Hot Club of San Francisco: Bohemian Maestro - Django Reinhardt and The Impressionists

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.