Ron Smith (bass), Brooke Sudlow (vocals), Greg Webster (drums) and Tom Giampa (guitar) of A Swingin’ Affair perform at Silver Creek Country Club in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, August 2014.
By Carly Szabo
Brooke Sudlow spends his days as many do, working a 9-to-5 job with a business called Credit2B, where he is a sales representative.
But by night—and on the weekends—Sudlow leads a slightly less ordinary life as the lead singer of a Frank Sinatra tribute band called A Swingin’ Affair. The band is an accomplished quintet well versed in the swinging Sinatra style, but it is perhaps Sudlow’s crooning that is essential to the vibe.
The band frequently plays private parties, nightclubs and restaurants throughout the area. The age of lounge acts may be mostly a thing of the past, but the members of A Swingin’ Affair have long longed to recapture that bygone era, and today they are finally living that dream.
Hopewell born and raised, Sudlow attended Hopewell Valley Central High School, graduating in 1988. He went on to attend Salisbury University in Maryland, where he majored in English and communications.
While he enjoyed his studies at Salisbury, a deeper passion brewed within him, for music. While he was still a student, he joined up with guitarist Scott Berger and drummer Pat Doron to create a rock band called U.S. Whiskey, which recorded two CDs in the 1990’s.
His passion for rock music persisted even after U.S. Whiskey called it quits. He went on to join a band called the Streamliners, which was popular in Bucks County.
Eventually, his time with the Streamliners was up as well. At the time, Sudlow had no way of knowing that his affinity for 1930’s and 1940’s style music would eventually take him to yet another level.
Sudlow, 45, grew up in a house where the music of Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw would often be heard. Unlike many of his generation, he was well versed in the popular music of the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.
Sudlow grew up in a musical household. His father, Richard Sudlow, used to sing in barbershop quartets, and even got the chance to sing with The Princeton Garden Statesmen, a prestigious barbershop chorus in the area.
His sister, Jean Sudlow, was also an accomplished singer and violinist in the school choir and orchestra. These musical influences are among many that led Sudlow to find his voice and strengthen it to the tune of Sinatra.
“I came back full circle doing the Frank Sinatra music,” Sudlow said. “I think you always kind of go back to where you came from in the end.”
As the new century approached, Sudlow realized that he had amassed an impressive collection of Sinatra records from various shops and flea markets. He found himself listening to more jazz and swing as he got older. One day, he said, he just started buying a lot of jazz records.
He even got the chance to own his own jazz record shop for a time. It was called The Record Rack, and it was set up at the Golden Nugget Flea Market in Lambertville. He hadn’t necessarily expected to get into the business of buying and selling records.
But the owner of the shop was an old friend, and when he decided that he wanted to get out of the business, Sudlow and Doron, the old drummer from U.S. Whiskey, took over.
Spending time in The Record Rack, Sudlow said, took his interest in jazz to a whole new level. At the same time, he found that his friends were also beginning to appreciate the sweet sounds of Sinatra, of classic hits from before they were born. Soon he began formulating an idea to leave rock behind for good and start up a new kind of act.
One thing that was holding him back was a lack of connections. Having spent years in rock bands, he knew musicians who knew how to playa in a certain style. He didn’t know the sort of musicians who could bring swinging music back to life.
So a decade passed before the opportunity to launch a new musical career presented itself. That opportunity came in the shape of Tom Giampa, a guitarist Sudlow met at a party full of musicians.
Giampa approached Sudlow at the party and said, “Hey listen, I want to start a lounge act.” Sudlow couldn’t believe his ears.
“You’ve got yourself a singer right here,” he told Giampa. “I’ve been wanting to do the same thing!”
Within a few months, he and Giampa had put together the band now known as A Swingin’ Affair. Joining them were bassist Ron Smith and drummer Chris Kotchy. Kotchy has since left the group, but the band only went a few weeks without a drummer before they found Greg Webster, a student of renowned jazz drummer Buddy Deppenschmidt.
Deppenschmidt played in the early 60’s on the album Jazz Samba with Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd. He was one of the first drummers to play bossa nova music in the United States. Deppenschmidt is still alive and well in Bucks County today, where his legendary drumming style carries on.
His influence on Webster is what makes the drummer such a treat to listen to, Sudlow said, and it is in great part the reason why the band needed only one rehearsal with the drummer to decide that he was the person they had been searching for to take the place of Kotchy.
Smith, the standup bassist of the band, also provides rehearsal space in his home in Pennsylvania. He also provides the band with transportation of their equipment to different gigs around the area.
“I give him a lot of credit,” Sudlow said. Without him, the band would be without a place to practice and without a means to play shows, he said.
The band has also recently added a fifth member, Scott Edgell, who plays an array of instruments, making him the “jack of all trades” of the band.
But what is A Swingin’ Affair truly like? Where can they be found? What is the atmosphere of their concerts? Sudlow admits the group is bringing something very different from what modern partygoers might be used to, in terms of not just style, but also presentation. Often they find themselves prepping their audiences a little for what’s about to follow.
“We always are very concerned about sound and how loud we are. We don’t want to be too loud. But we do have a little bit of a show that happens,” Sudlow said. “I talk a little bit about Frank Sinatra’s music in between songs, and people do get up and dance to the music.”
Sudlow makes it clear that he is not a Frank Sinatra impersonator, using “The Chairman” as inspiration for his style. He isn’t out to be a novelty or to be mistaken for the real thing.
“Only Frank Sinatra was Frank Sinatra,” he said.
However, the band does bring its audience back to a simpler time, dressing in suits at performances and bringing a relaxed vibe to their listeners. While they may show some restraint in smaller venues such as restaurants and private parties, they are not afraid to let loose and get the audience going at nightclubs, weddings and even college parties. Often, they are responding to the audience’s level of enthusiasm for their style of performance.
Sudlow recalled one private casino-themed college party where he was surprised at how into it the kids got. At least 150 people were on hand for the occasion, but the band members had prepared themselves for what they thought would be a quick and dry performance.
“The reaction was just tremendous,” he said. “They started dancing from the beginning and they were having a ball and it was just great. I couldn’t believe how much these kids connected to the music.”
And A Swingin’ Affair has had that type of success wherever they have played. In an age where autotune and heavy basslines are inescapable, some may feel that it’s refreshing to be taken back to those lounge club days where the music was swingin’ and your feet never stopped moving.
Sudlow and the other band members’ are preparing to play their next public show on May 30 at The Wing Man Bar and Grill in East Greenville, Pennsylvania. To keep up with the band’s schedule, visit their Facebook page (search for A Swingin’ Affair).
A Swingin’ Affair also plays private parties and weddings. On the Web: keyofswing.com.
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