“eight belongs to one”

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Jazz.

In the 1920’s the word was a synonym for “sex”.  As dapper gents and otherwise lady-like ladies threw caution to the wind and bathtub gin down their throats, the sounds of this burgeoning style of music made them gyrate lewdly in speakeasies and night clubs.  No wonder, then, that the word was quickly adopted as the name for the bawdy beats and bluesy swagger.

In the 1930’s and 1940’s, jazz was the sound of the strip clubs too.  Many ensembles considered the dancer and her bumps to be part of the rhythm section.  At least the good ones did.  The improvisational nature that the dance lent to the music injected jazz with even more sexiness (and sexuality).

From this time, all the way through the big band era (what L’amourchestra considers the hey day of jazz) parents worried that the music would lead to the destruction of America.  It didn’t.

But as those “kids” grew up, jazz got old.  The Beats tried to revive it but ended up in a psychadelic haze of unrestrained experiment and meandering bebop.  So much so, that by the 1980’s jazz was for the cardigan/cosby crowd, taught in conservatories and listened to by the pious and the pithy.

But just like my first jazz teacher always said, “eight belongs to one”.  The history belongs to the future and vice versa.  If jazz hadn’t cleaned itself up it might never have made it this far.  And if it hadn’t made it this far, L’amourchestra might not have a place in the history of the future.

So we acknowledge it all, but prefer when it was dirty…sleazy…dangerous.

And by putting our stamp on it today, with modern textures and with a performance philosophy that includes some of the hottest burlesque dancers of our day, we hope to bring new audiences into the appreciation of this filthy art form.