MP3 Peter Hostage Situation - Swingin´ The Blues

Swing, Blues and Jazz packed to the hilt with lots of horns, and barreling, boogie piano. The ultimate in sassy, dance music both with vocals and as instrumentals.

11 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Swing/Big Band, BLUES: Piano Blues



Details:
The Peter Hostage Situation - "Swingin' The Blues"

The new CD from the Peter Hostage Situation is an original mixture of Blues, Jazz and Swing; featuring six saxes and brass, boogie piano and a solid rockin' rhythm section of upright bass and drums. Pianist/vocalist and bandleader Peter Hostage wrote all of the songs and/or arrangements for the CD, which features some Boston's finest musicians "Swingin' The Blues."

"Swingin' The Blues," the Peter Hostage Situation's first release, features ten original tunes and one classic, "Whammer Jammer," the J.Geils Band's blues harp rave-up arranged as a swing horn chart. The ten original songs include the jump blues shuffle-swing of "Back To Boston" and "Everybody Was Hangin' Out," the New Orleans flavored "Raggedy Ann" and "That Train," and the Cole Porter-ish "Small Talk." Early Ray Charles was the influence behind "Wrap Around Shades," "Blue-Eyed Blonde" and "The Rest Of My Life." The great Count Basie is the inspiration for the title track "Swingin' The Blues" and "The Blue Zone," which is a slow blues in a big-band style.

Peter Hostage launched the nine piece swing/blues Situation in the summer of 2000, as a houseband at a now defunct downtown Boston nightclub, and has been swingin' dance parties, functions and concerts ever since. Mr. Hostage crafted the PHS sound to be unique in a way that is more arranged and sophisticated than the typical jump blues sound, but not as refined as an 18 piece swing orchestra. The PHS features accomplished Boston area jazz musicians getting down and bluesy, with a strong dose of swing, reminiscent of Count Basie, and the late, great Ray Charles. Adding a little spice of New Orleans gumbo piano ala Dr. John and Professor Longhair rounds out the flavor of the PHS.

The PHS also has a large repertoire of original arrangements of classics by jazz and swing greats such as Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan, and Tito Puente, plus standards from the great American composers such as Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart. The PHS has developed a reputation throughout New England as a little big band that can swing elegantly or boogie hard.