The Hot Club of San Francisco has made its mark by interpreting the music of
Django Reinhardt, though they don't limit their repertoire exclusively to the works of the gypsy jazz guitar legend. Leader and lead guitarist Paul Mehling and violinist
Evan Price each contributed originals that are in the style of gypsy swing, with the leader even making a new composition out of fragments of
Django's compositions and improvisations, then resequencing them. Mehling switches to banjo for a gypsy swing treatment of
Jelly Roll Morton's "The Pearls," while there are also thoughtful arrangements of works by Brazilian classical composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos as well as French Impressionists
Claude Debussy and
Francis Poulenc. The
Reinhardt compositions arranged for this release are among those less frequently recorded, two of which add the Aeros Quintet, while pianist Jeffrey Kahane is an added guest on three other selections. The spirit of
Django Reinhardt is very much alive over a half century after his death, thanks in part to the Hot Club of San Francisco. ~ Ken Dryden