UP THE COAST : Flattop Tom & His Jump Cats Keep Swing Dancers Swirling : West Coast jump blues, ‘50s R & B, big band sound--Hall and his band play them all. They keep the traditional blues alive.

They don’t call Tom Hall “Flattop Tom” for nothing. With a head like the deck of an aircraft carrier, Flattop Tom will be fronting His Jump Cats, who will have those swing dancers swirling all over the Carrillo Rec Center on Friday night like a flock of sea gulls over Tippi Hedren in a convertible.

Hall knows what swing dancers like because he’s one of them. A professional dancer who has appeared in films and commercials, Hall has been known to hit the dance floor and shake a leg along with the paying customers when his band gets into an instrumental groove. Remember when couples used to actually dance together? The jitterbug, the Lindy hop, the dance scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life”--that’s swing dancing. It’s old-style dancing with a new lease on life.

Up there on stage, those who want to see their names in the paper include Flattop Tom Hall (vocals, harmonica, cool dance steps), Lee Burkhart (bass and vocals), Linda Giandominico (keyboards, vocals), Pete Keuer (trombone), Dave Kadison (tenor sax, vocals), Eddie Perez (guitar, vocals) and Dave Irving (drums).

Hall’s band has been around for three years, and the happening horn section has been blowing minds for the past two years. They have more than 80 songs, one-third of them originals. There’s never enough time to play them all, and the band has the technology to tire even the most stalwart swing dancers. They have a tape, CD dreams and plenty of work. Hall talked it over by phone recently.

The tape was a hit?

It’s doing all right. I sold ‘em all out, so I guess that’s about as good as it gets. I had 500, and I put ‘em in some local record shops and I sold ‘em at our shows. I think maybe by summer, we’ll have a new CD. Some of the new songs we do live, and some we don’t, which we’re holding out on so people will want to buy the CD.

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Are flattops back in?

You mean my hair? Yeah, yeah, it’s all right now. At the school I teach at, you’re exposed to all kinds of hair and styles. Some kids dress like the ‘70s, the ‘60s, the ‘50s, while others are into rap or heavy metal.

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Your bio says the band is “keeping the traditional blues alive.” Were they sick?

Actually, the blues are better than ever right now. There’s a lot of blues bands, plus a lot of bands that call themselves blues bands. Most blues bands don’t have songs arranged as tightly as we do, so when they’re traveling, they can just pick up some musicians along the way. With our horn section, we could never do that. It’s a matter of the love of the music. The players that are good get off on the feeling and the personal satisfaction whether or not they’re making a lot of money.

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So then the L. A. scene is rockin’?

It’s pretty good. You’ve got William Clarke, James Harman and Rod Piazza all signed to major labels. But most places still don’t want to pay you what you’re worth and they try to do the door thing. Now, we get a guarantee when we play; a lot of bands don’t. We used to take anything, but now we’re established, and we don’t overplay any one area.

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What’s West Coast jump blues?

It’s a sound that was established on Central Avenue in L. A. after World War II by guys like Big Joe Turner, Roy Brown and George (Harmonica) Smith. It has more of a swingy, airy sound. It’s indigenous to this area. If you were to ask a drummer, he’d say it’s more syncopated than other types of blues.

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What’s your particular style?

We play mostly jump blues. But with the horns, we have a hybrid sound of West Coast jump blues, ‘50s R & B and big band-type stuff. I also play harmonica along with the horn lines.

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What’s up with your Hohner sponsorship deal?

I sent them the release, and I talked to their guy on the phone who liked what we were doing. Now I get harmonicas at cost, which is about $10, as compared to $23. I can blow one out in about a month.

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How did you get started in all this?

I’ve been playing since 1987. I got into the music first, then started dancing. I was at the Topanga Blues Festival checking out William Clarke and Paul Butterfield, who were having this harmonica battle. So about a week later, I went out and bought a harmonica and taught myself how to play. It’s just like anything you get into--you’re willing to put in the hours of drudgery until you figure it out. I’m personal friends with William Clarke, and I promoted a show and we opened for him and, for our first gig, we had an immediate audience.

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What’s up with all these swing dancers?

It’s coming back. When I first started, there were only a few swing dance clubs; now they’re everywhere. I got it from a lot of kids when the Stray Cats came out--it was a rockabilly thing. I got turned onto it when I was 23 because of the music. I got a C in dance class in college because I wasn’t into the music. The interesting thing about swing dancing is that a wide age of people like it. The kids like the up-tempo stuff, and the older people like it because it’s nostalgic. I started by just going out there and doing it. I know a lot of people can be inhibited by it, especially if you’re single. You don’t want to go out there and look goofy.

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What was your gig from hell?

We played in Hollywood once at the Roxbury, and it was like this starlet place. Everyone goes there to be seen and to act cool. They didn’t know whether they were supposed to like us or not. It was lukewarm at first, but it got crazy by the end. The bartenders loved us, but the booking agent didn’t know what to make of us.

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How ‘bout those Dodgers?

They’ll get it going, I hope, but now, I’m disgusted by the whole thing. I’m a high school baseball coach, and I try to teach the value of teamwork, and all these guys want is more money. It’s sort of depressing.

Details

* WHO: Flattop Tom & His Jump Cats.

* WHEN: 8:30 p.m. to midnight Friday.

* WHERE: Carrillo Recreation Center, 100 E. Carrillo St., Santa Barbara.

* HOW MUCH: Ten bucks.

* CALL: 569-1952.