LIVE: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, 3/19/10

The jumpin’, jivin’, swingin’ nine-piece mini-big band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy stormed into the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Friday with horns and saxes a’ wailing.

In celebration of their newest CD release, “How Big Can You Get?: The Music of Cab Calloway,” BBVD frontman Scotty Morris led his musical gang through the late and legendary band leader’s repertoire including “Calloway Boogie,” “Minnie The Moocher,” “Hey Now, Hey Now” and “Reefer Man” – we all know what that one’s about.

Dressed in period garb (vintage zoot suits, fedoras and ties), they even threw in their long-time touring staple “You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3” – culled from their soundtrack to “Swingers” – complete with some funny hi-jinx and audience laughter.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy exploded on the scene at the start of the 1990s swing revival. Like a few of their illustrious contemporaries – the Squirrel Nut Zippers and the Royal Crown Review – they had a lock on the movement by bringing their high energy and danceable grooves into clubs, casinos and concert halls across the country.

Unfortunately, there was little room to dance in the Troy Savings Band Music Hall last Friday – though every effort was made by the management to allow it in the back, the aisles and even in the lobby – it just didn’t happen. But throughout the band’s two 45-minute sets feet were a tapping and the all-age audience was dancing in their hearts! You could see it all night in their smiles and applause.

Review and photographs by Andrzej Pilarczyk