I don’t profess to be a connoisseur of jazz. Far from it. So why
\nshould I even attempt to review
\nHot<\/i> by the Squirrel Nut Zippers? Well, I’ll tell ya. It’s
\nbecause I love the album and millions of fans love the album and a
\nlarge portion of them don’t know a stitch about jazz either!<\/p>\n
There is a magical allure to SNZ: A group of twentysomethings
\nfrom various local alternative bands thrown together in a huge
\nfarmhouse in North Carolina and later emerging with a Prohibition
\nEra Jazz sound so authentic you’d think that they’d tripped in a
\nTime Machine.<\/p>\n
When
\nHot<\/i> came out in 1996, it joined the crowd of retro swing
\nbands which had their young audience hoppin’ and boppin’ to their
\ngrandparents’ music. Bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Cherry
\nPoppin’ Daddies tapped into the Swing Revival and helped accelerate
\nit’s ascent. These acts were fun and lively, but there was always
\nthe air of novelty about them.
\nHot<\/i>, on the other hand, emanates sounds that are meatier and
\na bit more authentic.<\/p>\n
What Squirrel Nut Zippers are dishing up is a jazz style made
\npopular around the 1920’s and 1930’s. Known as Hot Jazz, it has its
\norigins in New Orleans. Someone did their homework because this
\nalbum simply effervesces with that vintage jazz sound.
\nHot<\/i>, with its low key production, has an intimate feeling.
\nIt almost sounds live without the distraction of crowd noise.<\/p>\n
The album highlight is undoubtably “Hell”. It is impossible to
\nsit still during this calypso spiced song. With its attack of fiery
\nhorns and just plain wicked xylophone playing, this song was a
\nrefreshing delight on the airwaves in ’97.<\/p>\n
Vocalist Katherine Whalen gives it all she’s got on “Put A Lid
\nOn It”. And she lays it on sweet and subtle in the enchanting
\n“Meant To Be”. There are parts of “Prince Nez”, however, where she
\nseems to work her voice to the breaking point. But it’s still a
\ngreat vintage duet.<\/p>\n
There are some mean swingin’ instrumentals that could get the
\ndance floor hoppin’ at any venue, especially the steaming “Memphis
\nExorcism”. This is certainly one batch of talented musicians who do
\ncomplete justice to hot jazz with every note offered. Whalen’s
\nbanjo picking is remarkable since she is relatively a newcomer to
\nthe instrument. The horns (Tom Maxwell, Ken Mosher and Stacy Guess)
\nhave the tight yet lackadaisical air of a veteran jazz band. Chris
\nPhillips drumming goes from subtle to absolutely primal. James
\nMathus (guitar, piano) and Maxwell share vocal duties and do a
\nsplendid job.<\/p>\n
You don’t have to be a jazz genius to appreciate this gem of an
\nalbum. You might even be tempted to go further and seek out the
\noriginal musicians of the hot jazz era. Just let the Squirrel Nut
\nZippers lead the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":25502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6381],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-36708","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-squirrel-nut-zippers","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36708"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36708"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}