History of The Swings

The Swings vocal quartet was founded in Prague at the end of 1990.

The beginnings of the quartet are associated with the songs of the Glenn Miller Orchestra and his vocalists, The Modernaires. The repertoire of the quartet then shifted to the compositions of smaller vocal groups of the forties and fifties, especially The Mills Brothers. The first steady engagement of The Swings was in January 1994 in the Karlín Musical Theater in the swing musical My Fair Josephine (directed by O. Havelka, more than 100 encore performances).

In 1995 the quartet accepted an offer from Monitor – EMI, leading to the album Ondřej Havelka uvádí The Swings (Ondřej Havelka presents The Swings). The CD went gold in March 1999 with over 25,000 copies sold. Together with Ondřej Havelka and a newly formed orchestra, The Swings performed for over three years and shared in the recording of Mě to tady nebaví (I don’t like it here) (1997), Pocta George Gershwinovi (A Tribute to George Gershwin)(1999) and several music videos (Jingle Bells, Blue Moon, and others).

In 1999 The Swings left the Melody Makers and in 2000 Warner Music produced their first solo album, Java Jive.

Another album - Já bych si rád najal dům (Rent Party Blues) - from the quartet followed on the same label , and was re-released two years later with support from the Olympus firm.

The Swings collaborate with many leading jazz orchestras (The Czech Radio Big Band, X-Vít Fiala’s X-tet, Bohemia Big Band, Bratislava Hot Serenaders and others).