Based in Moscow, Idaho, the Hog Heaven Big Band is a 16-piece big band providing swing dance music to
the Palouse. The band plays at a variety of venues including dances, private parties, weddings, swing dance clubs, fund
raisers, retirement homes, and county fairs. A typical set list includes tunes that range from the '30s to the present
with an emphasis on the big band era of the '40s. The band was started over
35 years ago by Bill Roberts, retired music educator and computer specialist. It is a "community swing orchestra";
originally they played only for their own entertainment, then began to perform for the community at venues like the Moscow
Farmer's Market. "Hog Heaven" is an old popular name for the Palouse.
Today they play for monthly dances at the Dahmen Barn, occasional events like Moscow Art Walk and charity balls, private parties, and for dance groups like the Swing Devils.
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| Playing for a monthly swing dance at the Dahmen Barn in Uniontown, WA |
Big Band Swing is jazz for dancing. It reached its height in the 1930's and 1940's under band
leaders like Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, and dozens of others. It's powerful, exciting, vigorous dance music
that propelled the "Lindy Hopper" style swing dancers. Swing has periodic revivals, notably in the 1990's, with
the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Hog Heaven Big Band plays the whole gamut. It is arranged music, orchestrated
in parts for the different instruments, based on complex jazz chords. Much more complex than popular rock or country, which
basically marches in place, swing has pronounced dynamics (loud and soft sections), punctuated by occasional instrumental
solos. It evolves, building to a climax that really gets the dancers moving.
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