About Our Bands
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander
Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five, featuring Hilary Alexander is a septet specializing in small group swing from the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, and is one of the world’s premier swing dance bands. The Campus Five created to be the most danceable band playing swing today, while at the same time being a way to expose both dancers and listeners to some of the great yet underappreciated tunes from the swing era that are largely ignored by modern musicians.
The Campus Five was founded in 2002 by two dedicated swing dancers, and has gone on to be featured at many of the major swing dance events across the country (and beyond). The three CDs recorded by the Campus Five have become must-have favorites for swing DJs and instructors all over the world. The Campus Five’s first two albums, 2003’s “Jammin’ the Blues” and 2004’s “Crazy Rhythm,” both sold out of their initial pressings, and 2007’s “Moppin’ and Boppin’” has flown off the shelves.
The Campus Five has been featured at the following events: Camp Hollywood, the London Balboa Festival (UK), All Balboa Weekend (Cleveland), Camp Jitterbug (Seattle), DCLX (Washington DC), Honolulu Lindy Exchange, Denver Balboa Festival, Balboa Rendezvous (San Diego), the Sacramento Lindy Exchange, San Francisco Balboa Festival. Our festival, municipal and corporate clients include: Sweet and Hot Jazz Festival (Los Angeles), Orange County Classic Jazz Festival, Los Angeles Music Center, Culver City Music Festival, Ventura Lemon Fest, Ventura Music Festival, IBM, Speedo, NBC, Loyola Marymount University, and the University of Southern California.
In 2005, The Campus Five was featured on the Ellen Degeneres Show (NBC).
Click HERE to download a high-res .tif version of our publicity photo:
photo by Mytch Parks
The Jonathan Stout Orchestra, featuring Hilary Alexander
The Jonathan Stout Orchestra, featuring Hilary Alexander is a 15-piece big band specializing in the riffs and rhythms of the late 1930’s and 1940’s, and is one of the world’s premier swing dance big bands. The Orchestra was created to be the most danceable big band anywhere, while foregoing the nostalgia of obvious, sentimental material, and focusing on instead on lesser-known but equally inspiring gems.
The Orchestra was founded in 2004, when promoters demanded a full big-band version of the Campus Five. Because it was founded by two dedicated swing dancers, it was designed to be the ultimate swing dance band. And similar to the Campus Five, the Orchestra is true to the sound and rhythm of the swing-era, because Jonathan and Hilary believe that is what make real swing music so danceable in the first place.
The Orchestra has been featured at major swing dance events across the country, including the following dance and municipal events: Camp Hollywood, Midsummer Night’s Swing (Lincoln Center, NYC), Rhythmic Arts Festival (San Diego), All Balboa Weekend (Cleveland), Bal Rendezvous (San Diego), Swingin’ in the Colony (Atascadero), Sweet and Hot Jazz Festival (Los Angeles), Great Los Angeles Air Raid at Ft. Mac Arthur (Los Angeles), and the Culver City Music Festival.
The Jonathan Stout Orchestra won Best Swing Band on the Jive Junction Awards (2005).
Jonathan Stout began playing guitar in 1992 and began swing dancing in 1997. He has spent the last tenyears specializing in early acoustic and electric jazz guitar. Jonathan studied at the University of Southern California’s Studio/Jazz Guitar Program. While at USC, Jonathan majored in history, and concentrated on researching the history of Los Angeles-area jitterbugs during the 1930’s and 1940’s. As a dancer, Jonathan is proud to have learned from original masters, such as Ann Mills, Hal Takier, Freda Angela and Bart Bartolo, and to have earned first place in the National Jitterbug Championship team division with the Hollywood Hornets. Along with preserving traditional swing dancing, Jonathan has worked to preserve the sound of the original swing era, and pre-bebop jazz guitar. Jonathan specializes in the rhythm guitar style of Freddie Green, the chord melody style of Allan Reuss, the gypsy-jazz style of Django Reinhardt, and the electric guitar style of Charlie Christian. In additional to playing with his own bands, Jonathan has played guitar with Mora’s Modern Rhythmists, Jim Ziegler’s Swingsations, Josh Collazo and his Feetwarmers, the Bonebrake Syncopators, Solomon Douglas, Bill Elliot, and Johnny Crawford. Jonathan has also played drums for Mora’s Modern Swingtet, Carl Sonny Leyland, and Stompy Jones. Jonathan has spent the last seven years working to understand what makes swing music sound and feel like swing music, and how different it is from later jazz styles. Jonathan has also intensively studied the intersection of swing music and swing dancing. He has taught Musicality and Music History classes for dancers at events such as Camp Hollywood, Camp Jitterbug, and All Balboa Weekend. Jonathan plays Eastman Guitars. About Us
Jonathan Stout
(Photo Credit: Lisa Johnson)Hilary Alexander
(Photo Credit: Lisa Johnson)Hilary Alexander, singer, dancer, entrepreneur, and vintage lifestyle enthusiast, is the daughter of a jazz pianist and a "sambista", a Brazilian samba dancer. She was raised with a great appreciation for jazz, especially jazz vocalists such as Anita O'Day, Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Mae Morse, and Blossom Dearie. She grew up in show business in New York, taking vocal, dance & acting lessons and attending the Professional Children's School along with many child stars. Her love of vintage clothes and jazz led her to learn to swing dance shortly after moving to LA in the mid-1990's, and in 1998 she began producing a yearly swing "camp" (a weekend event combining swing lessons & dances), Camp Hollywood, which is her current full-time job. In 1999 she began singing a song every year with the Camp's Saturday night regular band, The Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra, and was encouraged to sing on a more regular basis. Since founding the Campus Five, Hilary has also been a guest with Mora's Modern Rhythmists.