Swing grooves, lyrical interplay and string harmonies characterize Hot Club Sandwich’s fifth album, “No Pressure.” Based in the State of Washington, the band gathered for two winter weeks at an old Victorian house in Port Townsend to record live in a comfy, creative workspace. Formed 15 years ago, the jazz string sextet features Tim Wetmiller (violin), Ray Wood (guitar), Kevin Connor (guitar), Matt Sircely (mandolin), James Schneider (bass), and Joseph Mascorella (drums).  “No Pressure” also features master mandolinist David Grisman on seven tracks, including his own "Swang Thang" to open the set. Cover art was painted by Tracy Grisman, and she also sings the closer, “St. James Infirmary.”

Besides band members being stellar instrumentalists, several compose, arrange and sing too.  This album has many highlights but certainly the two originals apiece from Kevin Connor, Matt Sircely and Ray Wood (with songwriting partner Vann Cantin) stand out. Some have new acoustic, Gypsy jazz, Latin or Western Swing flavors. It strikes me that the band is very comfortable not only with each other, new material, but also with adventurous excursions into the territory of Hoagy Carmichael (“Rockin’ Chair), Fats Waller (“What a Pretty Miss”) or a unique arrangement of a standard like “St. James Infirmary.” A club sandwich has many layers of delicious ingredients, and this hot jazz band certainly does too. (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)