For all the rhythmic focus of 21st century music, where beats reign supreme, there’s one type of rhythm that remains elusive: swing. It’s nigh impossible to program machines to swing convincingly, and so it has withered in our musical landscape. But it’s not extinct, as pockets of jazz players in every city make clear. Now, one stalwart jazz pilgrim is single-handedly kicking off a revival of swinging rhythms in a very popular way.
Music lovers can hear it for themselves at the Germantown Performing Arts Center (GPAC) on Saturday, January 20th, when the show Louis! Louis! Louis! takes the stage. But at the end of the night, fans won’t be screaming the name “Louis!” — it will more likely be “Jumaane!” That would be the trumpeter, singer, and composer Jumaane Smith, who has recently been leading audiences through the glories of swinging, stomping music by way of his three greatest influences, all of whom happen to be named Louis. Taking a deep dive into the music of Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, and Louis Jordan, Smith has found a way to celebrate much of what he loves in older music without surrendering to nostalgia. The way he sees it, those artists are as galvanizing and entertaining today as they were during their heyday. In fact, they’re still inspiring his own compositions, which he blends in with the classics made famous by three guys named Louis.
Armstrong is rightly considered a pillar of all jazz who remained committed to that genre’s pop potential even as it took more esoteric turns after World War II. That’s something he had in common with Prima and Jordan as well, as all of them combined instrumental virtuosity with singing and a flair for showmanship.
“Louis Armstrong and Louis Prima were both singing trumpet players, and Louis Jordan was a singing saxophonist. And I feel as though one informs the other with the melodic choices they make,” says Smith. Beyond that, they also shared a sense of humor and embodied the notion of the complete entertainer, something Smith would like to see more of in jazz.
He would know, having performed in Michael Bublé’s band for the past 17 years. As he told Variety in 2020, that experience showed him just how popular swinging music could be. “It’s always a weird situation when people say, ‘Oh, nobody likes jazz; nobody shows up to jazz concerts,’” he said at the time. “We’re playing to 20,000 to 50,000 people a night, and half the show or more is just straight up big-band jazz.”
At the time, Smith was plugging his then-new album, When You’re Smiling, which features his interpretations of nine standards popularized by the three Louises and one original, “Sweet Baby.” But the album was released in January 2020, after which all tour plans were scuttled. Three years and one pandemic later, Smith has finally brought the show on the road. Now, “we’ve been traveling all over the States for the last year, doing this project,” he says.
Smith is especially proud of the band he’s assembled. “When I’m performing, I always try to make sure that the groove is at a very high level, and I’ve played with some of these musicians for over 20 years now. It’s really exciting to have that sort of interplay and long-term musical relationship within the band. I’ll be using Will Gorman on piano, and a fellow Juilliard graduate of mine, Luke Sellick, on bass. Our guitarist, David Rosenthal, is a supremely versatile musician, and on drums is another Juilliard grad, Carmen Intorre Jr. Then we’ll have Josh Brown playing trombone, and a young, extremely talented saxophonist from England named Ruben Fox.”
With such a band, Smith says, the swinging comes easy. “That’s where the magic really happens, when these players are all performing true to themselves within the framework of the concert. When I started this project, I had no intention of doing a nostalgia experience. The concept is, how can I allow myself to come through the parameters of this lens? This lens being the music of Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, and Louis Jordan. And when the band’s really cooking and in the groove, people in the audience start tapping their feet and they don’t know why. The feeling of the music just makes you excited in that way and makes you want to move.”
Catch Jumaane Smith: Louis! Louis! Louis! at Germantown Performing Arts Center on Saturday, January 20th, 8 p.m. Purchase tickets ($20-$65) at gpacweb.com.
