The Jive Aces + Emily May

The UK’s number one Jive and Swing band, The Jive Aces, came together through a shared love of American roots music: jive, swing, jazz, blues and rock ’n’ roll. When asked in interviews how they discovered and became passionate about this genre of music as teenagers in southern England, they always tell the same story: it was through the door opened by Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ’n’ Roll.
Loving Elvis’s music, they quickly discovered his influences, including blues singer Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, who wrote and recorded the song that became Elvis’s first hit record, “That’s Alright Mama”. From there, they delved further back into the rich melting pot of American music that foreshadowed the birth of rock ’n’ roll.
While their peers were dancing to disco, punk and hip hop, they were listening to early rhythm & blues, jive, hillbilly, gospel and vocal groups. Before long, they formed a band to play the music they loved, with a mission to spread the spirit of this upbeat, infectious music across the country.
So this is not, in fact, a tribute show to a single performer. Rather, it is a labour of love, as The Jive Aces return to the music of their teenage years to shine a spotlight on the sounds that are not only their own roots, but also the roots and inspiration of Elvis and the original rock ’n’ roll movement — a musical river that would go on to flow into soul and rock.
Relax and drift back to the America of the early 1950s, and soak up the sounds that inspired the King. That is, of course, if you can manage to restrain yourself from getting up and dancing!
“Absolutely Brilliant! That really put me in a good mood”
— Simon Cowell