Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks - Cotton Club Revisited (2012)

Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks once again establish a musical time warp, across 13 songs that carry listeners back to the summer of 1932, by way (mostly) of the music of Ted Koehler and Harold Arlen, with additional contributions by Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway. The playing is inventive and impeccable, and there's not a false note anywhere. From the opening "Cotton Club Stomp" through "Stormy Weather," "I've Got the World on a String," "Harlem Holiday," "Minnie the Moocher," "Raisin' the Rent," etc. (with John Leifert providing vocals where needed), the effect is seductive if not downright intoxicating, and even veteran listeners will be thrown by the obvious new vintage of the recordings themselves. ~ Bruce Eder