Gaucho, a Bay Area band, is a great example of a band that’s pushing forward while looking back. Drawing on the Django tradition (including it’s more modern exemplars-Biréli Lagrène and Stochelo Rosenberg among others) but never bound by it, Gaucho brings its American roots to the table without apology. Their sound-a beguiling mix of gypsy jazz and New Orleans street music, played with roadhouse gusto-is fresh, fun, and unlike almost anything out there right now.
Deluxe finds them covering some of the common gypsy jazz repertoire, but while the titles are often familiar-Douce Ambiance, Blues en Mineur, J’attendrai, and others make an appearance-the interpretation is something else. Rolling along on top of Pete Devine’s incredible percussion this group of musicians is immediately, unmistakably, a band. Not a star soloist with rhythm section, but a tight knit group that seems to be always aware of each other, easily knitting together their separate parts into one glorious whole. Interestingly, much of the core of Gaucho-guitarists Dave Ricketts and Michael Groh-are alumni of the Hot Club of San Francisco (bassist Ari Munkres continues to play with the band as well), a group I’ve always hoped would head more in the direction that Gaucho has gone. The addition of Ralph Carney on horns, Rob Reich on accordion, Devine’s aforementioned work, and special guest Clint Baker help immensely in separating Gaucho from the pack.
Opening with a bouncing Douce Ambiance, the album gets off to a rollicking start that showcases a bit of everybody’s playing. Hoagy Carmichael’s quintessentially American Up a Lazy River follows and is given an almost Midwestern, Bix-like treatment. From there, the album returns to a more Reinhardt influenced repertoire, but that joyous sense of friends making music together remains straight through the disc until it wraps with When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, a tune associated most strongly with Louis Armstrong and just the right final punctuation to this wonderful album.
To hear excerpts from the first half of the disc, visit the Gaucho website. To purchase Deluxe, either order from the Gaucho site or email Dave direct.
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