So these guys, the Hot Club of New Orleans, have challenged themselves with an awesome task: take the swing era music of Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, and Stephan Grappelli (among others), retain the classic groove, avoid sounding like a museum piece and then infuse it with their own modern sensibilities. Well, the first thing is these guys can all swing like mad. And they’re not a bunch of stuffy old “moldy figs.” But they do love this music-you can tell in their passionately delivered solos and the sly vocal readings . And, with two guitar players and an upright bass, they deliver the goods you’d expect from one of the swingingest drummers in New Orleans-but in keeping with the classic format of this music, there is actually no drummer…

The album starts with “Slow Boat to China,” featuring David Mooney’s crisp and earnest vocal reading of this swing classic. “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön” has a very cool (even funky!) intro riff leading into the melody. Then there’s a great slow drag clarinet/violin duo, followed by a Matt Rhody solo played as if Stephan Grappelli wanted to take your head right off before you knew what hit you. Delicious guitar (I’m assuming Mooney’s playing here, but Todd if it’s you, feel free to whomp me upside the head the next time you see me) and a slippery Peter Harris bass solo follow. “Lucky So & So” features vocals by Todd Duke shot through with his wry, sly sense of humor, and his bluesy guitar backed by signature Hot Club ensemble riffs slow swinging like mad. “Minor Swing,” the Reinhardt/Grappelli classic, shows off Matt Rhody’s inspired fiddle zooming through the stratosphere, followed by more swinging solos on guitar and some great bass slapping by Adam Booker. The mood shifts dramatically with “Azalea.” The Hot Club’s reading of this tune evokes the sultry atmosphere of an idealized New Orleans, existing perhaps only in the black & white movies of the 1940s. This cut exudes a breathy, sensual melodicism embodied by Chris Kohl’s clarinet and emphasized by understated comping and the subtle orchestrations behind Mooney’s vocals. “Stutter Step,” while retaining the jazz swing these guys do so well, shifts the group into a different gear. Rather than the Ellingtonia previously essayed by the group, this original number penned by Mooney seems to be formed from the Carla Bley/Gary Burton/John Scofield school of harmony and a post-modern sense of swing. But rather than Scofield’s gritty post-bop bark, the cut delivers Mooney’s crisp, clean (slightly electric) acoustic guitar tones and Chris Kohl’s serpentine, glistening clarinet. Matt Rhody’s devil-may-care singing shines on “Old Devil Moon.” With Matt Perrine on upright bass, the tune is a double-matted piece of great fun that simply snaps with a great Kohl solo, popping clarinet high notes like champagne bubbles. “Black and Tan Fantasy” begins with a beautifully articulated solo acoustic guitar intro leading into some great stop-time ensemble work and Chris’s lugubrious clarinet, dripping with sly sensuality. The album’s final piece, “Natchitoches Noisette,” another original (this time by Kohl), is an uptempo swing ready to burn down the lime house (stopping occasionally for a short slow swirl around the dance floor) that stars Kohl and Rhody atop a driving rhythm. Once again, the Hot Club of New Orleans has succeeded in melding their modern sensibility to grooving swing-era classics and creating something uniquely their own.