The Hot Club of San Francisco
Bohemian Maestro: Django Reinhardt and The Impressionists
Azica Records
By George W. Harris

When it comes to the music of Django Reinhardt (of which I am a dev oted fan), the question comes to whether his unique brand and style of music is the medium, or message itself. The current HCSF, (Paul Mehling/solo g, Evan Price/v, Clint Baker/b, Jason Vanderford/g and Jeff Magidson/g) has been together for five years, and has got the Belgium-gypsy groove down absolutely pat. What’s refreshing about these guys is that they delve into the lesser known Reinhardt tunes (like “Diminishing Blackness” and “Vendredi 13”) and put an extra modern flavor into them. Even better, they cover tunes by Jelly Roll Morton (“The Pearls”) and classicists like Debussy and Villa Lobos for some delicious renditions of “Claire De Lune” and “Choros”. Upping the ante even further is the revelatory recording of Reinhardt’s Catholic Mass, “Messe”, which includes some wondrous woodwinds from the all-female Aeros Quintet. This augmentation, which is also included on “Nympheas’, is worth the price of the disc alone; the Mozart-like reeds create a silk spread for the strings to lay on. So, now, besides the Giants and Capp’s Corner, we have another major SFO landmark. Get this Bay beauty.