There are plenty of outfits striving to reproduce the sounds of classic jazz recordings, be they big band or small group. There are plenty writing their own complex arrangements, seeking to equal the past masters or resurrect forgotten arranging styles. And don’t get me wrong—many of them are doing a great job of it. But not many go as far as Jen Hodge in putting their own stamp on a tune, making a listener sit up and exclaim, “Oh. Now that’s interesting.”
The Canadian bandleader is a female, singing bassist—not a club with a huge membership, but one which often produces excellent jazz arrangements with tremendous attention to rhythm. (I’m thinking of Oregon’s Esperanza Spalding, and England’s own Nicola Farnon, or historically Thelma Terry.) Hodge also brings a bassist’s ear to this album, justifying the versatility of style her Bandcamp profile boasts of.
Her arrangements feel sparse but rich, the album’s eponymous groove being both solid and warm. She leaves lots of room for us to appreciate her instrument, which kicks off several tracks accompanied by just one bandmate or two. But the rest are never far behind, striking up with guitar (Josh Roberts), trumpet (Chris Davis), violin (Clara Rose) and trombone (Brad Shigeta) to populate the tonal space in between—but not always on the same tracks, and not so thickly that any one instrument suffers for it.
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