| SWING SHIFT is a jazz quartet that played around South Dakota’s
Black Hills in the late 90's thru about 2002. Comprised of some of the area’s hottest
players, they concentrated on an assortment of standards, be bop, Latin and mainstream
jazz. about the band:
Saxophonist Gary Bloomberg’s mellow style has come from many years
of experience playing with big bands and combos from around the nation and also reflects
his impeccable taste. In |
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| his seven decades of performing he’s gone from polka
bands in New Ulm to the Army Ground Forces Band in Panama to the east coast’s hottest
jazz clubs. He is also a world class pool player and instructor. JD Fiedler holds down the
guitar duties and displays a remarkable facility for his instrument. He pays homage to the
great pioneers of jazz electric guitar in every note he plays. JD was born and raised in
Chicago and was influenced musically right out of the chute by his father Verne, a
multi-instrumentalist and arranger for the WLS radio orchestra. JD once worked a number of
TV shows for Dick Clark Productions in Los Angeles. Chuck Thomas has long been the
area’s first call bassist. A Rapid City native he spent a few years in Chicago honing
his craft. He’s been called the hardest working musician in show business. Whether on
one of his 4 or 5 string electrics or his full sized acoustic, Chuck gets the BIG sound.
Drummer Jon Margolis gets to display the jazz licks that he developed growing up in New
York and later perfected living in Kansas City. Jon plays in a bunch of bands of all
styles and does a lot of recording as well. But this group gives him a chance to really
swing. For fun he authors the wildly informative website http://jonmargolis.com.
SWING SHIFT is a no compromise ensemble that plays a music that is seldom heard anymore,
but is still universally appreciated. WHAT’S NEW is their first CD. It was recorded
in an afternoon at Stringbean Svenson’s shack sized studio near Hermosa, SD.
Construction crews were grading the road outside and the band had to sometimes pause for
the racket to subside. What evolved was clearly some beautiful music. |
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