Brian+setzer

Evidently, Brian Setzer doesn't take the jump blues and swing of the Brian Setzer Orchestra as a joke. Dirty Boogie is his third album with his large band, and instead of sounding tired, the record is the group's best effort yet. Setzer rocks the band hard, tearing through blues and rock & roll covers with vigor, and delivering made-to-order originals that are surprisingly well crafted and memorable. Much attention will be paid to "You're the Boss," a cover of the Elvis Presley/Ann Margaret staple from Viva Las Vegas, performed as a duet with No Doubt's Gwen Stefani, but that's hardly the only highlight here – it's a swinging, rocking record that suggests Setzer's skills are only improving with time.

Brian Setzer, iconic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and three-time Grammy award-winner, returns with his first solo album in ten years! 'Gotta Have the Rumble' is a red-hot album from start to finish, featuring eleven songs that are full of dynamism and bravado. The album is classic rockabilly at its absolute finest and showcases Setzer at the top of his career. Produced by Julian Raymond (Glen Campbell and Cheap Trick), 'Gotta Have the Rumble' contains songs, all written or co-written by Setzer, and was recorded in Minneapolis (Setzer’s adopted hometown) and Nashville. Highlights include “Checkered Flag,” “Smash Up On Highway One,” “Drip Drop,” “The Cat with 9 Wives,” “One Bad Habit” and “Rockabilly Banjo.”

Brian Setzer, in a career entering its fifth decade as of 2023, has restored not one Americana genre to popularity, but two: During the '80s with the chart-topping Stray Cats, he revived rockabilly (it was only marginally popular in the '50s). In the '90s he formed the Brian Setzer Orchestra, spreading big-band jump and swing to the alt rock generation. In the 21st century, he's recorded live more often than in the studio. Following a 2019 Stray Cats reunion, he issued the excellent Gotta Have the Rumble in 2021 after a seven-year studio hiatus. The Devil Always Collects was recorded at The Terrarium in Minneapolis, and co-produed by Setzer and Julian Raymond. The 11-song set contains eight Setzer originals: Five co-written with Mike Himelstein, one with spouse Julie Setzer, and three covers.

After the Stray Cats broke up, Brian Setzer took a long walk from his rockabilly past with his first solo album, 1986's The Knife Feels Like Justice, but while it was a fine LP and a modest success, later that year the Stray Cats reunited for the first of many times to record Rock Therapy, and by the time Setzer made his way back to the studio on his own, he'd seemingly grown tired of his new heartland rock gestures and dove back into the retro style that had made his name. While 1988's Live Nude Guitars leans toward rockabilly and uptempo roots rock, the production (mostly by Setzer and Larson Paine, though Dave Stewart and Chris Thomas work on a few tracks) is a lot slicker than anything the Stray Cats ever put to wax, and the big, glossy sound of "Rockability," "Red Lightning Blues," and "She Thinks I'm Trash" tends to work against the songs, and the synthesizer line and drum machine on "When the Sky Comes Tumblin' Down" are simply cringe-inducing.

Brian Setzer reconvenes his big band for its first non-Christmas-related set since 2000's Vavoom! Here he rearranges well-known classical themes from Beethoven, Strauss, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and others into Vegas-ized Rat Pack-era swing. It's a fun concept that buys the guitarist time by not having to compose new material, even though these arrangements, many of them quite complex, must have taken a while to construct. Setzer's well-received jump version of The Nutcracker Suite from 2002's Boogie Woogie Christmas probably got this ball rolling as Setzer digs the crazy classical beat with a dozen peppy selections that put his impressive guitar skills to use against finger-snapping horn charts.

Evidently, Brian Setzer doesn't take the jump blues and swing of the Brian Setzer Orchestra as a joke. Dirty Boogie is his third album with his large band, and instead of sounding tired, the record is the group's best effort yet. Setzer rocks the band hard, tearing through blues and rock & roll covers with vigor, and delivering made-to-order originals that are surprisingly well crafted and memorable. Much attention will be paid to "You're the Boss," a cover of the Elvis Presley/Ann Margaret staple from Viva Las Vegas, performed as a duet with No Doubt's Gwen Stefani, but that's hardly the only highlight here – it's a swinging, rocking record that suggests Setzer's skills are only improving with time.

A year after Les Paul's death, Jeff Beck saluted the guitar pioneer by staging a rousing tribute show to the great man at Paul’s regular stomping ground, the Iridium Jazz Club. Backed by his current running mates the Imelda May Band, Beck enlisted some heavy-hitters for help – Brian Setzer comes in for the rock & roll, Trombone Shorty for the jazz, Gary U.S. Bonds sings some oldies – all the better to get the party started. Despite its title, Rock 'N' Roll Party skews ever so slightly to the old-fashioned swing and standards that were Paul's specialty and with the notable exception of tightly wound versions of “The Train Kept A Rollin’” and “Twenty Flight Rock,” even the rockers feel closer to jump blues than rockabilly. And that’s fine: a tribute to Les Paul's music shouldn’t be greasy, it should be a jumping, joyous blast of nostalgia, which is precisely what this party is.

D.D. Verni is best known as songwriter/founding member and bassist for heavy metal pioneers OVERKILL, a legendary band that has sold millions of records worldwide and has released 19 studio albums from the present dating back to their debut album in 1985. While Verni is a heavy metal legend in his own right, he had always dreamed of creating a big band as his love for the big band sound dates back many years. This was a passion project that he had always looked forward to creating one day. Verni began by writing a fantastic collection of soon-to-be big band classics. Next he recruited longtime Brian Setzer Orchestra upright bassist, John Spazz Hatton, to do horn arrangements and play upright bass. Then DD brought in the LA based horn section from Phat Cat Swinger to play the horns, and added Brian Setzer Orchestra drummer and current Doobie Brothers member, Tony Pia. Add jazz pianist Dave Moscoe and Hot Rod guitarist Damian Bacci, and you have a star-studded line-up of big band greatness that made this album shake and swing.