A salute to the kings and queens of swing

Is this some new lost unheard material I wondered?

Standing Room Only turns out to be a three CD live collection of rare and unreleased material from three different decades the pick of which is the 1966 show from The Sands in Las Vegas.

This does go to show there is a demand for this brand of music and reflected in a successful American Songbook radio show on k107FM (Online and on 107FM in Kirkcaldy area).

Hosted by veteran DJ Les Fimister the quality is staggering and contains not just the obvious hits too and airs every Wednesday from 4PM.

Also out this week The Kings And Queens Of Swing has four CDs and serves as a great introduction to this rarely heard style of music.

Right from the first tracks this is a winner with Fly Me To The Moon followed by Bobby Darin’s classic Mack The Knife then Ms Ella, Dean Martin, Mel Torme and Sammy Davis Jr. with the evergreen Mr Bojangles.

The vintage jazz giants are included like Duke Ellington, Vera Lynn, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Lionel Hampton and even Harry James & His Orchestra.

I would argue against the inclusion of Tom Jones and Val Doonican, but with Peggy Lee’s Fever, Wayne Newton’s Danke Schoen and Chet Baker’s exquisite My Funny Valentine all is forgiven.

Sinatra is naturally here with Fly Me To The Moon and interesting to hear composer Paul Anka’s own version of My Way.