A key member of some of the Bay Area’s most exciting improvisational ensembles, pianist/accordionist Rob Reich is known for keeping company
with adventurous players eager to explore new sonic territory. Looking to meet the needs of the Bay Area’s thriving swing dance scene, he launched Swings Left, a band that puts its own spin on the classic swing era sound of the late 1930s. Starting with a book of hits by Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Artie Shaw, the sextet has evolved into a vehicle for Reich’s beautiful crafted originals that combine cool sonorities with hot rhythms. Guitarist Craig Ventresco, a master of ragtime and early jazz idioms, keeps Swings Left chugging no matter what detours the horn players take.