Johnny Frigo, Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden,
Michael Moore: Hot Club of 52nd Street
Chesky JD271 CD
| Musical Performance |
   |
| Recording Quality |
|
| Overall Enjoyment |
|
 If you think they don't make recordings like they used
to, you have to grab a copy of this one. It's true! They don't make 'em like they used to
-- Hot Club of 52nd Street is better.
It sounds fabulous. Recorded in 96kHz/24-bit digital, it's
possibly the best-recorded jazz disc I've heard in years -- it has depth, air a-plenty,
and a crisp articulation that plumps you down in front of the bandstand in A.C. Pianocraft
Recital Hall.
And the band it puts in your listening room is a killer.
Bucky Pizzarelli plays an archtop with fire and the sensitive touch of a master. Violinist
Johnny Frigo matches Pizzarelli’s fire with plenty of his own -- and a dry, plangent
tone that floats his melodic inventions like a kite riding the summer thermals. Howard
Alden solos so gorgeously that you'll be hard-pressed to determine which of the two
guitarists is your favorite (answer: it's whichever one is playing at any
particular moment). And then there's Michael Moore on bass, who keeps the drive going
while the other guys are trading chops.
Here’s the best part: Those four musicians aren't
fighting for solo time -- they've melded into a tight, hot, cohesive band.
And did I mention that they're a band that can seriously swing?
As the album's title implies, the group pays homage to the
Django Reinhardt/Stephane Grapelli Quintet of the Hot Club of France. But while the
contemporary group has the same two guitars-violin-bass makeup of the classic ensemble, Hot
Club of 52nd Street doesn't slavishly mimic its forebear, it salutes it, most notably
in an incandescent performance of "I've Got Rhythm." But these musicians are
capable of asserting their own personalities into the framework.
This is happy music. It has a wide range of color and mood,
but the musicians are obviously having a ball on stage (and so, obviously, is their
audience). You can't help but tap your toes and grin in amazement as they take chorus
after chorus.
Nowhere is this more evident than on the rousing Gershwin
brothers’ "Strike Up the Band," where each soloist does his best to cut the
preceding player's effort. Rather than come off as self-indulgent, the piece turns
triumphant as Johnny Frigo follows a blazing guitar run with an incendiary flurry of
notes, followed by a grand coda. It sounds spontaneous -- and it couldn't have been
improved if the band had been given another 50 takes.
In fact, that is one of the charms of this live record --
it has the energy of nine perfect first takes. We have no way of knowing if all of these
songs were captured perfectly in one go, but they all sound as fresh and exciting
as if they were.
In fact, if I have any complaints about this disc, it's
that I wasn't there in the audience on the night it was recorded. Man, what a night that
must have been. Oh well, you can't have it all.
But you can have this disc -- and that's a pretty
spectacular consolation prize. I may not have been there that night, but thanks to Hot
Club of 52nd Street, I can enjoy that night any time I want to.
You can, too. Repeat when necessary.
It will probably be necessary a lot.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
|
