LARRY ELGART has revitalized swing music into a new decade.  To date his HOOKED ON SWING album of standard swing tunes with a contemporary dance beat has sold 5 million copies worldwide, making it the largest selling swing or big band record in history! A tribute to a musical career that spans over 50 years and 55 albums.

Elgart's diverse musical talent emerged at an early age.  By the time he was 17, he was on the road playing in the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman's first herd, Bobby Byrne, .lack Benny, Joe Marsala, Charlie Spivak and Red Norvo. In 1952, Larry and his brother formed their own orchestra and their their first Columbia recording, SOPHISTICATED SWING, they were an overnight sensation. The band began touring universities and ballrooms and soon became known as America's #1 college prom favorite.

The unique style of the band was then, as it is today, built around Larry’s graceful sound and stylistic phrasing, known as the “Elgart Touch.”  He shapes the contours of an arrangement to fit his alto sax, making it his own distinctive interpretation.  There is no mistaking Larry’s musical slamp on whatever the orchestra plays.  Further addition to the orchestra's identity is the piano-less rhythm section, the non-muted rich brass, emphasized by the bass trombone and the use of a percussionist augmenting the drums.

The ELGART TOUCH has distinguished itself through the years. An album by that name was one of the five best selling albums in the first ten years of the "long playing record.”  In 1959, NEW SOUNDS AT THE ROOSVELT won the coveted Grammy in the first year of the NARAS awards.  This album was been reissued in  1995 under title LET MY PEOPLE SWING.

The phenomenal success of the HOOKED ON SWING series (three volumes) not only enables Larry to continue to satisfy his dancing fans, but he now delights listening audiences at major concert halls in the United States and Canada with his "Hooked On Swing" show.  His saxophone virtuousity can also be heard in guest appearances with major symphony orchestras, namely the Pililly Pops and the Tulsa Pops with Peter Nero, the West Virginia Pops with Maestro Rachel Worby, and the Boca Raton Pops with Crafton Beck.

In the 1900’s, Larry Elgart expanded his horizons to Australia. The Australians warmly welcomed him in concerts at the Vicioria Arts Centre in Melbourne and the magnificent Sydney Opera House.  In 1992, Larry was invited back to Melbourne as the only American artist to perform for the Prime Minister's Olympic Ball which raised over one million dollars to send Australian athletes to the Barcelona Olympic Games.

In 1995 the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California, ended it's 20-year reign as a jewel in the crown of American cultural centers. It was an honor and a privilege for Larry Elgart and his orchestra to be chosen to perform its historical, final concert. In 1998, Larry released 55^th album, his first live in-concert album, entitled LIVE FROM THE AMBASSADOR.

As Larry explains his lifelong passion, "I've always been hooked on swing.  It is a valid musical form and, as such, endures...always taking on new shapes and colors, whereby new generations can relate to it.  It is the kind of music people react to - actively and positively.  It is a happy form of music.  The music of the Swing Era was was fun then and still is now!.

Larry Elgart feels that his crowning achievement has been to reach so many generations with his music. It has earned him the title, “The Ambassador of Swing.”