As anyone who’s read one of my reviews will know, I love a good keyboardist. Well, if I were naming The Schwings Band’s new album myself, I could hardly have given it a better title than A Good Thing. It’s a piano-powered masterpiece of mostly original jazz, from the Lithuanian outfit led by bandleader/composer Remis Rančys.
Recording during many musicians’ darkest hour, Rančys (whose music is often inspired by current events) acknowledges the present pandemic lyrically—then boots it down the road with hobnailed feet.
Opening track “Everybody” gets two outings on this disc: the first at a dance-friendly tempo, straight out of the gate; the second as an encore, lightning-fast. Pianist Richardas Banys starts the album off strong, rolling elements of barrelhouse, blues and boogie-woogie into this solid swing number. Periodic shouts of “Everybody!” sets the in-it-together tone for the rest of the work, which just insists that you stop moping around and move your feet.
“Staying Home” captures the monotony of COVID life in its repetitive, three-note riff, but sets this to a playfully upbeat backing—it’s the sort of swing anthem we need, when live gigs and social dances seem a million miles away. “Eik Sau” takes the energy down a notch, combining Banys’s bluesy organ and Rančys’s deep, throaty saxophone to create the calming sensation of a deep, wavele
