Chaise Lounge - The Lock And The Key (2017)

With a sound that captures all the elegance, exuberance and flamboyance of the swinging ‘60s, Chaise Lounge delivers music that is high on style and sophistication. This Washington DC based ensemble of six accomplished musicians performs a groovy hybrid of pop-influenced jazz and swing that seems to both embody another era and belong to the present moment. Members playfully describe the group’s style as “ music that sounds like it was recorded at Capitol Recording Studios in 1962”, “early stereo” or “ perhaps lounge with a capital ‘L”.

Composed of some of the top jazz musicians in the Washington DC area, the group met in 1998 at a recording session hosted by film composer Charlie Barnett. Their musical chemistry was instantaneous. Together they achieve an almost orchestral sound by combining bass, drums, trombone, electric guitar and sax while vocalist Marilyn Older gives voice to the band’s urbane, story-like lyrics, Her whispery voice sparkles against the band’s red-hot flights and seamless harmonic twists. The sextet’s brilliantly rearranged pop tunes and original compositions have a theatrical, near-cinematic quality. Their covers run the gamut from iconic standards like “That Old Black Magic” and “Girl Talk” to the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down The House”. Their lush and vibrant originals are teasingly playful, charming audiences with intelligently written lyrics that are full of sensitivity and humor. Chaise Lounge plays a glamorous soundtrack to a dazzlingly re-imagined ‘60s that we wish existed.