English

Southern Syncopaters has since 1987 been trying to recreate ‘Hot Jazz from the Roaring 20’s, which is a blend of very well written arrangements of popular songs and the spirit of jazz with improvised solos. The strategy has been to not directly copy old recordings, there is no chance to be as good as the original anyway, but by using exactly the same stock arrangements that was used by Coon-Sanders, Fletcher Henderson, King Oliver and many more. And just as they did, use their own arrangements as the foundation and then spice them with own solos, song choruses, and some joyful visual effects that unfortunately can’t be reproduced by an audio CD. It has been a long and tough work to get hold of these old original stock arrangements, but thanks to some contacts and tours to jazz festivals both in Sweden and even to the US, the collection of stock arrangements is now getting quite extensive.

Southern Syncopaters may not have much more than the name in common with Will Marion Cook’s Southern Syncopated Orchestra, that toured Europe in 1919; but nevertheless this present-day band has some claim to the name. Even if its home is in Sweden in northern part of Europe, from a local perspective, it is indeed a southern band, as its members hail from Lund & Malmö in the southernmost Sweden – and the music is indeed syncopated! Southern Syncopaters is a classic ten-piece big band. All members are amateur musicians (engineers, economists, students, etc), but have in common a great interest for the well arranged hot syncopated jazz of the 20’s. The bands live performances are made in the spirit of the happy days in the 1920’s, with all musicians dressed in flashy dinner jackets and with the song performed by some of the musicians in a brass coated, funnel shaped, battery powered amplifier to recreate the typical sound. Southern Syncopaters is also considered to be a youthful and joyful band, so it was no coincidence that the release of the bands first CD in 1994, was called Happy Pal Stomp. Southern Syncopaters’ second CD “Feelin’ No Pain”, was released at the end of 1999. So don’t hesitate. Get one (or two) of our CD’s! Put on the music! Relax! Dream that you are back in the roaring 20’s! Listen to the cool band playing happy syncopated rhythms! Maybe even take some daring Charleston dance steps? Enjoy! Southern Syncopaters guarantee you’ll be Feelin’ No Pain.