By: Dr. Matt Warnock
Hot Club of Detroit's CD - Night Town
The Hot Club of Detroit’s album Night Town is a tour de force that is full of hard-swinging, toe-tapping arrangements of gypsy jazz standards and original compositions penned by members of the ensemble. Having won four Detroit Music Awards, Shannon Wade bass, Carl Cafagna clarinet, Evan Perri guitar, Julien Labro accordion and Paul Brady guitar, are setting their sites on the national and international scene, and Night Town is the perfect vehicle for the Hot Club of Detroit to broaden and expand their audience.
While the ensemble was originally formed to perform traditional gypsy jazz influenced music, which they are more than adept at, Night Town also showcases the ability of these five musicians to perform in other genres such as bebop and hard bop. One of the highlights of the album is the group’s arrangement of Miles Davis’ classic jazz standard “Seven Steps to Heaven.” It may seem like a bold choice of tune for a band that does not have a drummer or percussionist, but the combination of Brady’s strong rhythmic guitar work, Labro’s intricate comping patterns and the group’s tight performance of the hits during the melody section, breathes new life into this often covered tune.
The Hot Club of Detroit also takes the chance to showcase their ability to perform in the Latin and Brazilian musical styles on tunes like “Coquette”, “Night Town” and “Two Weeks”. Perri and Cafagna shine during their improvisations on these tunes, far from being “one-trick ponies” these musicians can step between several musical genres and situations with the greatest of ease. These changes in pace, from the gypsy style tunes for which the group is largely known, help prevent the album from becoming stale, which in turn, makes the swing and gypsy tunes stand out that much more because of the contrast between each song on the album.
The Hot Club of Detroit is at their very best throughout this recording, whether it be on a gypsy, bossa, tango or swing tune, the group dynamic is always present and the arrangements are extremely tight. With catchy melodies, finger-snapping grooves and hard-driving improvisations Night Town is an album of the highest quality, both musically and intellectually.
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