Swing 46: The Last Swingin Supper Club

“Swing 46: The Last Swingin Supper Club” by Jay “Jay Kay” Kolucki

"It's a love letter about a special club, community, and music of a bygone time." - Jay Kay

Thank you so much for taking the time to watch this film which has been more than two plus decades in the making! Swing 46: The Last Swingin Supper Club, started out as a five-minute documentary for my “Documentary Workshop'' at Montclair State University (2021) with celebrated documentarian and Professor Beth B.

For a very long time, I have loved jazz and swing music. I grew up in a household that was very radio based, so I discovered so much of the music on the AM dials including jazz, big band, rock & roll, and swing. Around 1998/1999, I began working at Sam Goody being introduced to a range of music including the retro swing sounds that had surfaced on the east coast. I would play bands like the Royal Crown Revue, The Mighty Blue Kings, The Blues Jumpers, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the complication Swing This Baby!, & more in the store, exposing myself and others to the retro swing sound. It became my listening mainstay in a store filled with racks and racks of every genre of music you could think of.

I stayed a fan and collector of that music and culture for decades through physical media/CDs/vinyl. As a collector and fan, I developed a retro swing radio show "The Evolution of Swing" on WNTI 91.9FM (NJ) & later on HGRNJ.org/Soundcloud podcast with the “Swingin From Coast2Coast.” I loved the musical movement which had affected so many elements of society in such a short time including cultural, social, personal, and musical.

Why the movement did not stay at the top for as long as I had hoped, it still has that grassroots feel almost three decades later with the energy, passion, power, spirit, and fun of this movement! This was a time, impact, and influence where retro or neo swing bands/performers were influenced by vintage culture, musicians, style, society that was re-envisioned from the classic standards and styles of music (ska, rockabilly, jazz, big band, blues, roots rock, etc.) as well as created new standards for a generation that would jump, jive, dance, and swing. It was inclusive, the music had something for everyone no matter who you were, came from, or what you looked like. Even with those detractors or those who believed it was a fad, it was still one of the most impactful movements in modern music history.

Living on the east coast, I followed the movement the best I could as it developed across the U.S. and was rooted in California. Why I wish I had done more and been more visible during that time, it greatly influenced me over the next two plus decades including style, writing, radio, photography, and filmmaking.

Unlike the era of retro swing where many found a place in the world learning, connecting, and dancing in places like Swing 46 in NYC, we were all inside during covid as I went back to school at Montclair State mostly virtually from 2020-2022. I was accepted into the university's filmmaking program and took a documentary development workshop. Working through each stage of the class with renowned documentarian and Professor Beth B, I found myself going back to my roots of that music and my experiences to create a few mini documentaries during the semester including one on celebrated musician Dave Post.

I combined my love of interviewing (a combined 2000 interviews on my radio show/podcast/written) and film with the subject of long-time bassist and Swingadelic bandleader Dave Post. As I spoke to him and filmed the entire experience alone, I began to develop the idea of my final student documentary about a crucial microcosm of that movement in the New York City based “Swing 46” which was struggling to get through the pandemic like so many other places. I realized this was my chance during a rough time for many, to shine some light onto a place that meant so much for so many and the overall impact of the retro swing movement which had impacted so many including myself.

I was blessed to be allowed by club owner John Akhtar to film and interview certain key subjects at “Swing 46” during their virtual telethon in 2021. I had only visited “Swing 46” a few times over the last two plus decades when I was in NYC. As I filmed the BTS performances, interviews, and b-roll helping the main filming crew with additional footage, I got to spend many hours on restaurant row in Manhattan, and within the club. The doc evolved from a picture of survival during an unfathomable time to more of a love letter about the club's impact overall, origins, people involved, and a variety of elements that had impacted the club including the overall progression of the movement.

Over the next couple of years, it evolved once I added additional subject interviews, footage, and music to a larger first project (17 minutes) focusing on more than the club, but as a “sandwich doc” with “Swing 46” during the golden years outside and the elements of the retro swing era as the middle showing the foundation it had been built on, a snapshot of a five-year period.
The documentary features a variety of interviews conducted and shot over the last two plus years, music, images, performances from Swing 46, and vintage footage (all through permission, waiver, license, and/or fair use) that blend all the elements for this perfect storm to happen, the humanity of it, and how it connected to “Swing 46.” The featured interview subjects are figures that are important to that era and as well as connected to the New York City area and to “Swing 46’s” history as well as its story.

Figures like “Swing 46” Founder/Owner John Akhtar and the General Manager Michelle Collier. Writers/Critics like Kenneth Partridge (Hell of a Hat) and Ralph G. Giordano (Social Dancing in America). Dancers like Jeff Griffith (ATOMIC Magazine), Nathalie Gomes Adams (Hop, Swing, & Jump), Paolo "Pasta" Lanna (Lindyland), and Lenny Lounge (Leopard Lounge). Also, historian and bandleader George Gee. Musicians like Michael Hashim (Widespread Depression Orchestra), Jen Jones (The Camaros), Ingrid Lucia (The Flying Neutrinos), Nick Palumbo (The Flipped Fedoras), Dave Post (Swingadelic), Dirk Shumaker (Big Bad Voodoo Daddy), and Ron Sunshine (Full Swing).

A challenging, but really wonderful project to say the least, the story has many layers to it. The production has been primarily a one-person crew with elements like covid, student restrictions early on, one crashed hard drive, and budget (no funding, nearly all out of my pocket) playing a role. As you watch this version, most of the interviews are shot on an iPhone 11 Pro, 12, and 14 Pro with some interviews section shot on a Panasonic Lumix GH4 4k. The visual resources and footage were amassed by me with almost no support or help from the larger swing dance community. Most of the sound was recorded on a Zoom H6 at locations we could get across the country including in NY, NJ, PA, and TN. Thank you to John for letting us use “Swing 46” for some of the shoots at no cost.

Ultimately, this micro documentary will play festivals and be a proof of concept for a larger series about the whole retro swing movement from 1995-2002 when it was at its birth, resurgence, downfall, and impact afterwards. “Swing 46: The Last Swingin Supper Club,” is a snapshot of the club, the New York City side of the retro swing movement, and the larger retro swing movement.

Thank you for watching, considering, hopefully selecting and supporting my student short documentary. It has been a blast to make and now share shining a brighter light on a movement that was infectious, passionate, and more than a fad… Keep swingin!

P.S. - If selected, I will work to make sure that I can attend the screening! Ty for your time!!!