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| Scotty Morris |
After playing in punk and alternative rock bands during the
1980s Nardcore scene in Oxnard, California, vocalist/guitarist
Scotty Morris and drummer
Kurt Sodergren started playing music
together in 1993 in Ventura, California. Morris named the contemporary swing
revival band after blues legend
Albert
Collins signed his poster "To Scotty, the big bad voodoo daddy."
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's popularity
spiked when it performed in the 1996 film
Swingers.
The band also performed at the Super Bowl XXXIII Halftime Show,
on many television shows, as special guests
with many symphony orchestras, and for three U.S. presidents. The band consists
of Morris, Sodergren, pianist
Joshua
Levy, bassist
Dirk Shumaker and
a horn section of
Andy Rowley
(baritone saxophone and vocals),
Glen
"The Kid" Marhevka (trumpet),
Karl Hunter (saxophones and clarinet),
Alex "Crazy Legs" Henderson (trombone) and
Mitchell Cooper (trumpet). Big Bad
Voodoo Daddy has sold over 2 million albums. Its 11th and most recent studio album,
Louie, Louie, Louie, a salute to the
music of
Louis Armstrong,
Louis Jordan and
Louis Prima, was released on June 16, 2017.
In the 1990s, swing music found a new and young audience
that perhaps sought an antidote to the reigning grunge and third wave punk, and
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was among the leaders of this new underground movement.
Then as tonight at B.B. King Blues Club
& Grill, the high-energy band played a horn-dominated set that blended jazz,
ragtime, blues, and Dixieland sounds from the mid-20th century. Songs from the
1930s, 40s and 50s were given the same respect as the band's original songs.
All of the musicians were granted the spotlight, stretching their adept chops with
fervor and precision to make for good listening and good dancing material.
Musically, there was a lot happening among the nine musicians during the nearly
two-hour set, and all of it was good.
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