Big Joe and the Dynaflows: I’m Still Swingin’

For a healthy dose of jump, jive and wail, dig I’m Still Swingin’ (Severn 0004; 48:57) by Big Joe and the Dynaflows. Cut in the mode of Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five and New Orleans’ strollmeister Smiley Lewis, this groovy platter never fails to please fans of jump blues. Fronted by the superbly soulful vocalist and drummer Big Joe Maher, this band of blues and r&b stalwarts includes honking tenor saxman Joe Stanley, ubiquitous session man Mark “Kaz” Kazanoff and guitarist Alex Schultz, who affects a raucous old school charm on the B.B. King nugget “Early Every Morning” and goes for a mellower Charlie Christian-Tiny Grimes vibe on the swinging instrumental “Lex Meets Big.” This savvy crew of blues and r&b hounds has a magic touch on covers of Dave Bartholomew’s “Gumbo Blues” and “One Night Of Sin” (which Elvis Presley sanitized as “One Night With You”), Louis Jordan’s obscure and typically jivey “Lemonade” and Bobby Charles’ “On The Other Hand.” Maher the songwriter is also down with the jump jive genre on his original “Big Long Buick,” which features some spirited B.B. King-influenced exchanges between guitarists Schultz and Ivan Appelrouth. “Lil Phil’s Shuffle” is a rockin’ boogie instrumental in the vein of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and features killer solos from Kazanoff on baritone sax, John Wolf on trombone and John Cocuzzi on vibes. Nashville slide guitar ace Lee Roy Parnell guests on the N’awlins stroll “How Come People Act Like That.” And Big Joe tempts the fairer sex on “Baby Let’s Get High.” These hep cats really know how to throw a party.

Originally Published October 1, 1998