Heather Jayne and the Red Shoes are well-known to dancers in Reading – just down the road from us! Taking their inspiration from Swing, Blues, Jazz and sweet Soul, Heather and the Red Shoes know how to get you swinging out. Heather is a dancer herself and she and the band play with swing dancers in mind! They are a very talented three piece band and we are excited to welcome them to OSF and we’re sure you’ll love them too!
We are thrilled to welcome The Last Chance Ragtime Band back to the Oxford Swing Festival! The Last Chance Ragtime Band is a group dedicated to putting jazz on the dance floor. Their musical inspirations are the New Orleans Jazz Bands of Frenchman Street, and LCRB plays music especially crafted for swing dancers from greats such as Jelly Roll Morton, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, Louis Prima, Louis Armstrong and Hoagy Carmichael. They are popular with dancers all over the UK and went down a storm at OSF 2015. Welcome back chaps!
A one-woman tune-boutique, MissEllie has evolved from a spontaneous piece of hung over improvising in the corner of an emptying ballet studio at a blues festival into something of a solo-jam powerhouse, supplying hand-crafted blues, beats and/or beeps in whatever format has been asked of her.
Since her official solo debut at Fair City Blues in Dublin 2015, she’s played late night sets in Bristol, collaborated with singers Little Moaner and Catt Turney, and created musicality workshops in partnership with Megan MacDonald in Glasgow and Justin Riley in Bristol, who described her as a “newly arrived talent in the world of EDM.” This year she’s recording an EP of all of her work, and starting a monthly music and dance skill share in London – The Sunday Shake Off.
From trad classics to modern takes on old songs right the way through to entirely-new danceable nonsense, she’s as ready as a rusty juke-joint juke-box to be everyone and anyone’s cup of dance-tea. This year she’s brushed up her act a little. Expect some singing, some new songs and some special guests on top of the old standards.
Find out more about MissEllie here: tiny.cc/missellie
We are thrilled that Anders is coming back to his old stomping ground. Anders’s voice and guitar blend together in harmony to create harmonious expressive sounds that are a delight to listen and dance to.