I’m almost beginning to appreciate this pandemic—just a minuscule bit, mind you—for forcing jazz musicians worldwide back into the studio and me off the dance floor, making more time to appreciate them. I’ve found many new favorite bands in recent months, and now The Jazz Bombs sit atop that growing heap of auditory joy.
This Spanish sextet features five male musicians of varying nationality, plus Welsh songbird Tara Lowe. As buskers they’ve marveled Madrid’s pedestrians since 2018, as well as appearing at the likes of Swing Winter Mood, finally setting foot in a studio this February. The result is Hot Life, an EP which packs a lot of loveliness (and several jazz styles) into just six tracks.
It opens with two toe-tapping bangers, in “When I Get Low I Get High” and “I Can’t Dance I’ve Got Ants in My Pants.” The first sets off at a pace to make even top dancers wince, with David Herrington’s blistering horn burning up the track. But it soon slows to a sensuous slow drag, Norman Hogue’s bluesy trombone wail coming to the fore. The second track offers no such respite, featuring guest pianist Kike Jambalaya’s brain-melting ragtime solo at its fast-beating heart.
“With Thee I Swing” and “An Evening in Caroline” occupy this disc’s gooey chocolate, mid-tempo center, in which Hogue’s trombone duels first Daniel Cabrera’s guitar and then Lowe’s
