Hot Club of San Francisco's Bohemian Rhapsody
Bohemian Maestro: Django Reinhardt and the Impressionists, The Hot Club of San Francisco: Evan Price, violin; Clint Baker, string bass; Paul Mehling, guitar, banjo; Jason Vanderford and Jeff Magidson, rhythm guitars (Azica)
The legendary Quintette du Hot Club de France, pairing Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, fired up Paris in the 1930s and ’40s. It has since spawned a thousand imitators—and that’s just along the banks of the Seine. Stateside, the Hot Club of San Francisco has produced a string of electrifying recordings in the hot-club style, often with stellar guest violinists. This is one of the group’s best. As usual, the HCSF forgoes flash in favor of soulful substance. True to its title, the CD draws from the impressionist art and music scenes once centered around Paris. There are works by Debussy, Poulenc, Brassens, Villa-Lobos, and others, as well as five by Reinhardt and originals by former Turtle Island Quartet violinist Evan Price and guitarist Paul Mehling. The strength of Bohemian Maestro is that HCSF has the chops, but doesn’t feel inclined to go into virtuoso overkill, opting instead to embrace the beauty of melodies like the one found on Mehling’s stirring “Waltz for M.C. Escher,” given a delicate bowed-saw solo by Price.
A side note: If you’re a fan of hot-club-style Gypsy jazz, and in case you missed it, pick up a copy of the John Jorgenson Quintet’s 2007 CD Ultraspontane (J2 7050) with Stephane Dudash on five-string viola and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra String Quartet. You won’t be sorry.
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