The Swing Ninjas

From: Brighton

Influences: New Orleans stomp, gypsy jazz and Parisian 1920s swing.

Profile: The Swing Ninjas started out as a street band with two simple rules: no rehearsals, no set lists.

Now, two years on, they are performing all round the world at festivals and clubs, busking as they go, from show to show, having recently returned from tours to Istanbul, Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland, France and Holland.

Based around Will Hood’s alto saxophone, Jamie Mellor’s maccaferri guitar and Bruce Stevens’ helicon (tuba) they create a combination of dirty horn jazz and gypsy swing La Pompe rhythm, completed by three-part vocal harmonies.

The Swing Ninjas Big Band has up to nine members, including London-based swinging siren trio, Swinging In Heels.

The band has just released their second album, the follow-up to Tears Of The Tuba, which is entitled Stop Killing The Jazz Man.

“The new album takes you on a different journey to the first,” says Hood. “There are many more musicians, Swinging In Heels doing backing vocals, big textures and harmonies – but it still maintains that raw, live swing you get from live takes in the studio.”

Three Blind Mice (right click on the track to download, left click to stream)

Website: theswingninjas.co.uk

YouTube: www.youtube.com/theswingninjas

Facebook: www.facebook.com/theswingninjas

Email: swing@theswingninjas.co.uk