Shake your feet aplenty: Zonky Jazz Band
you can dance if you want to
In 2019, just before The Bartlett closed down, and the owners shifted their operations to the Lucky You Lounge, Hot Club of Spokane took a long look in the mirror and wondered if all the musical experimenting and evolving had maybe… gone too far? Not really. We just realized that the moniker “Hot Club of Spokane” was confusing some folks, especially anyone who knew anything about the Hot Club of France. It was time for a re-brand and a re-focus, and a new band, too.
About that same time, Spokane's swing dance scene was really taking off, especially with new leadership in town provided by Cody and Christy Kerr. The Kerrs provided some much needed critiques and suggestions for Hot Club of Spokane to serve the dance community musically, and those discussions gave rise to a new project, The Zonky Jazz Band.
Zonky is built almost entirely with swing dancers in mind, from the tempos to the song lengths to the repertoire (yes, we still play… kinda fast?). Our first show was the last Inland Empire Shuffle, a local dance festival that happened for a few years every spring, and it so happened to take place at the same site as our Think Swing Jazz Festival - CenterStage, or what's now known as the Montvale Event Center.
As part of the Hot Club of Spokane nonprofit, Zonky is our dance-driven band, built to help grow the swing dancing community in Spokane and around the region. But that doesn't mean we leave the “Spokane” mission behind. Our debut album celebrates our hometown hero Mildred Bailey, and all 14 tracks were picked from Mildred's more dance-focused repertoire, especially tunes from her time with the Red Norvo Orchestra in the mid-to-late-1930s.
Zonky also carries all of the influences that Hot Club of Spokane (the band) picked up along the way - the horn section, the drummer in particular, and Hot Club of Spokane returned, more or less, to its roots in the music of Django Reinhardt (with some tasty exceptions).
Our very first performance as Zonky Jazz Band ended like this - at Inland Empire Shuffle - March 2019.
In our “Swingin' A Dream” video, recorded during the pandemic, we combine loads of mission elements in one place with vintage swing music, swing dancing, and again, a commitment to our local jazz icons, this time, Mildred Bailey. As a special treat, Mildred's niece, Julia Rinker, joins in from her California home. Dayan Kai, too, on clarinet. And Joel and Jackie Plys cutting the rug.
A beautiful night at the Lucky You Lounge in 2019, and a fantastic crowd of dancers!