Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - 11/24/25 - Fresno, CA - Tower Theater

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy took the stage at the Tower Theater wearing suits, and put on a professional performance, but they were anything but formal. They are a 9 piece jazz swing band from SoCal, and they ripped for 90 minutes straight. Non stop horns with high tempo rhythms and tasty accents from a piano. I closed my eyes and I was transported to another time and place, surrounded by Nick and Daisy and the rest of the West Egg crew at one of Gatsby's lavish parties with alcohol flowing and the guests dancing. Either that, or wandering around The Wasteland with a pip-boy on the wrist after escaping from political upheaval and an insane overseer inside a vault. They dressed, played, performed, and sang like they were straight out of the 1920s, 30s, 40s, or 50s. Al Capone could have walked by and it would not have seemed out of place.

The singer, Scotty Morris (who mostly played guitar but at other times traded it out for a banjo), has got a very smooth, rich voice that seemed effortless. His crooning, his suit and fedora, his dances and hand movements... all of it added to the impression that they were a time capsule from 80 to 100 years in the past.

The rest of the ensemble also had rehearsed stage antics, but it never felt mechanical. Everything they did felt organic and alive, like they were truly caught up in the moment and enjoying playing and interacting with each other on stage. They danced around each other when they weren't playing, but the dances were goofy and coordinated, intended to make the audience smile and laugh, not to impress us. One sax player hit the buttons on the trumpet while the trumpet player blew. The tenor sax/clarinetist at one point picked up a maraca and shook it with his right hand while playing his sax with his left hand. Towards the end of the show Morris lead three of the horn players around the stage in a quasi conga line while they were playing. These guys are great showmen in addition to being great musicians.

And as for the musicians, the whole band was impressive. Each song had multiple solos, and each solo was incredible. I can't overstate the quality of the musicianship on display. Just one great performance after another, an onslaught of amazing musicianship, each one riding the groove from the stand-up bass and syncopated drums to deliver fun danceable melody after fun danceable melody. When one band member was playing, the next soloists would wait to the side, like a line of planes at an airport waiting for their turn to taxi onto the runway to take flight and then lifting themselves and the audience off with a blistering solo. When the solos ended we were brought back by Morris's silky-smooth voice singing a verse or chorus, and then he was answered by the sweet vocal harmonies of the rest of the band (who also served as back-up singers when they weren't blessing us with their instruments) before they rolled right back into more solos in a seemingly never ended loop of high energy swing dance music. 

If anything, the show ended too soon. 90 minutes flew by and I could have listened and danced to them for another hour. I'd go see them again in a heartbeat and would encourage everyone else to do the same. I don't care what kind of music you like, you can't help but smile and dance and enjoy yourself at one of their shows. What a great night.