| Swing, it would seem, no longer holds
sway over the popular conscience. At least, not the way it did at around this time two
years or so ago. But for true purveyors of that culture, mainstream recognition was never
the point anyway. As such, Jimmy Sutton’s Four Charms continue to swing, while the
rest of the world searches for another hip retro movement to latch on to.
Most of the Charms – the current house band at The
Green Mill Cocktail Lounge - have been members of, or at least played with, The Green
Mill’s old house band, The Mighty Blue Kings. But while the peripatetic Kings rode a
smooth, broad sound to the top of the Midwestern swing scene, the Charms have managed to
carve a niche for themselves based on more Spartan sensibilities.
Which is not to say the quartet are not true to their
roots. Yes, Sutton’s bass is more prominent in the mix than it was with the Kings,
but it still trundles in that eminently danceable way. Similarly, Joel Patterson’s
liquid guitar is freer to noodle and interact with Jonathan Doyle’s saxophone on
account of the smallish quartet configuration.
The result is raw, circuitous sound that sometimes (like on
the Sutton/Patterson duet "Get Jive Jack") sounds rather more like Bill Haley
and the Comets than 1920’s-era swing music. But none in the usual mix of hipsters and
tourist-types at the Green Mill seemed to care very much Tuesday, September 7. As long as
they were able to dance to it.
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