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The Bat Swings! logo appears with trombone player wearing a cape

The Flying Horse Big Band

The Bat Swings!

Directed by Jeff Rupert, the Flying Horse Big Band presents ’60s superhero songs with new arrangements by Michael Philip Mossman, Harry Allen, Mark Taylor and more.

The Bat Swings! features music from the classic Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. The album includes dynamic tracks by Nelson Riddle and Neal Hefti, two giants of big band jazz in the 1960s. Riddle worked with Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra, and Hefti’s credits include music for Count Basie’s The Atomic Mr. Basie.

The Bat Swings! CD packaging

Sax player in a cape appears with comic-style burst stating, 'Classic 60s Superhero Songs'

Tune-In!

Trumpet player answers a red phone next to HONK! text

Own The Bat Swings!

All proceeds benefit the Jazz Studies program at the University of Central Florida

Purchase CD

Available on disc with dynamic packaging and 16-page booklet from UCF’s Performing Arts Box Office and Amazon.

Purchase Digital

The album is available for sale as a digital download from a variety of retailers.

Streaming

Listen to The Bat Swings! on your favorite streaming platform.

Cartoon illustration of jazz players climbing a building with a rope while the director leans out a window

Climbing the Charts

The Bat Swings! is the fifth album from The Flying Horse Big Band, composed of students in UCF’s jazz studies program

Their previous album, Big Man on Campus (2017), hit the top three national jazz airplay charts, reaching No. 7 on the North American College and Community Radio chart, No. 9 on the Roots Music Report, and No. 36 on JazzWeek.

Comic-style burst with quote: The Bat Swings! captures the cool/geek syzygy of the Batman series and revitalizes the swing of '60s superheroes

Director Jeff Rupert

Jeff Rupert is an accomplished composer, saxophonist, record producer, and recording artist who has been a featured soloist with artists including Sam Rivers, Mel Tormé, Maynard Ferguson, and Benny Carter.

He is currently the leader of The Jazz Professors, director of The Flying Horse Big Band, and conductor of the Florida Symphony Youth Jazz Orchestra. Rupert is a Yamaha artist and founder of Flying Horse Records.

Director Jeff Rupert wears a utility belt next to comic-style rendering of the word JAZZ!

Caped Collaborators

Arrangers

Michael Philip Mossman

Trumpet player, Grammy-nominated arranger, and Professor and Director of Jazz Studies at the Aaron Copeland School of Music, Queens College

Harry Allen

Acclaimed tenor saxophonist and recording artist

Mark Taylor

Arranger for Stan Kenton, The U.S. Army Blues, and Hal Leonard

Special Guest Performers

Marty Morell

Versatile percussionist and former member of the Bill Evans Trio

Richard Drexler

Producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and performer with the Jeff Berlin Trio

Jeff Moore

Acclaimed percussionist and international clinician, lecturer, and soloist

Comic-style burst with quote by Harry Allen: That’s some seriously fun music and one seriously good band!

Trumpet player in Batman mask and cape appears with BEBOP! text