Due to its name and the fact that its core comprises a swing-based string band, listeners might be excused if they believe that
the Hot Club of San Francisco
closely resembles
Django Reinhardt
's band of the 1930s,
the Quintet of the Hot Club of France
. Actually
Django
is the main inspiration for guitarist
Paul Mehling
and his quartet (comprising three acoustic guitars and a bass) but the results are far from derivative. Of the dozen tracks on the fine release from
Clarity
,
the Hot Club
accompanies three excellent singers on two songs apiece:
Maria Muldaur
(who sounds quite enthusiastic on
"Nature Boy"
and
"Don't Be That Way"
),
Dan Hicks
(famous for leading his
Hot Licks
) and veteran blues veteran
Barbara Dane
. In addition, flutist
Matt Eakle
(who is on the more modern material), soprano saxophonist
Richard Hadlock
, violinist
Ray Landsberg
, and tenor saxophonist
Mike Sizer
(on the
Muldaur
numbers) augment
on some of the vocals and all of the instrumentals other than
Reinhardt
's
"Improvisation No. 2"
which is taken as an unaccompanied solo by
. Although based in the swing era, there are some departures (such as a rendition of
Jimmy Rowles
' haunting ballad
"The Peacocks"
and the flute playing). It might have been preferable to hear the basic quartet featured by itself on a couple of numbers, but this is a rather impressive debut nonetheless. ~ Scott Yanow