This week brings two new releases that mix old and new, blending fiery Django style guitar work and an appreciation for jazz standards with bold, forward-thinking compositions.  Played side by side, they reveal just how wide reaching the “gypsy jazz” scene has become, drawing players the world over, and encompassing the staunchly traditional and modernistic alike.

Hot Club d’Allemagne, the more traditional of the two, hails from Germany, where guitarist and composer Karl-Heinz Vogel co-founded the band in 2002 with Klaus Jacob (guitar) and Hendrik Bertram (bass). Georg Prokein replaced Bertram two years later, and with Thomas Prokein on violin the quartet was complete.  The group has just released their new album Rendez-vous avec Django Reinhardt.

Though the original focus of the band was on recreating the great Reinhardt-Grappelli era tunes, Vogel’s compositions soon found their way into the mix.  If they often seem to fit remarkably well within the tradition, Vogel has an explanation: “I am moving inside an antiques store here–I have immersed myself into the Django-style so completely, that corresponding melodies simply come to my mind.”  But while that holds true on tunes like Valse Pour Django or Hot Club Jam, Vogel proves he’s his own man with more modern tunes like Minor Funk and Construction, and the witty rewrite China Girl.  In many ways, the playing on Rendez-vous reminds me of the great Patrick Saussois’ playing with Alma Sinti: ensemble work–the quartet is joined on several tracks by accordionist Tobias Morgenstern and vocalist Corinne Douarre–that places musicality, and originality, first.

Avatar Ensemble, led by globe-trotting guitarist Doug Martin, has an exciting new disc in Giniker, whose decidedly up-to-date sound proves that the worlds of Jazz, Jazz Manouche, and world music need not be as separate as they are often made out to be.

The ensemble–along with Martin on lead guitar are Jason Vanderford (rhythm guitar), Nick Underwood (bass), Annie Staninec (violin), and Dan Magay (reeds)–is a tight and swinging group, grooving through the varying rhythms of standards old and new (I’ve Found a New Baby as well as Coltrane’s Lazy Bird) and a clutch of Martin originals.  It’s not only the simple rhythms of La Pompe, either–Martin, who held down the rhythm chair for Lulo Reinhardt’s recent Latin Swing Project, is drawn to emphatic rhythmic embellishments that would throw a lesser unit.