Track Listings (17) - Disc #1| All Artists: Big Kahuna & Copa Cat Pack Title: Hawaiian Swing Members Wishing: 0 Total Copies: 0 Label: Concord Records Original Release Date: 7/13/1999 Release Date: 7/13/1999 Genres: Jazz, Pop Style: Swing Jazz Number of Discs: 1 SwapaCD Credits: 1 UPC: 013431486022 |
Member $avings: $5,581,795.36
|
CDs Available: 86,488
|
Members Online: 24
Your source for swapping cds online... Listen...Swap...Save!
Search - Big Kahuna & Copa Cat Pack :: Hawaiian Swing
 | Big Kahuna & Copa Cat Pack Hawaiian Swing Genres: Jazz, Pop
Swing might seem an exclusively urban phenomenon, a facet of cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Kansas City. Don't mention that to Matt Catingub, vocalist, alto saxophonist, pianist, Copa Cat Pack bandleader, ... more » |
Larger Image |
CD DetailsSynopsis
Amazon.com Swing might seem an exclusively urban phenomenon, a facet of cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Kansas City. Don't mention that to Matt Catingub, vocalist, alto saxophonist, pianist, Copa Cat Pack bandleader, and all-around Big Kahuna. Catingub's got swing pegged as ripe for a Hawaiian connection. On tunes like "Pearly Shells" (familiar to many as the melody for C&H sugar commercials in the 1970s), he sounds utterly convincing. He leads his 12-piece band through melodies that don't challenge with unfamiliarity so much as they ring with a comfy simplicity that keeps its cool by simply swinging hard. The vibe is laid back in the way Count Basie was, which is to say that the Copa Cat Pack doesn't get worked up in an Ellingtonian display of complex arrangements. What's best, the band can really cook, with Catingub throwing out solid solos while the band powers ahead danceably. Their take on Dizzy Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia" is so quick that you miss the feeling of a cop-show theme, the utterly fun, quick jolt. --Andrew Bartlett Similarly Requested CDs
|
CD ReviewsA cyclone of Swing 10/27/1999 (5 out of 5 stars) "Wow! Man! Whew! Oh does this band smoke! It creates a remarkably buoyant feeling. It's not really "Hawaiian Swing" though---rather it's the Hawaii that a 1961 Las Vegas Tiki Lounge would conjure up. The musicality and dynamics are stunning. My only tech complaint is that the sax section has an intonation problem often bedeviling sax sections (but not as bad as on George Gee's live CD). Count Basie never would have let that through. Big Kahuna is a fabulous vocalist---the best of any I've heard today (curiously, with a whiff of Jello Biafra). Of the crop of contemporary Swing dance bands, this band rockets to the top. How about relocating from SF to Maui, guys? Now that would be paradise." THIS'LL MAKE YOU SMILE MOVIE MAVEN | New York, NY USA | 02/02/2002 (5 out of 5 stars) "I first heard BIG KAHUNA and his COPA CAT PACK on the latest Rosemary Clooney album SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY. That album is a winner and it is easy to see why "the girl singer" loves working with this big band.HAWAIIAN SWING is an album to cheer you when you're down; it's an album to play when you are cleaning the house; it's an album to listen to with friends at a party; it's an album to make you listen to songs you know and have heard your whole life (i.e. Benny Goodman's "Stompin' At The Savoy' or Dizzie Gillespie's "Night in Tunisia," etc.)and hear them as if for the first time. It's a big band sound with a 21st Century, Hawaiian twist.The vocals are handled terrifically by The Big Kahuna and Linda Harmon. The entire band is comprised of saxes, trumpets, piano, trombones, bass and drums. It is a sound that will catch you off guard and make you smile...broadly. I have played this album, literally, dozens of times since buying it less than a month ago. The sound, as usual with Concord Jazz, is first rate. It's hard to pick favorites on this dizzyingly fine CD, but I especially liked the gorgeous Johnny Mercer ballad, "I Remember You," Duke Ellington's "Love You Madly" and one of the wonderful original songs: Matt Catingub's (The Kahuna, himself)"After Hours." Catingub also plays alto sax, piano and arranges the various numbers! And wait til you hear their version of Rosie's classic "Come On-A-My House" sung by Catingub with David Wells on tenor sax. Wow: What a great album. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED." Score one for the Big Kahuna! MOVIE MAVEN | 01/04/2000 (5 out of 5 stars) "Yes, it's true. The saxes are out of tune on a couple of songs. I, for one, can live with that. This CD is awesome! The band can swing with the best of them (and I've compared this CD to Basie's band with Sinatra singing and the 1964 Woody Herman band). The band plays with an unmatched energy level and has all the right stuff, i.e., a drummer that plays with intensity, enthusiasm and technique; a lead trumpeter with a sound as big as a house (and great range); world class sax solos from Da Big Kahuna and David Wells; and to top it off, a nice recording thanks to the Skywalker Sound studio. As a follower of Matt's career from the early days (with Louie B.), I can say this is the best thing the "Baby BeBopper," I mean, "Da Big Kahuna" has ever done. And that is no small accomplishment!"
|
