with Swingology

Jay Ungar & Molly Mason have assembled their all-time favorite musicians into a band called Swingology. They play everything from Stephen Foster to Fats Waller, from fiddle tunes to blues, from Celtic to Cajun, from Leadbelly to Hank Williams plus Jay & Molly's classic originals like "Ashokan Farewell" and "The Lovers' Waltz."

Jay & Molly have long been known for performing a wide range of music with remarkable fidelity to each style and idiom. Joined by Swingology, they get to flesh out each tune to the full as the group morphs from a swing band to a blues band, a Cajun band to a Celtic band, a country band to a Civil War era dance orchestra—you name it, they can pull it off with skill and gusto!

Swingology is a direct outgrowth of Jay & Molly's twenty plus years of Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Workshops in the New York's Catskill Mountains. The guiding concept at Ashokan is that fiddle music is dance music. Jay & Molly have loved exploring this connection with their favorite musicians and Swingology is the result. Each member is remarkably versatile and fun to make music with. They thoroughly enjoy the wide range of music that they've mastered together.

Harry Aceto is a bassist with the rare ability to play the right line, the perfect groove for wide variety of music play by Swingology. In other words, he not only knows what to play and has the chops and knowledge to play it, but he knows what to leave out, so as not to merge all idioms into one watered down amalgam.

Peter Davis is a multi-intrumentalist extraordinaire who is a joy to hear playing clarinet, sax, piano, banjo (5-string and tenor), mandolin, guitar and whistle. And he's a great singer to boot.

Peter Ecklund plays cornet with such impeccable taste, such a remarkable range of technical abilities and musical knowledge that he has become indispensible in every idiom that the band explores. Having immersed himself in 1920s—40s jazz, his years with the David Bromberg Band (where he and Jay met), the Greg Allman Band and Vince Giordano's Nighthawks have broadened Peter's pallet immensely.

Ruth Ungar, Jay's daughter, essentially grew up at the Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Workshops, where she was immersed each summer in the sounds of American dance music of every stripe. She brings her show stopping vocal skills to Swingology, as well as her fiddle, ukulele and guitar.

Drummers Sam Zucchini and Michael Merenda have been taking turns as Swingology's drummer. Sam, a member of upstate New York's Zucchini Brothers, has performed and recorded with dance bands of every stripe and is the house drummer on Jay & Molly's public radio show, "Dancing On The Air." Michael, a member of the The Mammals, has performed and recorded with Ska bands, Rock bands and recently jumped into traditional American music with both feet, quickly mastering the intricacies of acoustic dance band percussion and the old-time banjo as well.