Album Notes

The Campus Five's latest recording!

Another platter of superbly danceable, rare and unique small group swing gems. Starting again with the classic small group sounds of the Benny Goodman Sextet, the album begins with “Wholly Cats” and also features the Basie-Goodman composition “Gone with ‘What’ Wind.” The album also features tunes from lesser-known small groups of the 30’s and 40’s – Lionel Hampton’s “Royal Family”, Charlie Ventura’s “C.V. Jam”, and Sir Charles Thompson’s “Rhythm Itch.” Hilary sings on Peggy Lee’s "I Don’t Know Enough About You" and Anita O'Day’s "As Long As I Live" and “Just a Little Bit South of North Carolina”, as well as our versions of “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and “Swing, Brother, Swing.” Jim Ziegler lends his voice to Lionel Hampton’s "Judy". The title track, Fats Waller’s 1943 classic “Moppin’ and Boppin’” features vintage drumming master Josh Collazo. The Campus Five goes to town on our versions of "It Don’t Mean a Thing" (a one-take jam session) and "Bugle Call Rag" (inspired by the 1944 Jazz at the Philharmonic Version).

As on our previous records, the album was recorded by vintage-jazz extraordinaire Dick Hamilton at his studio, the Doing, using vintage RCA 44 microphones to capture the traditional sound of classic small group swing. "Moppin’ and Boppin’" features Los Angeles' best swing musicians, including Tenor Saxophonist and Clarinetist Albert Alva, Trumpeter and Vocalist Jim Ziegler, Pianist Christopher Dawson, Bassist Wally Hersom, and Vintage-Jazz drumming phoneme Josh Collazo.