Omer was one of the founder members of The Dead Brothers (of whom I’ve extolled the virtues of elsewhere on I94bar). However, I listened to the disc before I learned that. If you’re one of these cats who don’t quite ‘get’ how jazz as well as blues morphed into rock (the big bands in the '30s and '40s prided themselves on how loud they were), then all I can say is… dig this, suckers.

"Swing Cremona" is that rare item, a disc you can bop, hop and jive to, as well as dance like you’re tanked on tequila. So, it ain’t quite jazz, ain’t quite folk, blues and on and on. They said that about Django Reinhardt, and they were right. They squealed about Monk being too wrong to be jazz, and being too jazz to be pop, but he was both, and ended up in the bop basket.

Omer, though.

Well, he’s a fucking jackdaw. I mean, just think. The first two songs lope out, banging on pots and pans and strumming like a 1920s shellac disc crisp and still warm outta the waffle-iron. They’re originals, and they may as well have been minted 100 years ago, but boy, they’re so fresh. "Show Me Some Love" is killer, but … sod it. Just get it.

The interesting thing to an old big band fan like me (that’s how I got into earlier jazz; I got into blues through jazz rather than r’n’r) is how jumpin’ this CD is. It swings, too. As with every genre (from ***-core to metal to folk to jazz) there are 30 ordinary pluggers to every decent band, and 30 decent bands to every brilliant band (but don’t quote me on the 30 tho, it’s probably a lot more). Pierre Omer runs his Swing Revue with an infectious precision.

There’s a few covers, but if you didn’t know they were covers, you’d just be dancing to a seamless disc. That’s how skirt-swirlingly sharp this stuff is.

"Old Man Mose" I’ve always liked, that’s a splendid rendition of ‘Lotus Blossom’, and who hasn’t heard ‘Miserlou’?

Oh. YOU lot haven’t. Well, nothing I can do about that except to emphatically advise you to pick up your rather worn plastic and get on the net and get "Swing Cremona".

Pierre Omer is the real deal and his swingin’ hepcats’ll make you dance and smile.

And, giving the headlines a cursory glance, I’d say I’d rather have Omer in charge than the current crop of money-grubbing bullies. Get the music here and harass them on Facebook here.