Reynold Philipsek©Andrea Canter

I lost count of the number of press releases I have received in the last few months regarding events honoring the 100th birthday of Django Reinhardt. Birdland has an annual event every December, but now many clubs are joining in. The Dakota Jazz Club in downtown Minneapolis hosted what has to be one of the best and most comprehensive, a “Django Feast” covering a wide range of music influenced by the gypsy jazz styles of the 1930s hot clubs in France and subsequent popularity of the legendary pairing of Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. The four-day event kicked off Sunday night with a triple-header of area bands (Twin Cities, Parisota and Clearwater Hot Clubs) hosted by guest vocalist Connie Evingson, and continued with two nights of the Dorado Schmitt All Stars and a final night with Mark O’ Connor’s expanded Hot Swing Trio. The momentum seemed to grow exponentially each night, and each band brought a unique interpretation to the music. 

The basics of “gypsy jazz” or “gypsy swing” or “hot club swing” – pick your term—involve acoustic string instruments (typically guitar, violin, maybe bass), sometimes accordion and clarinet; in place of drums there’s often a rhythm guitarist using a rather percussive technique to propel the ensemble and keep time. Lead guitar typically uses chromatic notes, arpeggios and glissindos; violins tend to use slides, double stops and pizzicato techniques. Use of minor keys, a dark and modal sound contrast with uptempos and a generally joyous mood to create a unique and infectious music that has been gaining new popularity. But to simply describe the music of Django Feast as “gypsy jazz” belies the diversity of the five ensembles. Maybe we heard “Honeysuckle Rose” three or four times, but it was never the same flower. Or even the same garden.

January 17, The Best of Minnesota Hot Clubs

A few years ago, I recall a “Django Fest” was held outdoors in Uptown, with the Twin Cities Hot Club and the visiting Hot Club of Sweden. But indoors at the Dakota, we were treated to three ensembles who help define the range of gypsy swing, varying in instrumentation as well as repertoire. Linking all the music was vocalist Connie Evingson, who has surely created a larger audience for hot clubs since releasing Gypsy in My Soul and the follow-up Stockholm Sweetnin’. Twin Cities Hot Club, Clearwater Hot Club and Parisota Hot Club all appear on Gypsy in My Soul. 

TCHC opened the evening, bringing a classic configuration of two guitars (Robert Bell, Reynold Philipsek), bass (Matt Senjum) and violin (Gary Schulte). Music by or associated with Django Reinhardt was heavily swinging and joyful, including “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Blue Django,” and Dorado Schmitt’s “Bossa Dorado.” Philipsek’s original “Butterfly” captured the French Musette style and showcased Schulte’s singing violin—one can easily imagine him tackling the great Romantic composers in a concert hall. Connie sang three tunes with TCHC, “S’ Wonderful” with s’wonderful support from Philipsek; “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You” featuring the nimble fingers of Robert Bell, and a lovely “After You’ve Gone.” Connie’s solid intonation and swinging phrasing have not wavered off the mark over her 25+year career, and the TCHS is perhaps the quintessential purveyor of the Django/Grappelli sound among area ensembles. 

The Clearwater Hot Club©Andrea Canter

The most contemporary, bluesy sound of the night was delivered by the Parisota Hot Club—guitar (Robb Henry), bass (Keith Boyles), violin (Gary Schulte, the only two-timer of the evening), and accordion (Patrick Harrison). The accordion opens many musical possibilities, rendering horn-like lines, organ-tinted chords or suggesting more strings. After singing a zippy “Caravan” propelled by the accordion, Connie sat out a while, with the band offering a hot club “funk” version of “Flowers of Our Indifference” with heavy guitar rhythms, a fusiony “House of My Dreams” (suggesting Metheny Does Hot Club), a Latin-kissed “Last Tango in Paris” and bass-driven “Topsy.” Connie returned, sparring with Harrison on “Night and Day,” scatting through a medley of “Things We Said Today” and “Moondance,” and closing in a collaboration with Robb Henry on “Gypsy in My Soul.” 

January 18-19, Dorado Schmitt All Stars

Dorado Schmitt©Andrea Canter

As a trio of guitars and bass, they moved slowly through “Nuages,” these clouds floating on a very soft current of air. On his first American tour, accordionist Marcel Loeffler took a long flowing solo on Michel Legrand’s “I Will Wait For You”; violinist Blanchard joined in to make it a quintet, acrobatic fingers flying on “Them There Eyes” and a touch of flamenco on Schmitt’s “La Vie.” But it was solo bass that nearly stole the show, as Brian Torff took center stage alone on his “Manhattan Hoedown,” a showcase of deep bluegrass flavoring on a long arco passage, followed by aggressive glissando and humorous vibrating string play. Dueling violins lit up “Chicago Chicago” and “Sweet Georgia Brown,” the latter three tunes bringing the wild French gypsies into 20th century Americana. 

January 20, Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing

Mark O'Connor©Andrea Canter

It was an energetic, rich set as a whole: O’Connor can do just about anything humanly possible with a violin without subjugating his classical training; Vignola in particular brought together traditional and modern sounds to his soloing and comping, sometimes evoking a futuristic banjo tone. Relative to the other ensembles of the week, Hot Swing caters as much to American blues as hot club traditions. 
 

Five bands in four nights—anyone who thinks that is “too much hot club” might want to rethink the music that falls into this genre. The Dakota’s Django Feast offered a rare opportunity to enjoy, compare, and better understand the breadth of influence of Django Reinhardt, and why musicians as diverse as Julian Bream, B.B. King, Les Paul and Jimi Hendrix trace their inspiration back to a Belgian gypsy string artist. 

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