"Swing in the Fall" Series
Steve Lucky
& the Rhumba Bums
featuring
Miss Carmen Getit
Hosted by Karen & Michael
Dance lessons in Front & Back Studios (included with admission)
East Coast Swing
Doors at 6:30 pm
Lesson at 7:00 pm
Show at 8:00 pm
$15
Longtime Ashkenaz swing favorites Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums featuring Miss Carmen Getit headline tonight’s “Swing in the Fall” dance. “Swing in the Fall” is Ashkenaz’s two-month series of swing dances with lessons taking place every Thursday in October and November. It covers the gamut from classic big band sounds to jump blues and New Orleans R&B. Discounted series passes are available. The series concludes with a Saturday night party with Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers on November 26!
Each night starts at 7 pm with a choice of beginning/intermediate dance lessons with Karen & Michael or a guest teacher (included in the ticket price), followed by the evening’s live band at 8 pm. Tonight’s guest teacher is Michael Marangio, teaching St. Louis Shag in the Back Studio. Click here for more about all dance lessons, teachers, and performances in the series!
In a four-star CD review, DownBeat magazine wrote: “The Rhumba Bums abide by Cab Calloway’s advice: ‘Live what’s in your soul and sing your friggin’ heart out.’” Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums have been one of the West Coast’s most popular, to say nothing of most entertaining and fun, bands since composer-pianist-leader Steve Lucky assembled the Bums back in 1994 in the early days of the swing dance revival. The Rhumba Bums continue to play and sing just about the most irresistible dance tunes extant, mixing some well-known ’40s and ’50s jump blues and swing charts with rare and nearly-forgotten gems that deserve to be resurrected. The Bums’ second CD, “Some Like It Hot!,” features several band originals such as “Beat Girl,” “Maybe Later,” “The Hollywood Jump,” and “Haul Off and Love Me,” plus a live version of “Every Time I Hear that Mellow Saxophone,” featured in the movie “Be Cool.”
The Rhumba Bums include singer-guitarist Miss Carmen Getit, Matt Cowan and Doug Rowan on saxophones, drummer Brian Fishler, and bassist Lukas Vesely. The band’s trump card is Getit, who offers vocal sparring matches with Lucky and guitar playing that, whether swing, blues, or even some bebop licks, is inspired, fast, and faithful to the genre. In pre-Rhumba Bums years, Lucky discovered Getit (who had played piano before she could read and has played guitar since shortly thereafter), bought Getit her first electric guitar and introduced her to the music of T-Bone Walker, Ruth Brown, and other swing-R&B legends, and they formed a piano-guitar duo in New York City.
