The swing era was a time of outstanding big band leaders, brilliant instrumentalists and vocalists. Listeners will be convinced of this in this concert program: music will be played that is closely associated with such personalities as Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and others. Saxophonist Roberts Martini will be at the helm of the Riga Big Band Orchestra.
Swing is known as a jazz genre that gained popularity in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. With its unusual sense of rhythm, which jazz musicians achieved by emphasizing every second and fourth beat, replacing stiff eighth notes with swinging ones, adding syncopation and anchoring it all with a walking bass line, swing became an enticing escape from reality during the Great Depression and World War II. The swing era was the golden age of big bands - audiences flocked to them and indulged in dance rhythms accompanied by carefree music. Jazz was heard everywhere, in dance halls, hotels, on records and radio broadcasts, becoming the common denominator of musical taste at the time and gaining worldwide recognition.
The vocalists are the charming singing duo Daumants Kalniņš and Estonian jazz and soul singer Sofia Rubina-Hunter. Sofia's charismatic voice and songs have taken her to the most prestigious stages in the world - from the legendary Blue Note club in New York to the farthest corners of Asia. She has performed with maestro Raimonds Pauls and such notable artists as Joe Lovano and Danilo Perez, and has even shared the stage with Seal and Incognito. The most exciting stories of the swing era will be told by the erudite concert host Raitis Zapackis.