‘Gyspy jazz’ comes to Crescent City

The Hot Club of San Francisco interprets the legacy of one of the world’s greatest guitar players, the Belgium-born gypsy Django Reinhardt, and French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. Photo Courtesy of Stuart Brinin

Mehling was referring to the “Gypsy jazz” that his Hot Club of San Francisco will play in concert for the first performance of the 2009-10 season of the Del Norte Association for Cultural Awareness. The show begins  at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Crescent Elk Auditorium.

The Hot Club of San Francisco interprets the legacy of one of the world’s greatest guitar players, the Belgium-born gypsy Django Reinhardt, and French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. The duo founded the now famous Quintette du Hot Club de France in 1934.

Back when Reinhardt starting playing jazz guitar, there were “almost no jazz musicians in Europe,” explained Mehling, so there were no American jazz musicians to jam with and learn from. “Those who had an affinity for it (such as Reinhardt and Grappelli, who met while playing with different bands on the same bill) learned it from records only.”

Twenty years ago, when Mehling decided to dedicate his professional life to this elusive, intricate, string-based music and founded the Hot Club of San Francisco, it was “difficult to find people to play the music and hard to book,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “It was like starting over again — starting from square one — each time I had to try to explain the music in words.”

“It is our mission to not only play the music of Django and Stephane, but to spread the word,” he continued.  In addition to Mehling on guitar and as the quintet’s guiding spirit, the group currently consists of Evan Price on violin, Clint Baker on bass and Jason Vanderford and Jeff Magidson on guitar. In their Crescent City performance,  Isabelle Fontaine will replace rhythm guitarist Vanderford.

For more information about the quintet, visit www.hcsf.com online.

In addition to Reinhardt's music, “we play some originals and some surprises,” Mehling said. “We try to find something for everyone.”    

“If you're going to replicate the great jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt's sound, you’d better be pretty good,”  the San Francisco Chronicle wrote in April, “The Hot Club of San Francisco is even better than that, as evidenced by its new CD, “Bohemian Maestro-Django Reinhardt and the Impressionists” (2008, Azica Records), which offers several Reinhardt compositions as well as sublime renditions of classical works by composers such as Debussy, Poulenc and Villa-Lobos.”  

DNACA’s 27th season is made possible by underwriters Caldwell & Sund Family Trust, Bill and Kathy Maffett, Phys­icians of Sutter Coast Hospital Fund, Gene and Carol Schach, Smith River Rancheria/Lucky 7 Casino, Sutter Coast Hospital, Wild Rivers Commun­ity Found­ation and Bicoastal Media.