There
was a moment when, listening to this album, that I felt I might be
obliged to put on my Rick (Bogart) Casablanca white jacket as Kai
Hoffman took me off to Ronnie Scotts, via The Cotton Club, the Duke,
New Orleans and a few of those fabulous forties and fifties joints
where Tom Waites might be propping up the bar, Sam would be on the
piano and a killer come-hither singer in serious lipstick would be
ripping it up under a single spotlight.
This
is an absolute roaring party album. Dancing shoes should be supplied
with every sale. Starting at a hundred miles an hour and barely
pausing for breath, Kai Hoffman's new release 'Luckiest Girl Alive'
grabs you warmly by the throat and only lets you go so that you can
come off the dance floor, clutch your Manhattan and catch your breath
while she soothes your brow with some beautiful, slow and sultry
numbers.
Long
time resident singer at Ronnie Scotts, Kai is clearly a natural
entertainer. For this album of mostly 50s inspired tracks she has
looked to many of the women who got original rhythm and blues and
rock and roll out there into the clubs and onto vinyl. Comprising
mainly of some great standards but with a few self-penned, this big
14 track album simply crackles along and is as near as you can get to
a live show. It comes as no surprise to learn that in the past she
has rocked the New York Metropolitan Room amongst many other
international jazz joints with her blend of hip, swing, cool
Monroe-influenced look and smart audience back chat.
Starting
with a trio of up-tempo atmospheric numbers..'Lucky Lips', 'Jump Jack
Jump' and 'It's Raining Outside', Kai then breaks off into a slow
swing piece 'The Night is Never Long Enough' which delivers her vamp
side alongside some spot-on rattling night-time keys from Liam
Dunachie. 'TV is The Thing This Year' is another eyelash fluttering
piece in the same vein and I leave you to imagine what this does to
her audience...
There
are a few swinging, almost rockabilly, tracks on here (if you've got
the stamina, do kick some shapes for two minutes with her
Hendricks/Louis Jordan standard 'I want you to be my Baby') but for
me her strength emerges when you are sitting it out recovering from
the dance floor. The stand-out track is the lengthy and part
self-penned 'Late Night Joints' which delivers exactly what it says
on the label. Beautifully accompanied by smooth sax and piano, Kai
talks straight to her audience about the honesty of strangers and the
allure of the late bar 'where you can drink all night'....yep, I know
the place Kai - I was wearing my Rick Blaine white tux at the
time....
As
you would expect from a singer who gets a regular spot at Ronnie's,
she has a tight and smart band alongside her. Here I would like to
give a nod to her main saxophonist Dan Faulkner, who one minute is
channeling an on-fire Don Lang and the next conjuring up the
smoothest of smooth silky solos.
This is a very cool album, as close as you can get to a live performance without having to collapse on the dance floor in public....
This is a very cool album, as close as you can get to a live performance without having to collapse on the dance floor in public....
