Jen Hodge All Stars - All's Fair in Love and Jazz (2018)

Bassist/vocalist Jen Hodge takes you back to the era of “hot jazz” a la small group swing/vaudeville on this two stepping stomper with Chris Davis/tp, Connor Stewart/ts-cl, Josh Roberts/g, Marti Elias/dr and guest vocalists. Stewart’s licorice stick is warm and slithery on the cozy “Dardanella” while Stewart plunges his horn along with Hodge on an incandescent “If I Could Be With You…” while she sounds playful with Elias’ New Orleans beat on “Sothern Lover.” A fun male chorus joins with Arnt Arntzen for a dreamy “Smoke Rings” and the Roberts’ strings bounce like Jill St. John with Stewart’s tenor sighs and Hodge snaps the bass during “The Swamp Bucket Challenge.” While the music could be dismissed as nostalgia, the feel is delivered with a joy that is needed in this present era of angst and victimization. Hodge teaches lessons from the past to help today’s Millennials lighten up a bit.~ By George W. Harris