Each of Michael Gamble’s swing projects follows a unique creative path, but the endpoint is always the same: a celebration of 1930’s and 1940’s jazz-based popular dance music. With origins ranging from the so-called impressionists of classic music and early 20th century opera, to turn-of-the-last century Creole New Orleans to swing-era Black Harlem, the jazz of the time was some of the most powerful and interesting art ever made. And where it intersected with dancers, it became ingeniously compelling popular music.

The Rhythm Serenaders Orchestra is a 13pc big band specializing in reproducing the pulse of the “Great American Rhythm Section” of Count Basie’s band, while taking care to explore the brilliant arranging of Black innovators like Edgar Sampson (wrote for Chick Webb) and Mary Lou Williams (wrote for Andy Kirk), Elton Hill (wrote for Gene Krupa) among other legends of the time. Though the RSO has not yet recorded a full length album, here’s a recording we did of Elton Hill’s “Ball of Fire” for the California Balboa Classic in 2021.

The Rhythm Serenaders Sextet is a love letter to the small group arrangers and bandleaders, especially of late 30’s and very early 40’s. For decades of jazz history leading up to this moment there had been a constant push for bigger and louder bands, and this time represented a very special “swinging of the pendulum” back the other direction, where artists became especially deft with subtlety, dynamics, texture interplay with just a few instruments, occasional “cool” playing — and this is also where solos and improvising, and the importance of the individual started to take center stage. The RS6 take joy in reproducing (as well as riffing on) the recordings of the small groups of Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Artie Shaw, as well as the many “side projects” associated with those musicians. Plenty of recordings of this format can be found on our first two studio albums.

Album #1 - Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders

Album #2 - Get Rhythm In Your Feet

The Rhythm Serenaders Octet pays tribute to probably the least-discussed configuration in the genre: the “medium-sized” band. Our version has a full 4pc rhythm section plus a 4-horn frontline of trumpet, trombone, and two reed players. Vocals are prominently featured (and you can hear a lot of Laura Windley’s amazing work on these recordings!) in part because this band pays a lot of attention to the recordings of the Teddy Wilson “Orchestra”, an ever-shifting studio format that often featured The who’s-who of the day’s leading performers, and especially built around the vocal performances of Billie Holiday. This group also serves as a vehicle to showcase Gamble’s own arrangements which are crafted fairly faithfully in the Wilson studio style. Hear plenty of the RS8 on those two recordings listed above.

Michael Gamble and His Very Swinging Friends is his most recent project, cerated in the time of the pandemic as a way to bring together many of his favorite musicians discovered “on the road” for some joyous remote collaborating. There are 5 total EP’s using dozens of musicians from all over the world, and make use of every format from 6pm to 8pc to the full 13pc RSO. Here Gamble also makes his mixing and editing debut, as these are made entirely in-house.

Enjoy the whole collection here!:
Michael Gamble 2020 Remote Recordings

SWING EVENTS where some version of the Rhythm Serenaders have headlined include, but are not limited to (in alphabetical order): A Midsummer Night’s Swing, All Balboa Weekend, Atlanta Varsity Showdown, Austin Lindy Exchange, Bal Week NYC, Bal-ast Off, Beantown Camp, Blue Ridge Bal, Boston Tea Party, Camp Hollywood, Camp Jitterbug, Classic City Swing, DC Lindy Exchange, Dirty Dozen Weekend, Empire City Swing, Fog City Stomp, Greenville Lindy Exchange, International Lindy Hop Championships, Jammin’ on the James, Jeju Swing Camp, Knoxville Lindy Exchange, Lindy 500, Ljubljana International Swing Academy, Nevermore Jazz Ball, Orlando Lindy Exchange, Pirate Swing, Rhythm Is Our Business, San Diego Jazz Fest, School of Hard Knox, Slow Dance Soiree, Slow Dance Soiree, Swing Into Spring, Swing Out New Hampshire, and The Great Southwest Lindyfest,.

Michael Gamble has been at work within the vintage jazz and swing dance community for about 20 years. Along with his wife and partner Jaya Dorf, he founded Lindy Focus in Asheville, NC, one of the largest events on the world scene. His band Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders is one of the most active and dedicated dance bands working today, having at some point headlined all of the major US festivals. He is a lifelong devotee to swing music, and in 2016 led a worldwide crowdfunding campaign to make the lost work of Savoy Ballroom bandleader Chick Webb once again accessible to contemporary swing orchestras (and later ran comparable campaigns dedicated to the work of Jimmie Lunceford and Lionel Hampton). He received a bachelor's degree in music in 2006, and also during that time traveled the country teaching Lindy Hop in over 35 US cities. Michael currently resides in Asheville, North Carolina, with Jaya, his partner in all things, their young son, dogs and goats, and continues his lifelong study of the art forms he loves.