A little bit of big band

Young Chang

Jumping into a scene where everybody seemed to be swinging, where

every other band seemed to take root in the happy-go-lucky,

Americana-style of swing and big-band music, members of Zoot Suit Revue

came up with a gimmick.

Metal, shine and flash.

The sextet wears Zoot suits that band members admit look just “crazy.”

In everything from metallic fuchsia to a greasy royal blue, the costumes

echo a free-spirited rebellion from 60 years ago, when playing or dancing

to swing could get you in trouble, especially in Europe.

“We figured, if we could do it with a little bit more sparkle and

energy, then it’d be different from what’s going on out there -- a lot of

guys trying to be retro,” drummer Ivan Knight said.

But the 3-year-old band, which will perform Sunday at Mariners Park in

Newport Beach as part of the city-sponsored Concerts in the Park series,

takes liberties with the oldies to produce a high-energy, jump swing

sound.

Knight brings a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility to the band with a driving

drumbeat to punch up even classics by Frank Sinatra, Dean Morten, Louis

Prima and Sammy Davis Jr.

“We just try to put a little bit of gasoline into the standards,” he

said. “Some of the guys in the band have been playing in a big band for

their whole lives. And a couple of us came from rock ‘n’ roll and R&B;

backgrounds.”

Lead vocalist Irby Gascon came from New Orleans. Growing up in a

society of jazz and swing, he was well-versed in the genre when he

arrived in California six years ago.

The band formed during the peak of the Los Angeles swing movement and

has since toured throughout the country with itshybrid sound. With their

mix of swing, big band, pop rock, Latin, jump blues, lounge and

alternative rock, performance venues have included such notable swing

havens as The Derby in Hollywood and The Supper Club in New York.

Revue’s audience runs the age-gamut, Knight said -- from babies to

90-year-olds.

“In the beginning it was kind of tough because everyone was trying to

figure out what we were,” Knight said. “But it’s a nostalgic type of

music. And it’s not like mad music. It’s generally very happy.”

The swing genre has also changed throughout the years, Gascon said.

“It’s gotten more high energy than it was in the ‘30s and ‘40s, with

more of a backbeat, basically, to it,” he said.

The craze has died down from about four years ago, when the

retro-music resurgence was at its height, but Gascon attributes this to

how Los Angeles fads always come and go.

“But there’s still, of course, swing,” he said. “There always will be,

and there always was.”

FYI

What: Zoot Suit Revue

When: 5 p.m. Sunday

Where: Mariners Park, at the corner of Dover Drive and Irvine Avenue

Cost: Free

Call: (949) 644-3151