Solomon Douglas
Solomon Douglas Swingtet bio
Solomon Douglas is a jazz pianist and bandleader, whose various bands have played at more than fifty exchanges, camps, workshops, and other events in North America, Asia, and Australia in the past nine years. His experience as a swing dancer and dance instructor gives him an understanding unique among musicians of the music that swing dancers and blues dancers like to dance to!
The Solomon Douglas Swingtet is a ten-piece dance band whose repertoire is rooted in that of the Basie band (One O’Clock Jump, Jive at Five, Splanky, Shorty George, Shiny Stockings) and that of the Ellington band (Cottontail, “C” Jam Blues, Mood Indigo, Take The “A” Train), with other big-band standards and classic jazz tunes thrown in as well. They can cater to a crowd that prefers up-tempo classic swing, to a crowd that prefers slower groovier jazz, or to anything in between. Past dance events that featured the Solomon Douglas Swingtet include the Century Masters of Lindy and Tap (Seattle), Aug. 2007 and Aug. 2008; Lindy on the Rocks (Denver), Aug. 2007 and Aug. 2008; the Blues 'n Soul Experience (Orlando), June 2008; Philadelphia Lindy Love, June 2006 and June 2008; Camp Jitterbug (Seattle), May 2006 and May 2007 and May 2008; Bal Rendezvous (San Diego), April 2008; 7plex (Edmonton, AB), Mar. 2008; Swing in the Colony (Atascadero CA), Oct. 2007; the Connecticut Lindy Exchange, Aug. 2007; SexPlex (Winnipeg, MB), Aug. 2007; the Seattle Lindy Exchange, Aug. 2005 and Aug. 2007; the Canada Day Exchange (Ottawa, ON), June 2007; the Virginia Beach Lindy Exchange, June 2007; Swing Out Nowhere (Moscow, ID), Apr. 2007; the Sacramento Swing Jam, Aug. 2006; the Portland Lindy Exchange, Mar. 2006; the Killer Diller Ball (Seattle), Dec. 2005; the Emerald City Blues Festival (Seattle), Oct. 2005; Swing Out Northwest (near Seattle), Dec. 2002, Dec. 2004, and Dec. 2006; the All-Balboa Weekend (Cleveland), May 2003; the Detroit Lindy Exchange, May 2003; and the Toronto Lindy Exchange, Oct. 2002.
The following photos are by Jeremy Stell-Smith. Please give him photographer credit if you use them. Click on the images for high-res versions.
