It’s only been a few months since I reviewed The Hot Toddies’ self-titled debut album, which was released last year. I’d like to think that my enthusiastic review sent the band flying back into the studio to concoct a follow-up, but that almost certainly—no, absolutely positively—isn’t the case. In fact, I expect they got done with the first record, felt quite rightly pleased with it and simply couldn’t wait to get to work on another.
The result, just 13 months later, was Triple Step: a title which beckoned me back for second helpings of Hot Toddy with its Lindy hop connotations. Could the NYC swing supergroup possibly do the double, delivering a one-two punch of knockout albums within a year-and-a-bit, taking pole position amongst the contemporary jazz jockeys and earning a gold medal in the process? How many sports can I mix into a single metaphor? Read on to find out…
I dove into [there’s another one] the band’s esteemed personnel in my previous write-up, but it bears repeating here that this relatively young outfit is staffed by a whole constellation of stars in their own right. It’s a smaller roster than last time—nine players and singers instead of fifteen—but they’ve accumulated an outstanding number of accolades between them: trumpeter Alphonso Horne has toured with Wynton Marsalis; sax man Linus Wyrsch has won a Grammy; and lead singer Hannah Gil
