Windy City Lindy Exchange at the Willowbrook Ballroom October 14, 2007

The Windy City Lindy Exchange returns for the ninth year at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 14, at the Willowbrook Ballroom, 8900 S. Archer Ave., Willow Springs. Musical performance will feature a special guest from Los Angeles, Carl Sonny Leyland, who will be backed by Chicago's own Joel Paterson Trio.

The Windy City Lindy Exchange features demonstrations of the Lindy Hop, a popular swing dance of the ‘20s. A complimentary Lindy Hop swing lesson will take place from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m., immediately followed by swing dancing, Lindy Hop performances and live music at 8:45 p.m.

Willowbrook Ballroom offers a 6,000 square-foot dance floor and four eight-foot video screens perfect for learning all of the swing moves.

Admission is $20 with free parking for 500 cars. Singles and couples of all ages are invited. No jeans or gym shoes please. For more information, call (708) 839-1000, or visit http://www.willowbrookballroom.com

Carl Sonny Leyland has the boogie in his bones. Hearing him play takes one back to the rent parties and lowdown back alleys of the early part of the twentieth century. As a youth in Southampton, England, Leyland became fascinated by the rhythm and sounds of boogie woogie piano. Inspired by a friend’s attempt at playing Jimmy Dorsey’s Boogie Woogie, he immersed himself in the driving sounds created by Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis, as well as more obscure and primitive pianists such as Jimmy Yancey, Cripple Clarence Lofton, Speckled Red, and Montana Taylor.

Quickly becoming adept at the instrument, he also absorbed the heart and passion of blues piano legends such as Little Brother Montgomery, Roosevelt Sykes and Otis Spann. At age 15 Leyland began performing with local favorites the Bob Pearce Blues Band, and within a few years was featured as a soloist at many European festivals, including the prestigious Les Nuits de Jazz et Boogie, held annually in Paris, France. Always interested in America, in 1988 Leyland was able to immigrate and settled in New Orleans, where he headed his own trio. After spending several years there, Leyland moved west to Southern California. He continued to push his abilities as a musician by absorbing the styles of New Orleans traditional jazz, ragtime, and swing, giving these styles his own personal interpretation. His vocal abilities have continued to grow, and he sings with conviction and deep feeling.

Leyland has appeared at many festivals in the United States, including the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, the San Diego Thanksgiving Dixieland Jazz Festival, and the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival. He has performed with a diverse group of musicians, including Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets, Big Sandy and his Fly Rite Boys, Deke Dickerson, Gremoli, George Probert, Dan Barret, Lowell Fulsom, Jerry McCain, Billy Lee Riley, Janis Martin, Johnnie Johnson, and Champion Jack Dupree.

Originated at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in 1926, the Lindy Hop became the original swing dance. Quickly sweeping the nation as the greatest dance craze the Lindy Hop took on many refined styles such as the jitterbug, west coast swing, rock’n’roll, and boogie woogie.

For nine years, The Windy City Lindy Exchange (WCLX) has brought dancers, bands, DJs and instructors from all over the world to Chicago to enjoy the local venues, food, attractions, music and dancers. WCLX has been run for the past four years by the Illinois not-for-profit organization, the Chicago Swing Music Festival NFP, whose mission it is "to preserve the heritage of the American vernacular dance forms of swing and Lindy Hop and to develop programs which promote an understanding and cultural awareness of these dance forms in particular and of swing music in general."

Chicago is the home to the original Lindy Hop Exchange, beginning nine years ago. In much the same way that the Lindy Hop swept the nation in the ‘20s, the Lindy Hop Exchange has expanded across the globe. People all over the country, sometimes the world, travel from city to city for the opportunity to experience various Lindy Hop styles and cultures. Typically, two to three Lindy Hop Exchanges take place in a month. Some avid Lindy Hop goers travel to more than 20 events throughout the year; others simply make it to one.

Official Website: http://www.willowbrookballroom.com