Let me say right off that I’ve met Denis Chang on half a dozen occasions and consider him a friend. I’ve also learned a lot from him over the years, online and in person, about jazz manouche-not only in its technical aspects (Denis is a monster player, though too modest to mention it), but also about its modern, living history-about the people out there today playing this great music in cafés and local clubs.
One of the greatest lessons learned through Denis is this: Django’s music isn’t a period piece; it’s beautiful, transcendent music, yes, but keeping it alive (Django would have been 97 this week) means making it one’s own. This, I’m glad to say, is what he’s done with Nature Boy, a recording that covers ground from early Django (Minor Swing) and American jazz (Them There Eyes) to mid/late-period Django (Oui, Danse Norvégienne, Improvisation No. 5) and beyond (also included are the Ray Noble standard Cherokee and Bireli Lagrène’s Rue de Pierre, as well as the Charlie Parker bop standard Donna Lee.)
Instead of focussing on a single unit of musicians, the disc features a wide range of instrumentalists and vocalists, including guest guitarists Ritary Gaguenetti and Frank Gambale, tenor saxophonist Sean Craig, Hammond B-3 player Vanessa Rodriguez, as well as too many others to list here. The result is that every tune is crafted to best highlight the featured musicians. Craig shines on Donna Lee and Danse, while Marin Nasturica’s accordion enlivens Cherokee; vocalist John Labelle is given verse and chorus of Stardust. It’s a sensitive approach to a genre that all too often is only a guitarist’s game. (Not that guitarists are left out, however: see Denis’ solo take on Improvisation No. 5 for proof that the instrument is always the bedrock of the style.) The final track, Nature Boy, is a full-on funk freak that shows just how far one can take the style. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but there’s no doubt that it stands out!
Finally, it was heartening to see that the album is partially dedicated (alongside Denis’ father) to the memory of Mary Honcoop, who did so much over the years to help promote this music, which she loved. There are few better people I can think of to carry on her legacy, sharing it far and wide, than Denis Chang.
-Jack

The Hot Club d’Allemagne’s debut disc Swing de flâneur announces a new composing talent on the Gypsy Jazz scene-guitarist Karl-Heinz Vogel, whose compositions account for eleven of the disc’s sixteen tunes. It’s not common today to find a musician competent or confident enough to put their own work squarely in the tradition of Django and Stephane, yet that’s just what Vogel does, to great effect. Listening to the disc, I found myself happily returning to the guitarist’s originals rather than the few standards of the style included (Nuages, Stompin’ at Decca, etc.)
The band-Vogel and Klaus Jacob on guitars, Thomas Prokein on violin, and Georg Prokein on bass-is tight throughout, including some moments of fine work on tunes like Algier which opens with a figure reminiscent of Django’s Rhythm Futur before breaking into a Spanish-influenced rhythm. Space Shuffle comes a bit out of left field, but is handled with such fun that it quickly wins you over. And I could quite easily see Vogel’s Valse romantique becoming a well-played standard at camp jams; it has a stately air that on first listen called to mind some of the valses I first heard years ago on the Musik Deutscher Ziguener albums. For José also shows off the band’s cohesiveness and their ability to incorporate some more modern sounds into the tradition.
Though Swing de flâneur is their debut disc, the band was formed in 2002, and it seems obvious they’ve used the intervening years to hone their art. It’s an impressive result, and I’m sure we’ll hear more from Vogel and his quartet in the future.
-Jack