I’ve been waiting a long time to review Swing in Place. Or maybe it just felt like a long time, in this Groundhog Day mush of weeks rushing by... anyway, Gordon Au’s Grand Street Stompers released the above named album, totaling eleven tracks, in two parts over five months. I enjoyed Volume 1: Originals very much when that hit Bandcamp last year, and have eagerly awaited the arrival of its sequel. It turned out I needn’t have waited quite so long to review it—more on that later.
I tucked into Volume 1 in August and was pleased to find a dancer’s delight. EP opener “PST (Pacific Swing Time)” has the makings of a ballroom favorite, with a real earworm riff recurring throughout. Molly Ryan lends her satin-smooth voice to “I Do Believe in You”: a love letter with suitably saccharine lyrics, which sees Au’s trumpet dueling masterfully with the sax section.
Guitarist Nick Russo pushes into the limelight on steady swinger “Primrose”—his gentle strumming and delicate arpeggios pleasing enough, even without his blistering mid-track solo. But again he has a hard time outshining composer Au, who delivers a delightfully catchy triplet riff which sounds great swung and better yet straight. “Jump Out and Getcha” sounds like a mugger’s MO, but is in fact a real swell bouncing tune, custom built for jitterbugging. (Bonus points for thinking of the DJs and includi
