This was the premier night of one of LA’s newest swing spots (well on Saturdays it is) “The Arcadia Ballroom”. Although the Ballroom has existed for many years and is part of the history of the Santa Monica pier, ‘Swinging Saturdays’ was launched with LA’s own "Jumpin' Jimes". This seven piece swing outfit hosted two sets of their infectious Rockabilly-swing hybrid for a comfortably filled room. The Arcadia hosts free swing dance lessons prior to the shows, so don’t let a little lack of dance experience hold you back.

The "Jumpin' Jimes" opened their set with ‘Hello There’ (which is a cover of Cheap Trick’s old school opening jam) and although hesitant, the crowd slowly meandered onto the floor and started to dance the place up. Being a musical revival of sorts, the new swing scene boasts followers of all ages and this was representative of tonight’s crowd. The venue is all ages so it was nice to see a mix of teenagers and older folks mixing it up.

As far as the scene was concerned, most dancers were not ‘swing’ dancing, but just enjoying the music and doing their own thing. There were a couple of really impressive dancers that caught all attention for a few songs and this just added to the atmosphere. Speaking of atmosphere, the Arcadia is a cozy, relatively small venue (a couple hundred maximum) with candle lit tables, a balcony and smaller dance floor. The bar is fairly new and didn’t seem stocked with a wide selection, but had the basics and they also offered some sandwich choices for the hungry. Combined with its location on the Santa Monica pier however - the atmosphere is light and accessible.

The Jumpin’ Jimes provided ample danceable songs, sampling heavily from their self-titled debut. Particularly strong was their version of ‘PowerHouse’ set upon a red-light filtered stage (which is an instrumental some might recognize as background music to any assembly-line production scene in most Looney Tunes cartoons). The Jimes also seemed to put some extra heart into their originals like “Swing Shift” which the crowd ate up as eagerly as the more recognizable covers.

One of the misses this night was the Jimes’ second set opener of "The Ramones" classic ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ - which is too bad, because I had the biggest grin and enjoyed the bravery the Jimes exhibit when choosing the songs they cover (the crowd didn’t quite get it though). But next the Jimes fell back into more familiar territory and the crowd was soon shakin’ up the floor.

The live "Jumpin' Jimes" experience falls somewhat into the predictable with the exception of bass player Mike Jones and guitarist Bob Smith (who are also the core writers of the band) who offer the most energy from the stage, occasionally ‘mounting’ the stand-up bass. Singer Mark Anthony Tortorici croons pretty smoothly and has some energy that comes and goes depending on the song. Some of his moves look a bit contrived and rehearsed, but he holds the focus of front man amiably. Although from what I’ve seen from his swinging peers, Tortorici falls short on the whole (in performance only though - his voice and singing style are quite impressive).

The horn section was very competent with standout Tomas Sanderson, I believe was him name (I'm not positive). Most every time he had a solo, all eyes were glued on him and sometimes even subtle applause would follow his solos. The horn section even had an occasional choreographed side step or two they'd break into. I think they could use more of that, it spices up the stage.

"Jumpin' Jimes" do what is expected of a swing band. They provide danceable, enjoyable music for folks to socialize to. And they do it well. Since the new swing style comprised of essentially spicing up music that was laid out before them, its the live show that will separate most swing bands. With some attention to performance detail, "Jumpin' Jimes" could be among the next shining stars of the swing scene.