Cajun singer
Ann Savoy & Her Sleepless Knights turn in another re-creation of French-style acoustic jazz of the mid-20th century on their second album,
Black Coffee. The model, of course, is
the Hot Club of France, with lead guitarist
Tom Mitchell making like
Django Reinhardt and fiddler
Kevin Wimmer like
Stéphane Grappelli. That group didn't have a vocalist, of course, but here
Savoy takes vocal choruses in between the jazz solos with the exuberance and phrasing of
Maria Muldaur, though she is more of a straight contralto, lacking
Muldaur's high notes. To add to the effect, she sometimes sings in French, with an accent often more suggestive of Baton Rouge than Paris. It's all quite pleasant, if in a distinctly retro manner.