The Swing Session struts its stuff in L.A.

  The Swing Session Members of The Swing Session continue
to play swing music, even after the craze inspired by "Swingers" is
over.

By Kathleen Dunphy
Daily Bruin Contributor 

Swing couldn’t be more alive. Sure it’s been six
years since “Swingers” helped unleash the United
States’ then hottest retro fad, but the same people who were
out there swingin’ before that indie flick opened are still
at it, thanks in part to bands like The Swing Session.

The San Francisco-based sextet is a veteran group, playing at
Suzy Q.’s in Westwood on Friday and at The Swing Pit in
Glendale on Saturday. Friday’s show in Westwood features a $5
discount for students.

When they first got together all members wanted to play a
certain type of rhythm & blues, and all were brought into the
project by founders Little David Rose and Bowen Brown.

“The fellas in our group now are all pro musicians,”
Rose said. “This is what we do for a living.”

In addition to their onstage positions, both of The Swing
Session’s founders now have four-year-old children. They
decided it was time to start families, putting extensive touring on
hold until the kids finish kindergarten. Yet while there is less
touring for the group, there certainly are not fewer gigs. A glance
at the band’s online calendar shows that the band averages
five gigs per week.

“We play rhythm and blues from the 1940s,” Rose
said. “R&B has a different connotation. Nowadays, people
call it swing. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or
bad thing. It was a big fad for a minute in the early ’90s,
now it’s not so much a fad anymore. It’s a real West
Coast kind of a thing.”

The band sees many of the same faces at each show, which Rose
credits to the dance music his band plays. The Swing Session
provides the music, and often the fans provide the atmosphere.

Many dancers dress in clothes styled after popular dress of the
’30s and ’40s. Even The Swing Session gets in on the
fun.

“It kinda fits with the music, makes us distinctive. We
try to pattern our look after Louis Jordan, what you would see a
group wearing from the 1940s. Bands always had a uniform,
especially in the ’30s and ’40s,” Rose said.

Most shows are in the San Francisco area, which is where the
band makes their home. Even with family obligations, however, the
group still makes it out of the Bay area, recently returning from a
seven day job at a Jazz club in Athens, Greece. The band travels to
L.A. at least once a month, though they say they go almost as much
for the vintage shopping on Melrose and La Brea as the shows
themselves.

“We don’t always wear band uniforms, just because we
get so many groovy vintage clothes that we get to wear,” Rose
said.

Most of the shows The Swing Session plays include the
opportunity to learn popular swing moves, even those on the open
ocean.

The Swing Session is about to pack their retro styles for a
cruise to Baja, Mexico. Promoted by Carnival Cruises, it is a Lindy
Hop Dance Fun Event. Last year the cruise sold out, so this time
around The Swing Session gets to play to a larger ship. Instructors
will be on board the cruise to teach the moves that match the
music.

“When you’re trapped on a ship like that you can
learn a lot,” Rose said.