Kyle Reid & the Low Swinging Chariots,“Alright, Here We Go” - 405 Magazine

Kyle Reid & the Low Swinging Chariots,“Alright, Here We Go”

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Sizzling trumpet stings, the grumbly “wah-wahhhhh” of a muted trombone, baritone vocals by turns raspy and bitter, confident and sly … there’s a lot to love for fans of old-school New Orleans-style jazz on the new Kyle Reid & the Low Swinging Chariots album “Alright, Here We Go.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Sizzling trumpet stings, the grumbly “wah-wahhhhh” of a muted trombone, baritone vocals by turns raspy and bitter, confident and sly … there’s a lot to love for fans of old-school New Orleans-style jazz on the new Kyle Reid & the Low Swinging Chariots album “Alright, Here We Go.”

 The Norman-based band will get toes, fingers or both tapping within the first four bars of the Dixieland swing of “When I Was Young” – with the call-and-response between Reid’s vocals and the frolicking trumpet, plus a couple of strummy guitar breaks and a little flick of “When the Saints Go Marching In” for good measure, it’s a clear standout.

With its slower pace and instrumentation trimmed down to a plinky guitar, “Dancing” feels like a slight stumble, but the album immediately gets its momentum back with “Eileen,” a gleefully sprawling track that could practically have been lifted straight from Benny Goodman’s music stand, stomping percussion break and all.

Reid is clearly having a ball, whether intoning “They’re walkin’ me down to the hangin’ ground” on “Pride and Swing,” belting the track title of “Eileen” or snarling “Tell the engineer to go as fast as he can; run you over with your new man” from “Minor Iko” – there’s an audible grin on his face through most of the album’s first seven tracks (the last is an instrumental), and his enthusiasm is infectious.

 “Alright, Here We Go” is available online at Amazon and Spotify, with CD versions at least a couple of places in the metro – we got our office copy at The Paramount on Film Row – and is absolutely worth tracking down.