“I've never thought of our music as retro,” says singer-songwriter-guitarist Scotty Morris, leader of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the little Big Band that helped define the lounge scene as it was featured in the hit film Swingers . “We're an alternative to retro. We're high-octane nitro jive – loud, wild, total edge. Back in the Forties, swing was rock-n-roll, the black juke joint music white guys heard and said, ‘This is swingin'. What we do is wild and swingin', but it's our own modern version of swing.”

In 1995 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, was already a staple on the underground Hollywood club scene when actor friend Jon Favreau, who hung out at the band's Wednesday night appearances at the Derby, told Morris, “I wrote a movie. Are you interested in being in it?” Morris read the script, which, as he puts it, “was very much the sort of life we were all living. So we figured let's just do this cool movie with our friends. We had no idea “Swingers” would do what it did.”

A year later, after the band had also appeared on the Fox television series Party of Five (and its Music From Party Of Five soundtrack album), Swingers was released. Thanks to its scene-stealing performance and the showcasing of three songs on the soundtrack album, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was tagged as one of the hottest, hippest, coolest bands around. Says Morris: “Good music is not a novelty. Yes, the swing scene is a scene, but great bands can emerge from scenes. This scene may come and go but this band has come to stay.”

The first release for the Coolsville label, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy , was the band's long-awaited major label album debut. Eleven of the twelve tracks are originals, including two songs (“You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight” and “Go Daddy-O”) heard on the Swingers soundtrack album. The sole outside composition is of the Cab Calloway classic “Minnie the Moocher.” Produced by Brad Benedict, Michael Frondelli and Morris, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was recorded at the Capitol Records Tower in legendary studio B, where greats such as Louis Prima and Nat “King” Cole once toiled. Their major label debut stayed in the Billboard Top 100 for most of 1998 and achieved platinum status selling 1.2 million copies to date. The band's second major label release, This Beautiful Life features 10 more original tracks to go along with their cool cover of the Jungle Book Theme “I Wanna Be Like You” and their rendition of Frank Sinatra's “Old McDonald”. Both critically acclaimed albums have that timeless quality that Hollywood loves which has opened the doors to hundreds of featured uses of their songs in films and television shows.

Morris couldn't have envisioned such widespread acceptance when, dissatisfied and jaded by life as a young Los Angeles studio guitarist, he decided to launch a three-piece swing combo in 1989. “I was a hired gun playing anything and everything, from punk to country. I was disenchanted and wanted to do what I felt in my soul. I had started out playing trumpet and loved Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, the wild guys, the early primitive stuff, that Big Band mambo I heard while growing up, when people first started dancing in the aisles, before Big Band became polished and clean and tame. I just wanted to play and have fun and bring something different.”

The trio, including drummer Kurt Sodergren, performed at nightclubs, bars and private parties in the Ventura-Santa Barbara area. Soon after, Morris tapped Dirk Shumaker on string bass and a couple of surf buddies, including Andy Rowley on saxophone, to add horns. The audience response? “At the time, there was nothing like this going on at all. I mean, we used to open with the theme from ‘Get Smart'and see their mouths drop open. I was really happy that people were digging what we wanted to play.”

In 1992, the band was officially dubbed Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. “I went to an Albert Collins concert and he so blew me away that I had to ask him for his autograph. He signed my ticket: ‘To the big bad voodoo daddy.'I thought that was the coolest thing ever, and the coolest name.” It was also the title of the group's first album, self-produced and distributed by indie distributor Hep Cat in 1993. “Immediately, we knew something was up. We printed 2,000 copies and they sold out in a week, just in our home area. The next week we printed another 1,000, and they sold out in a week too. So we took our show on the road, from San Diego to San Francisco.

Before Big Bad Voodoo Daddy took up residence at the Derby for 18 months beginning in 1995, Morris knew it was time for a bigger-sounding band. Glen “The Kid” Marhevka joined the band to play trumpet and Karl Hunter came aboard on saxophone and clarinet. Also joining was pianist Josh Levy, who had played in a jazz band, which won the John Coltrane Trio competition.

Since 1994 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has toured virtually nonstop performing more than 1200 concerts on stages around the world. BBVD appeals to all age groups and their talent can be seen on the stages of the Worlds biggest and best Music Festivals, Jazz and Blues Festivals, Night Clubs, County Fairs, Symphony Shows, Black Tie Events and Wineries. As testament to BBVD's class, stylishness and versatility, the band has been called upon to perform at some major entertainment events and behind-the-scenes parties including the Grammy Awards, Billboard Awards, Espy Awards, the premieres for The Godfather , Titanic , and As Good as It Gets , the 100 th episode party for the West Wing, the opening of the art world's Getty Center Museum and the halftime show at the 1999 Super Bowl and Orange Bowl. Additionally BBVD has been called on to play private events for President Bush (both of them) and President Clinton.

Morris sums it up by saying “I love our music and the fact that the same guys have stuck together for more than 10 years. We get better and better as the years go by and we have as much fun now as we ever did. There aren't any rules and I never questioned what my instincts told me. We just went for it, and it's felt right from day one.”

Petaluma Wine, Jazz & Blues Festival
P.O. Box 156
Petaluma, CA 94953
(707) 769-9650
Cliff Eveland

Information: info@pwjb.org

Donations: donations@pwjb.org