Steve Shaiman: Swingtime Big Band bandleader, artistic director and genre ambassador extraordinaire

Our guest is Steve Shaiman, bandleader, saxophonist & artistic director of the Swingtime Big Band. Mr. Shaiman's critically acclaimed 20 piece swing big band is celebrating 50 years of performances with concert audiences, and ballroom dancers alike, with authentic recreations of timeless swing music with such iconic bandleaders as Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey & Duke Ellington.

Regularly engaged by Lincoln Center for its renowned Midsummer Night Swing festival, Swingtime Big Band was featured in five performances on that grand stage from 1999 through 2011. For its 2007 Lincoln Center show, the band had the distinction of being singled out as the only swing band featured in Time Out New York's select highlights of that season's Midsummer Night Swing. Other prestigious venues at which band members have performed include: Carnegie Hall, David Geffen (Avery Fisher) Hall, Radio City Music Hall, New York State Theatre, the Plaza Hotel, the Waldorf Astoria, Town Hall, The Friar's Club, Tavern on the Green and the Rainbow Room.

Steve Shaiman's Swingtime Big Band performance delivers an inspiring "get up and dance" driving orchestra which is powerfully energizing, along with superb musicianship. But what audiences also get is Steve's incredible historical introductions of each song, where he shares the music's context, background of the composer and significance of each piece performed.

We listen to a portion of "'S Wonderful" by George Gershwin and "Corner Pocket" by Count Basie.