Dance and Swing

For Ron Alan, swing has long been the thing.

Though the singer and bandleader first worked as a pro in rock bands when he was just 15, he was exposed to swing music as well as great pop standards when he was even younger. His parents were amateur musicians and played records of those genres.

“It was so uplifting,” said Alan. “It was music designed to make people have a good time.”

In 1995, Alan took his feeling for thumping rhythms and evergreen melodies to heart and formed the Swing Kings, a nine-piece horns-rhythm-singer outfit that zestfully delivers both originals and tunes made famous by Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan and others. The band plays the Moonlight in Sherman Oaks tonight.

Alan said being involved with swing is a joy because it so easily stimulates an audience. “The room starts jumping with it, people having a good time, and that feeds the band,” said the vocalist, who cites Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles among his influences. “You get energy back and it circulates, building until the room is ripping.”

At the Moonlight, Alan said, the Swing Kings will head gradually toward that fever pitch.

“Our first set is not a dinner set, but it’s a little more subdued,” said Alan, dressed to the nines in working attire--a loud purple double-breasted suit, matching two-tone shoes, wild ‘40s-style tie and a white fedora with a purple band.

“The second set, we come out of the gate smoking, swinging. That’s when the show actually begins. The third set, we’re pumped even more. The people enjoy it, they tell me, and we do, too.”

Alan, a native of San Antonio who moved to Los Angeles when he was 10 and now lives in the Hollywood Hills, has recorded two albums with the Swing Kings on his own Casino label--he gives away CDs during his shows to fans who correctly name tunes--and he’s getting ready to record a third. The band delivers some great charts, including stocks by such noted writers as Frank Mantooth and hand-crafted originals by Bruce Lofgren.

Though Alan said his show is for dancers and nondancers alike, the emphasis is on the former. At the Moonlight, there’s a pre-show gratis lesson taught by Damon Donnely. “He can take 30 to 40 people who don’t dance and get them all dancing,” said Moonlight owner Lenetta Kidd.

The dancers, including the beginners, in turn inspire Alan and his colleagues.

“It’s great for people to learn to dance and then practice steps to the band,” he said. “It makes the whole experience more fun. I’ve seen people come who don’t know how to dance. They’re self-conscious. Then I see them two months later, and they’re out there having a ball. They can’t get enough.”

Apparently, neither can Ron Alan.

* Ron Alan and the Swing Kings play tonight, 8 p.m. (dance lesson at 7 p.m.), at the Moonlight, 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. No cover, $25 food or drink minimum. (818) 788-2000.

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Young Man With a Horn: Ahead of his time, Buddy Childers was just a lad when he landed the lead chair in Stan Kenton’s trumpet section in 1942. Then he went on to play that high, hot seat in great bands led by Benny Carter, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman and Toshiko Akiyoshi. These days, Childers can still hit the sky-high notes, but he likes to play mellow stuff, too. Hear his dandy big band, with many of his own arrangements, on Tuesday, also at the Moonlight. (Shows 8 and 10 p.m., no cover, $25 food or drink minimum.)

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Miles on His Mind: First-rate trumpeter Sal Marquez reveres Miles Davis. He plays the kind of lyrical lines Miles did; he often uses the glow-sounding Harmon mute that his idol did; and he even titled his debut GRP album “One for Dewey,” after Davis’ middle name. But Marquez isn’t just a clone. No, he’s a dedicated, swinging jazzman with plenty of his own to say. Catch him Friday, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., at Chadney’s (3000 W. Olive St., Burbank; no cover, one-drink minimum per show; (818) 843-5333).