily associated with the '90s swing movement, the band has thrived on touring and continued to mature, deepening their jazz influences.

Formed by lead singer/guitarist Scotty Morris and drummer Kurt Sodergren in Los Angeles in 1992, the group built up a following with regular gigs on the local lounge circuit, playing to Gen-Xers enamored with the kitschy charm of the cocktail nation. This burgeoning lounge scene was captured in the hit 1996 indie comedy film Swingers, which featured a song by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on the soundtrack as well as an onscreen cameo by the band. By the end of 1997, the band had self-released two albums - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and What'chu Want for Christmas - which were local hits and led to a major-label contract with Capitol Records.

In February 1998, Capitol released the group's major-label debut, Americana Deluxe (also known as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, although the album was different from the band's self-released debut). This Beautiful Life followed one year later. By the time the band came together for a follow-up, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy had sold over three million albums, performed at Super Bowl XXXIII with Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan, and had their music used in over 60 film and TV trailers. The swing revival had considerably died down, however, thus returning Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to their original status as an underground band.

The group's fifth album, Save My Soul, appeared in 2003, five years after their Interscope debut. Inspired by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Save My Soul found the band expanding its sound to include elements of the Big Easy's jazz, swamp funk, and Cajun traditions. A live CD/DVD and holiday-themed album appeared in 2004. In 2009, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy released How Big Can You Get?: The Music of Cab Calloway, which found the band digging even deeper into a hardcore jazz and swing sound. The band stuck with the more swing- and jazz-oriented approach after signing with the Savoy Jazz label and releasing Rattle Them Bones in 2012. Their third collection of Christmas music, It Feels Like Christmas Time, appeared in the fall of 2013.

Over the next several years, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy stayed busy touring and making regular appearances at festivals around the world. In 2017, they celebrated their 25th anniversary in the music business with the release of their 11th studio album Louie Louie Louie. An homage to Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, and Louis Jordan, the album featured reworkings of many the three jazz and blues legends' most well-known tunes. /Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic

(Note: Not to be mixed up with their 1998 release "Americana Deluxe" which sometimes is also listed as "Big Bad Voodoo Daddy". They are two different albums.)

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Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Save My Soul

Size: 102,8 MB
Time: 44:11
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2003
Styles: Swing, jump blues
Art: Front, tray

1. Zig Zaggity Woop Woop (Part 1) (2:32)
2. You Know You Wrong (4:47)
3. Always Gonna Get Ya (2:52)
4. Don't You Feel My Leg (4:58)
5. Oh Yeah (4:36)
6. Simple Songs (4:30)
7. Next Week Sometime (3:21)
8. Save My Soul (6:34)
9. I Like It (4:19)
10. Zig Zaggity Woop Woop (Part 2) (4:44)
11. Untitled Hidden Track (0:54)

For their first album in four years, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy realized they needed to switch gears since the freak, late-'90s big band craze had become about as hot as yesterday's scrambled eggs. Thankfully, a trip down to New Orleans to play Jazzfest (recounted in this album's title track) reinvigorated and reinvented the group's sound. Gone are the smarmy Vegas charts, replaced with a swampy Crescent City, slinky Bourbon Street swagger. Add Latin mambo on the percussive "I Like It" and "You Know You're Wrong," along with some second-line funk straight out of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on "Zig Zaggity Woop Woop, Pt. 2" and you've got a swinging, finger-popping disc that should keep the band's established fans happy, while expanding their previously limited, and nearly dead-ended scope.

Most of the tunes are originals - if derivative ones - except for a cover of Blue Lu Barker's ""Don't You"" Feel My Leg" (also a moderate '70s hit for Maria Muldaur). However, the barroom swagger turned Dixieland jazz of "Simple Songs" seems a bit forced and frontman Scotty Morris' voice hasn't improved. This material would benefit from a gruffer approach. But Save My Soul is a surprisingly enjoyable and fresh album from a band many might have written off as already expending their allotted 15 minutes of fame. /Hal Horowitz, AllMusic

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Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Louie Louie Louie

Size: 99,4 MB
Time: 42:56
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Swing, jump blues
Art: Front

1. Dinah (2:53)
2. Oh, Marie (2:39)
3. Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't My Baby (4:04)
4. Jack, You're Dead (3:16)
5. Whistle Stop (2:30)
6. Choo Choo Ch'Boogie (2:56)
7. Basin Street Blues (3:44)
8. Jump, Jive An' Wail (3:51)
9. Knock Me A Kiss (2:47)
10. Struttin' With Some Barbecue (3:54)
11. Five Months, Two Weeks, Two Days (2:28)
12. Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens (3:19)
13. When The Saints Go Marching In (4:31)

Although still largely associated with the '90s neo-swing movement, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy have long outrun that moment's MTV zeitgeist and spent the 2010s deepening their jazz roots. The past decade-and-a-half have found them branching out, exploring New Orleans blues, Cajun, and second-line traditions on 2003's Save My Soul, and paying tribute to legendary Harlem bandleader Cab Calloway on 2009's How Big Can You Get? In this spirit of reinvestigating their influences, the band's 11th studio album, 2017's urbane and upbeat Louie Louie Louie, finds them celebrating three of their biggest musical heroes: Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima. and Louis Jordan.

Here, the band round up a nicely curated set of tunes popularized by the three "Louies" and inject them with their own zesty brand of jump blues. Some of the song choices are deliciously on the nose with cuts like Jordan's "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens," Prima's "Five Months, Two Weeks, Two Days," and Jordan's "Jack, You're Dead!," feeling like well-loved road covers the band have played hundreds of times. Others, especially Armstrong's Herculean "Struttin' with Some Barbecue" and the suavely refined "Basin Street Blues," with their nuanced harmonies and tricky horn lines, vibrate with a sense of danger and ambition as if the band had dared themselves to make them their own. Thankfully, they do.

Elsewhere, we get equally compelling takes on "Dinah," "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie," "Knock Me a Kiss," and more. It's also fun to hear the band put their own stamp on one of the biggest anthems of the neo-swing movement, Prima's "Jump, Jive an' Wail," popularized in 1998 by the Brian Seltzer Orchestra. Still centered on lead singer/guitarist Scotty Morris, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy have settled into a warm, crisply delivered style of swing that's studio savvy and precise while also full of in-the-moment improvisation and an overall live-sounding aesthetic.

Helping to achieve this aesthetic is longtime pianist Joshua Levy, who supplied all the arrangements on Louie Louie Louie. Also impressive are bandmembers trumpeter Glen "The Kid" Marhevka, alto and tenor saxophonist Karl Hunter, and baritone saxophonist Andy Rowley, who all get plenty of room to solo. The result is an album that strikes a balance between Jazz at Lincoln Center-style adherence to tradition and dynamic, pop-informed bravura showmanship. /Matt Collar, AllMusic

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Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Live

Size: 166,0 MB
Time: 71:17
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2004
Styles: Swing, jump blues
Art: Front, back

1. Intro (0:23)
2. The Boogie Bumper (1:16)
3. Jumpin' Jack (3:19)
4. I Wanna Be Just Like You (Jungle Book Song) (4:13)
5. You Know You're Wrong (4:44)
6. Big Time Operator (3:56)
7. Minnie The Moocher (5:18)
8. Oh Yeah (4:53)
9. King Of Swing (5:29)
10. You And Me & The Bottle Makes 3 (Tonight) (3:57)
11. I Like It (5:05)
12. Please Baby (5:24)
13. Mr. Pinstripe Suit (3:53)
14. Go Daddy-O (4:28)
15. Simple Songs (5:08)
16. So Long-Farewell-Goodbye (6:16)
17. Always Gonna Get Ya (3:25)

To a certain extent, retro-swing is always at its best in a live setting, whether it's in a packed club or a concert hall. There it's possible to get swept in the energy of a performance, feeding off the performance of the band and the vibe of the crowd. During the live show, it's all about having a good time, and it's possible not to care about whether the music is derivative if the attitude is smirky and if the musicians are more flash than skilled. And that's why even if retro-swing makes for a good live experience, it doesn't necessarily make for a great live album, because it can fall apart under the scrutiny of a close listen, as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's 2004 double-disc Live illustrates.

Containing one 17-track CD and one 17-track DVD, it captures a full set from May 15, 2003. Live finds the band in solid form, running through songs from their three albums. On-stage, they're a little looser than they are in the studio, which means to a certain extent they come across a little bit better, since they sound livelier, but at home, the listener is as removed from the band as he would be with a studio platter. The kinetic energy of the live show falls away, and it reveals that while the musicians can pull of their big-band pastiche they have limited chops as musicians and that their persona is too silly and kitschy to play outside of their fan base.

Those fans, however, will likely enjoy this disc since it's crisply produced and professionally performed - plus, the DVD has a 5.1 Sound mix and a 15-minute documentary chronicling their "Early Years," complete with lots of home video footage - but this is strictly a release for the fans and the fans alone. /Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic

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Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - This Beautiful Life

Year: 1999
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:05
Size: 120,4 MB
Styles: Swing, jump blues
Scans: Front, back, sleeve, cd

1. Big And Bad (4:15)
2. I Wanna Be Like You (3:40)
3. Who's That Creepin'? (4:43)
4. When It Comes To Love (4:44)
5. I'm Not Sleepin' (4:16)
6. Some Things (4:39)
7. What's Next? (3:40)
8. Big Time Operator (4:00)
9. Still In Love With You (4:30)
10. 2000 Volts (6:01)
11. Sleep Tight (4:31)
12. Ol' MacDonald (3:00)

The problem with retro-swing is that it's better in live performance than it is on record. That has been said of a lot of music, from the blues and jazz to punk rock, but that's all a matter of taste. With retro-swing, it's all about the moment - dressing up for the night and dancing to the swinging sounds. In concert, it doesn't matter if the singer is out of tune or if the covers are predictable or if the new tunes are unremarkable or if the band is merely competent, since it all suits the atmosphere. Put that on record, and it doesn't quite work. That's the problem with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's second major-label album, This Beautiful Life.

BBVD is undeniably one of the biggest retro-swing groups - it was the house band in Doug Liman's Swingers, the film that brought the whole underground movement to the mainstream - even if the band never had a crossover hit on the level of the Squirrel Nut Zippers or Cherry Poppin' Daddies. BBVD nevertheless delivered live and held its own on record. The thing is, that doesn't make the band members compelling recording artists. This Beautiful Life pretty much takes the same road as the band's eponymous debut, falling somewhere between Louis Jordan and Sinatra, all performed with a wink and grin. BBVD isn't bad at this - it just isn't exceptional. It keeps the energy up and hits all the right notes, but the music is never actively engaging.

Part of the problem is that the lead singer is flat and bland, which keeps the listener somewhat at bay, but the larger problem is that it's impossible not to compare BBVD to its influences when its members are heard solely as recording artists. It's too easy to notice that the band never improvises or cuts loose. Similarly, the well-intentioned, humorous covers of "Ol' MacDonald" (Sinatra's version, of course) and Disney's The Jungle Book's "I Wanna Be Like You" fall flat on record, where they surely would energize a live crowd. This may seem a little harsh, but it's hard not to listen to This Beautiful Life and realize that while it's pleasant, if heard in concert the music would be livelier. Not a bad record - about as good as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, actually - but not really engaging, either. /Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

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Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Rattle Them Bones

Year: 2012
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:55
Size: 101,7 MB
Styles: Neo-swing, jump blues, jazz
Scans: Full

1. The Adventures Of... (0:35)
2. Diga Diga Do (4:15)
3. The Jitters (3:14)
4. Let It Roll Again (3:20)
5. It Only Took A Kiss (Feat. Meaghan Smith) (4:08)
6. She's Always Right (I'm Never Wrong) (3:26)
7. Why Me? (3:34)
8. Devil's Dance (4:33)
9. It's Lonely At The Top (3:22)
10. Still In The Mood (5:09)
11. Gimme That Wine (2:55)
12. 5-10-15 Times (5:18)

Since hitting it big in the '90s during the swing revival, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy have stuck to their retro-guns while finding ways to explore new ground. To these ends, 2003's Save My Soul found the band delving into New Orleans rhythms and R&B, while 2009's How Big Can You Get?: The Music of Cab Calloway featured the music of the legendary Hi-De-Ho man. That album brought them deeper into a hardcore jazz sound and most likely helped them in signing with the Savoy Jazz label for 2012's similarly jazz-inflected Rattle Them Bones.

Once again centered around the sweet and lyrical lead vocals of guitarist/songwriter Scotty Morris, the album features a mix of new material, jazz covers, and even an unexpected take on Randy Newman's "It's Lonely at the Top." These are crisply produced, urbane, and always swinging tunes that often have an old-school big-band sound. This impressive large ensemble sound comes via the longtime core rhythm section of pianist Joshua Levy, bassist Dirk Shumaker, and drummer Kurt Sodergren, as well as such featured players as trumpeter Glen "The Kid" Marhevka, and saxophonists Karl Hunter and Andy Rowley.

With all arrangements by Levy, the band is also complemented by a bevy of stellar studio musicians who round out several cuts here. Also featured here is vocalist Meaghan Smith, who duets with Morris on the romantic midtempo ballad "It Only Took a Kiss." Longtime fans of the group’s neo-crooner jazz sound, as well as anybody who digs solidly crafted and always swinging traditional jazz and pop, should find much to enjoy here. /Matt Collar, AllMusic

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Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - How Big Can You Get?: The Music Of Cab Calloway

Year: 2009
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:42
Size: 102,8 MB
Styles: Retro swing, jump blues, jazz
Scans: Full

1. Come On With The 'Come On' (3:22)
2. Calloway Boogie (4:02)
3. The Call Of The Jitterbug (3:30)
4. Hey Now, Hey Now (4:34)
5. The Jumpin' Jive (4:02)
6. How Big Can You Get? (4:05)
7. The Old Man Of The Mountain (4:15)
8. The Ghost Of Smokey Joe (5:29)
9. Reefer Man (2:54)
10. Minnie The Moocher (4:59)
11. Tarzan Of Harlem (3:24)

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's reputation as a pop star styled retro-jazz band has to be enhanced and authenticated by this homage to the leading commercial proponent of jump, jive, and wailing swing in the '30s and '40s, Cab Calloway. The band, with its solid horn section and half-crazed vocal cops channeled through the Hi-De-Ho Man by Scotty Morris is faithful to the core from the originals. Though the band does not do all of Calloway's big hits (missing are "Viper's Drag," "St. Louis Blues," and "Kickin' the Gong Around," among many others), their selection of tunes is a delightful mix of favorites and some zingers, all well done in the style that made Calloway both revered and in some circles reviled. His overly dramatic songs are avoided, and fun is the operative word for these tunes that still are good to hear.

Among the true blue covers: the definitive shuffle "Calloway Boogie" with the animated vocals of Morris, the energetic and stoned "Reefer Man," the easy swinger "Hey Now" with the band's vocal choruses, and the Gene Krupa bompity bomp beat tacked onto "Tarzan of Harlem." There are two versions of the all-time classic "Minnie the Moocher," one laid-back featuring growl trumpet, the other in a quicker mode with rhythms rolling along. "The Jumpin' Jive" is pretty typical, a stomp-down rhythm identifies the title track, and a horse-drawn clippity clop beat steadies "The Old Man on the Mountain," with phrases inserted similar to "Comes Love."

It's clear that the band has always enjoyed these tunes and this era of jazz, and now that they have a bit of success under their belts, their desire to do a tribute close to their hearts is fully realized. Perhaps their television appearance with Gene Simmons on Family Jewels, and their March 2009 showcase on Dancing with the Stars playing vintage throwback swing also prompted this excursion way back to the roots. Their first recording in five years, it would seem Big Bad Voodoo Daddy have career longevity in mind, and a tribute to Louis Jordan, Slim Gaillard, or a second volume of Calloway's tunes would also be in order for a future project. This recording comes easily recommended to their fans and early period jazz lovers. /Michael G. Nastos, AllMusic

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