The Gift That Kept On Giving

“So woowooooh,
I wanna be just like you...
I wanna walk like you,
Talk like you do...
You see it's true,
An ape like me,
Can learn to be human too, yeah”

--from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's second album, This Beautiful Life, adopted from the Jungle Book Movie Soundtrack song.


In an effort to declutter our houses and avoid “trinket” types of gifts, Jen wanted to "do something" for my birthday. She bought me dinner at our favorite local steak restaurant, Central Station, and she took me to see the band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

They are great and it is difficult not to really just want to stand up and dance to their music. I was into Big Bad Voodoo Daddy big time a few years ago when the “swing” music made a commercial comeback in such groups as The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, and of course Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. This was always the most traditional of those swing era retro bands. I have truly not followed them too much since, but I enjoyed their older CDs of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and This Wonderful Life, the latter containing my two favorite cuts I Wanna Be Like You and Big Time Operator.



The band came to the Bloomington Performing Arts Center as part of the Center’s Christmas show extravaganza. I was not even aware that the band had a Christmas CD out, but they do and I ordered it from Amazon after we saw them play.

The night was filled with fun and great swing songs such as King of Swing, Jump With My Baby, Go Daddy-O, I Wanna Be Like You, and the hit from the movie Swingers, You And Me And The Bottle Makes Three Tonight from the classic era albums of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. The new CD came out when I was recovering from the stroke and Jen picked it up for me, as it is their tribute to Cab Calloway songs, which Big Bad Voodoo Daddy highlighted and sprinkled throughout the concert, including a rousing version of Minnie the Moocher, complete with audience participation. The Christmas songs they performed were intriguing and entertaining as well including: Rockabilly Christmas, Is Zat You, Santa Clause, Jingle Bells Cha Cha, and my personal favorite Mr. Heat Miser/Mr. Cold Miser; a cover from the Year Without A Santa Clause Rankin and Bass Animated classic. That was purely fun.

After the show, Jen and I waited in line for the band to autograph our program, which they did. We wandered down after the show and found our way in line, fairly quickly,; timing being everything. After a ten minute and fifty patron wait, we were face-to-face with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. In the ensuing wait in line, I made conversation and chatted with band members as they signed my Program. The bassist was clearly a showman and had fun throughout the show, and I complemented his singing and his fantastic bass strummming. I talked to the trombone player about my good friend Pete, who loves jazz and once played with Sun Ra.

He seemed honestly impressed with hearing that of Pete. I clued the band members that my fiancé’ Jen had bought me the tickets as my birthday gift, and they congratulated us on our impending nuptials. The lead singer/guitarist/leader of the band, Scotty Morris was very kind after hearing of my birthday and Jen and my wedding plans and posed for a picture.

When the first one Jen took was blurry, she asked to try again, and Morris said, “for a birthday, we gotta get this right.” He was very grateful for the fans and very humble about his fame, I felt.

Last night, before heading ff to the land of nod, I went online and picked up the Christmas CD and the Save My Soul CD to round out the collection.

What I appreciated about the show, besides the great toe-tappin’ songs was the fact that Big Bad Voodoo Daddy looked and acted as if they thoroughly enjoyed performing and respected the talents of one another. They also played for over two hours and rocked out the finale, another of my personal favorites, So Long—Farewell—Goodbye.

Go out, "jump with your baby," and see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy if you have a chance. They will not disappoint. What a great birthday present.