Music News from New York and Beyond


Brian Setzer Orchestra raids my librarian's record collection

Posted on August 20, 2007

briansetzer.jpgBrian Setzer single-handedly brought back swing music in the late ‘90s with his energetic album The Dirty Boogie. The fad introduced a generation of teeny boppers to the cheerful sounds of 1940’s big band, but slowly fizzled out after a few months.

Setzer is taking another stab at recreating the swing fad almost ten years later, but is taking a unique, experimental approach. His forthcoming album, Wolfgang's Big Night Out, is a concept project in which Setzer uses an 18-membered band to create swing-styled remakes of classical music arrangements. The quasi-covers feature original lyrics over familiar melodies - - quite a unique way to introduce younger generations to Mozart, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky.

Listen to some of the upbeat remakes on his myspace page, or download the first single "Take the Fifth" here. A full track listing is below.



  • Take The 5th (An Adaptation Of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5")
  • One More Night With You (An Adaptation Of Grieg's "Hall Of The Mountain King")
  • Wolfgang's Big Night Out (An Adaptation Of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik")
  • Honey Man (An Adaptation Of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight Of The Bumblebee")
  • Yes We Can Can (An Adaptation Of Offenbach's "The Can Can")
  • Swingin' Willie (An Adaptation Of Rossini's "William Tell Overture")
  • Sabre Dance (Khachaturian)
  • For Lisa (An Adaptation Of Beethoven's "Fur Elise")
  • Here Comes The Broad (An Adaptation Of Wagner's "Lohengrin" And Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream")
  • 1812 Overdrive (An Adaptation Of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture")
  • Some River In Europe (An Adaptation Of Strauss' "Blue Danube")
  • Take A Break Guys (An Adaptation Of "God Rest Ye Merrry Gentlemen")

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