Hi everybody,
It's been a looooong time coming but the Jive Aces brand new album,
"Recipe For Rhythm " is finally here on 8th December! It will be available from all good music outlets
such as HMV, iTunes, Amazon amongst many others. You can also directly pre-order the CD from the Jive Aces, contact sales@jiveaces.com for info.

The new album was produced by three-time Grammy award winning producer Emanule Ruffinengo and features a whole host of guests including legendary jazz pianist Chick Corea; Oscar nominated composer and jazz trumpeter Mark Isham; British trad-jazz legend Acker Bilk; daughter of two of the Jive Aces' heroes, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, Toni Elizabeth Prima; Steve Lucky and Carmen Getit from the Rhumba Bums; Long time guitarist with John Barry and the man who created the James Bond
theme guitar sound, Vic Flick; Steel guitar wizard from California's Lucky Stars Jeremy Wakefield and more!

The songs featured are a combination of classic favourites and brand new original tunes, several of which have become live favourites.

Check out our 8-minute "Making Of" video, photos from the studio, the music video for the song "Fever" featuring dancers Darren and Lana from Strictly Dance Fever with choreography by Ryan Francois, audio samples from several tracks and even a free MP3 download of the first track on the album, "Aces Shuffle" at www.jiveaces.com/recipe.

Sildajazz '08, Haugesund, Norway

Another year, another Sildajazz and this year was the busiest and most successful so far. With a record number of performances with record attendanc that took us from the usual nightly "Byscenen" (which means "City Stage" in Norwegian) gig to the half-time show at Haugesund FC stadium to the late-night jam sessions with the great fish soup to the live national and regional radio and TV broadcasts, it was quite exhausting for 4 days work!

Toni Elizabeth Prima and Keely Smith were along for the ride too. Tony Socci, winner of "The Youngest Looking Trumpet Player Of The Year Award" from Birmingham even flew over on a days notice to jam along.

It was great to see Jackson Sloane and the lads fro Oo Bop Sh'Bam over for the first time and we also got a chance to catch up with George and the Roaring 40s as well as Harry Connolly and his Jazz Friends.

Herbie Hancock and Curtis Stigers headlined the festival this year. Check out the photos below and see you all next year.

Rehearsing with Kenny...

Tomorrow afternoon, we'll be rehearsing with  Kenny Ball and his son Keith for Summertime Swing on the 3rd August.

We'll be in the company of a legend! Hope you've all got your tickets (if not go to www.jiveaces.com or cal 01342 300 075 quick!)

After that on Wednesday we fly to Florida for a few days of sun, don't worry, we'll bring some back with us.

Off to the US tomorrow!

Well it's Dunton Park tonight and then off "bright" and early to Heathrow. Our list of US gigs can, as always, be found at www.jiveaces.com/gig_guide.
We've also recently been adding stuff to Facebook too. Alex and Ian both have profiles and you can join the Jive Aces group at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5905502023

Or even become a "fan" at the Jive Aces "page" at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Jive-Aces/18718694107
Cheers, Alex

The Derry Jazz Festival (9 gigs in 4 days!)

BLOG

27/04/08
Our last Big Jive gig of the season and it was a sell-out in Glasgow at the Grand Ol' Opry. A big thanks to Raymond and Nicki from Rock till you drop. See you all at the Edinburgh Fringe in August.

28//04/08
A quick sail over the Irish sea on the Way to Derry and we stopped off in Belfast for the night to enjoy an indian and have a rare night off... Or so we thought! As we were tucking in to our various curries we spotted top jazz trumpeter and BBC radio show host Linley Hamilton walking into the bar opposite with an arm full of instruments. We ran across the road to find a local jam session and Linley wouldn't let us leave without joining in with the guys so we got up and jammed a few.

29/04/08
One more gig to fit in on the way to Derry at Ceroc Northern Ireland's newest venue. We had record numbers and the NI Cerocers are definitely not afraid to give any tempo a bash, even Fish Fingers, Vince's notoriously speedy show piece!

30/04/08
We left for Derry a day earlier than normal for our sixth appearance what has become our favourite jazz festival. After a photo-shoot for the Derry News we headed straight back to Belfast for a quick appearance on Ulster Radio's George Jones show. Then it was back to Derry to take advantage of an early night before the madness of the festival started.

01/04/08
The first day of the Derry Jazz and Big Band Festival went off to a flying start with a performance at Foyleview school for children from 10 schools from all around the city. This went down a big hit with all the kids learning a Charleston routine from Grazia and Vince directing all to be a human drum kit! Then it was off to Da Vinci's Hotel for the opening concert with the Extraordinaires.

02/05/08
The afternoon was at the Foyleside shopping center , up on the second floor with a great view of the river. Despite being a shopping center at lunchtime we did the full yellow suited show and everyone had a great time, even the security guards and one cleaning lady who did a great dance with her trolley to " ragmop" !

The night time was at the new bar at Rafters. Great dancing from GI Jive. When we played " Oh Marie" the first chosen " Marie " ran into the looI guess she was a little shy! So Ian had to hastlly

03/05/08
Saturday turned out to be the busiest day of any Derry festival so far. Firstly we did our yearly spot at the Strand Bar in the cellar hosted by Mark Patterson from BBC Radio Foyle. Packed is an understatement, you could barely breathe, let a lone move in there and the atmosphere was great. It was great to see so many young faces able to come along to enjoy the festival.

Then after a very quick bite to eat it was round the corner to the millenium Forum for a short guest spot with local young swinger, Martin John.

Half an hour later it was back in the van and off the the Gweedore Bar. a tiny place but enough atmosphere for several planets! it was so packed that there was as many people outside watching through the window as inside. Unfortunately the view was somewhat hampered by the steamed up windows!

04/05/08
Alas the last day of the Derry Jazz Festival has come again. our annual Red Cross charity fundraiser went down a treat at Harry's in Donnegal. Then it was back to Da Vincis' for a double header with King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys. The night ended with both bands and George from the Roaring 40's on stage for a huge jammed rendition of Louis Prima's "Jump, Jjve and Wail".

Looking forward to next year already!

A lot to catch up on!

Oh mon deux! We haven't updated the blog for ages! What's happened? Loads of great stuff, so much we didn't have time. Well that's our excuse anyway and we're sticking to it...

Where have we been? Gosh, don't know where to start.

We were just in the US again. Washington DC and then LA. So I'll start there...

DC was great as usual. The burgeoning swing scene is kept rolling mainly by Tom and Debra and their team; gottaswing.com.
We played at the beautiful Spanish Ballroom in Glen Echo park in Maryland - one of the biggest original art deco ballrooms. Then we were at the Carlisle club, a new venture for gottaswing. Its a very nice supper club where you can dine and dance and even dress up for the occasion and it was sold out with standing room only.

Then we hit LA. The night we flew in we didn't have a gig so we took advantage of this rather unique opportunity and actually went to another gig to watch someone else perform for a change. We headed on down to Safari Sam's on Sunset Boulevard for a three band Western Swing extravaganza. Marty Smith and his Moonyhams, the Lucky Stars (featuring our mate Jeremy Wakefield - genius of the steel guitar - who is on our new album "Recipe for Rhythm") and the Hot Club of Cow Town. I have wanted to see them since we got their album a few years back. The Lucky Stars are great - one of the most original sounding bands I have heard and nearly all their own material too. Hot Club are just high energy (which of course we like) virtuoso hillbilly, western swing meets Django Reinheart and Stephen Grappelli. A fantastic and unique blend.

For our first actual gig in California this time we played at a new venue for us in Thousand Oaks. There were some great dancers, many from Moorpark College, and when we hit 'em with Sing, Sing, Sing they hit the floor for a great jam up. Then we played at Rusty's in Playa Del Ray by the beach and had the obligatory Fat Burger - which by the way is in our contract. Fat Burger are the best burgers, they're cooked to order and fresh and have the best music on their juke box! They have also been "converting vegetarians since 1952", apparently. Then it was back to Pasadena for the PBDA (Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association) which was extremely well attended with the parking lot (that's the car park for us British chaps) taking the excess as people alternated dancing and getting some air and refreshment.

Our favourite thing about the trip is that Toni Elizabeth Prima (who is also on the new album), brought her mum, the legendary Keely Smith, to see us - twice! And Keely is so nice. We got on really well and she came to visit us and hang out at the studio while we were recording. For those who don't know, Keely Smith and Louis Prima you had better check out youtube...and remember King Louis in the Jungle Book.

Keely is still singing and sounds great. She was in LA performing on the Grammy Awards. It was the 50th anniversary of the Grammies and she and Louis won one of the first Grammies in '58 for "That Old Black Magic" so she was on the show singing the winning song with Kid Rock and presenting one of the awards.

While in Hollywood we were in the Mad Hatter studio again recording three new songs for the next album. I know the latest one hasn't been released yet but one has to think into the future you know. (By the way "Recipe for Rhythm" is done and will be out soon - its amazing how long it takes to get an album into the market after you've finished it...exasperating eh?)

Anyway the album we have started working is gonna be fun. Its a little different and inspired by 1930s and '40s pulp fiction. You know, like the sort of style that inspired films like Indiana Jones and the Mummy - good action and adventure; loads of sci fi, pirates and cowboys etc...

Yes, there is a pirate song and our first "country" song, "Branded Outlaw". If anyone out there has any ideas of good old adventure fiction stories please let us know - or old pulp styled films or series etc. Also let us know if you like re-enacting (dressing up) as pirates, cowboys, WWII pilots etc for when we do a music video.

It was another great trip to the States and good to see all our friends - we'll miss you, and the weather, until we se you again in May. Till we meet for another great American milk shake, Cheers!

Oh and Hayley says "hello" (explanation; as I am sitting in Costa Coffee {which to any Americans is like Starbucks but with coffee} in Stevenage after a Say No to Drugs gig, Hayley, young and talented singer, double bassist and dancer, has been reading my ramblings and added to it, as you can see here - copy and paste it because one day she will probably be very well known and you can have one of her first pieces of writing..).

10/12/07

OK this has got to be one of the coolest things ever to happen! Today we got to meet one of our all-time heroes, the legend that is Keely Smith.
Toni Elizabeth, daughter of Keely and Louis Prima has become a good friend of the Jive Aces over the past few years and is even featured as a guest on our new album. She has been attempting to bring Mum along to a show for ages and today she came. Keely loved the show and even told us it was the best show she had seen since Louis! You can't get a better compliment, I mean we are talking about someone who is not only a great artist herself but has seen and worked with EVERYBODY including duets with Frank.