Mitch Woods' Big Easy Boogie

Swing Time is proud to present the legendary Mitch Woods -- boogie-woogie piano man extraordinaire -- who's traveling all the way from California to appear live at the Gulfport Casino!  Mitch Woods, along with New Orleans musicians from his new project, Big Easy Boogie, will kick the Gulfport Casino Ballroom into high gear, as they jump, boogie, and rock the place like you've never seen!  This must-see event will feature original New Orleans swingin' rhythm & blues dance grooves in the style of Fats Domino, and bringing it to us will be some of New Orleans' finest musicians, including master guitarist, Jimmy Moliere, from the original Fats Domino band!  This incredible event will also feature the swingin' high-energy originals of Mitch Woods & his Rocket 88's... music that'll make you want to jump up and dance!

Pianist/vocalist Mitch Woods brings together an unsung inner circle of Rock'n'Roll royalty in his latest project, Mitch Woods' Big Easy Boogie.  Featuring some of New Orleans' legends including original members of the Fats Domino band, the sound is true to the roots New Orleans R&B.  It is vintage rock'n'roll and boogie inspired by New Orleans piano greats, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, and Little Richard, performed in Mitch's joyous entertaining style that makes you feel like you're not only in the audience but on stage with him having a ball!  Whether it's a pounding piano pumper, or a late-night blues with cascading piano and sultry sax, Mitch Woods' Big Easy Boogie will delight all lovers of New Orleans music!

After spending more than twenty-five years soaking up the New Orleans sound and performing with many of the Crescent City's musical elite, Mitch has finally realized his dream of recording his latest project with the founding fathers of New Orleans R&B.  Woods reunited the surviving members of Fats Domino's original band, played a live show in New Orleans during the Jazz & Heritage Festival, took them into the studio, and filmed the whole shebang.  The results are plenty of good-time, rock'n'roll boogie, played by the originators of the style, fronted by one of their star pupils.  The CD/DVD, Big Easy Boogie, is available worldwide on Club 88 Records, and has been garnering airplay on all the major satellite & cable radio stations.

Mitch Woods & his Rocket 88's are the torch bearers of a great American musical heritage.  Taking their inspiration from the great jump n' boogie outfits of the late 1940's and early 1950's, they breathe fresh life into the swingin' music that gave birth to rock n' roll. Mitch takes his cue from his jumpin' n' jivin', shoutin' n' honkin', pumpin' n' poundin' predecessors -- Louis Jordan, Cab Calloway, Wynonie Harris, Amos Milburn, Roy Milton, and Louis Prima -- just to name a few.

Mitch's piledrivin' piano licks and energetic stage persona combine with the Rocket 88's swingin' instrumentals, playful vocals, thumpin' bass, rockin' guitar, and jungle drums to send every crowd into dancing delight.  With a musical repertoire that combines numerous Mitch Woods originals with some favorites from the past, the band has forged their own brand of music they call "rock-a-boogie", due to its combination of R&B, jump, swing, boogie woogie, and early rock n' roll.  Call it Nouveau Swing or what you will, Mitch Woods & his Rocket 88's distill the essence of these classic American musical genres, make the music their own, and deliver it to the present!

Since the band's formation in 1980, Mitch Woods & his Rocket 88's have recorded seven critically acclaimed CDs, and headlined some of the most prestigious music festivals in the world, including the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Amsterdam Blues Festival, the Belgium Rhythm & Blues Festival, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival. The band has appeared in concert with the likes of James Brown, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Neville Brothers, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

In the studio, Mitch Woods has recorded with music greats that include John Lee Hooker, Ronnie Earl, John Hammond, the Roomful of Blues horns, James Cotton, and Lee Allen, to name a few.  In many cases, Mitch Woods has actually brought the music legends together for his own recording projects. Mitch Woods has become a modern master of the eighty-eights, with wry vocals and the thunderous chops that inspired legendary jump-bluesman Joe Liggins to tag him as "Mr. Rocket 88".

While Mitch Woods finds himself in the middle of the current swing revival, no one can accuse him of hopping on the bandwagon, as he has been pumping the piano for over 25 years in the SF Bay area.  "For years, I would always have swing dancers come down to my show.  We always swung," says Woods. "What people are calling the swing movement, it's really jump blues, and that's what we've been playing since we started, and that's why we fit in the swing movement.  The best dance music is jump blues, period."

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