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by Bill Reed The Colorado Springs Gazette, June 15, 2003 The Hot Club of Cowtown is about as much fun as you can have with your knickers on. Cowtown went uptown Saturday night, bringing their hot jazz and Western swing to the Pikes Peak Center. "It's kind of like playing Royal Albert Hall here," guitarist Whit Smith said. The Austin-based trio turned the concert hall vibe into a down-home shindig in no time. Bassist Jake Erwin kick started the band's engine with the indefatigable rubber band he calls a right arm, and Erwin, Smith and fiddler Elana Fremerman soon hit maximum velocity on opener "Little Liza Jane." No pyrotechnics. No dancers or costume changes or elaborate sets. The Hot Club relies on no modern stagecraft, just themselves. That's more than enough. Retro outfits and age-worn instruments give the band an old-timey feel. But this is no museum act -- Hot Club's music is vital. These guys crave the stage and the music they create together. All three are in constant motion, bouncing around as if a colony of fire ants is eating them alive. The crowd was drawn in first by their energy and then by their talent. The virtuosity sneaks up on you, masked by silly grins and unassuming demeanors. But when Erwin is slapping out the foundation on his bass and Smith drops in a lightning run of bell-like notes on his acoustic Gibson (run through a magical vintage amp), and Fremerman fires up her fiddle licks, then listening to Hot Club is a step away from paradise. The band hit full-tilt on the rousing "Ida Red" and then downshifted into a subtle, lyrical rendition of "Stardust." It was as if we stumbled from a sawdust-on-the-floor barn dance to a ritzy jazz club in a few paces. And that's the charm of Hot Club. They started off as a hybrid of Django Reinhardt's hot jazz (Hot Club of France . . . hence the name), Bob Wills' Western swing and 1930s pop ditties. Saturday night's performance proved these influences are melding into something original and exciting. Hot Club has grown from great imitators to great innovators. |