Swings Left Rob Reich

• 1What's Left02:57
• 2Shimmytown Shuffle03:21
• 3The Vision03:52
• 4Cat Scorner03:08
• 5How to be a Weirdo02:27
• 6Viper's Nightmare03:04
• 7Can I Get That Feeling03:44
• 8Bootlegger's Balls02:28
• 9I Got It02:38
• 10Move a Little Closer04:23
• 11Downtown Letdown03:06
• 12Sweep Me Away03:20
• 13That's What I'm Trying To Do02:54
• 14Elevator Up!02:27
• Total Runtime43:49

Info for Swings Left

Swings Left plays jazz music for dancing, rooted in the classic swing era of the late 1930s. The new album features Reich's original music in the style, combining a hot rhythm with a cool sensibility.

Jazz as dance music? There was a time when that wasn’t even a question. Has the time come again for upbeat, swinging, danceable jazz? Rob Reich answers that question in the affirmative on this album of 14 original compositions evoking the late 1930s, when Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and others made dance-floor music. Reich, an accordion virtuoso who has worked with Tin Hat, Gaucho, and Circus Bella, put together a sextet that is comfortable both playing and messing with Swing Era vocabulary. Reich (strictly a pianist here), Ben Goldberg (the clarinetist of his generation), trumpeter Andrew Stephens (a young Northern California rising star), veteran guitarist Craig Ventresco (a shamefully underappreciated master of ragtime, rural blues, and early jazz), bassist Daniel Fabricant (a longtime Reich collaborator), and drummer Elizabeth Goodfellow (who tours with Iron and Wine) echo, but never imitate, plenty of forbears on their respective instruments. You might find yourself name-checking historical figures on first listen, but as mind and body succumb to the sway of “Shimmytown Shuffle,” “How to Be a Weirdo,” and “Viper’s Nightmare,” you’ll find, happily, that you’ve time-traveled into a present moment full of its own surprises. (Derk Richardson)

Andrew Stephens, trumpet
Ben Goldberg, clarinet
Rob Reich, piano
Craig Ventresco, guitar
Daniel Fabricant, bass
Elizabeth Goodfellow, drums

Engineered and Mixed by Jacob Winik at Tiny Telephone Studios
Mastered by Ken Lee at Ken Lee Mastering

Rob Reich
is quintessentially what makes the San Francisco music scene a vibrant and vital mecca for independent music; he’s become one of its stalwart underground artists. His music defies genre, combining strong melodic ideas, rhythmic drive, and a spirit of irreverence and experimentation. He is best known for his work with Tin Hat, Gaucho, and Circus Bella.

"Rob's music is just like he is: guileless, thoughtful, playful and charming. His music wears a bowler hat and a pair of Chuck Taylors." - Carla Kihlstedt "A master of succinct revelation, of vaporous extremes that get right to the heart, of plainspoken abandon." - Ben Goldberg "Whatever context he's in, Reich transforms it into a creative hothouse where thousands of musical flowers bloom." -Andy Gilbert, East Bay Express

This album contains no booklet.