Album Review: Hot Club Of Philadelphia

Uncategorized No Responses »
Apr 272010

wrap_your_troubles.gifBarry Wahrhaftig has been on the American Gypsy Jazz scene for quite some time. His dedication to this genre is unsurpassed. Barry’s band, The Hot Club of Philadelphia (www.hotclubphilly.com) has been keeping residents of the city of brotherly love tapping their toes and snapping their fingers for several years. In addition to playing Gypsy jazz, Barry has been involved in the importation and distribution of Asian made Gypsy jazz guitars. Not only tis he a fine player of this music, Barry is an all around good guy.

Recently Barry sent me a copy of The hot Club of Philadelphia’s debut CD entitled “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams”. The 11 tracks on this album are easy to listen to and contain enough variety to keep any listeners attention,

The opener, “Songe d’Automne is a swinging number led by the very able clarinet playing of Bob Butryn. Barry’s guitar solo is tasteful and in the pocket. Butryn can also be heard on “Exactly like You”.

Barry has generously published his transcription of “La Gitane” on the web over the years and we now get a chance to hear him perform the piece (replete with accordion, adding a true Parisian feel).

On “Someone to Watch Over Me”, guitar virtuoso Howard Alden plays a solo guitar accompaniment to the vocals of Denise King. Barry and Bass player Jim Stager join in to complete a sweet Gypsy jazz version of this Gershwin classic.

Barry and longtime Hot Club Philly violinist Mark Campiglia tear it up on the Gypsy jazz classic “Tchavalo Swing”

A vocal version of Django’s classic “Nuages” follows with Phyllis Chapell on vocals.

“Nature Boy” features the flamenco guitar work of Carlos Rubio. This is the albums Latin selection.

Barry’s guitar work is featured on “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To” and Chez Jacquet” (the albums second waltz).

The title track “Wrap Your Trouble In Dreams” has vocals and a whole horn section. A Dixieland feel permeates this tasteful track.

The last track is a solo version of “While We’re Young”. This was recorded in the 1960′s by guitar legend Wes Montgomery. Here we have Barry’s take played on a Selmer style guitar.

This album emphasizes taste over chops and variety over orthodoxy. Barry’s hard work and dedication to Gypsy jazz comes through on every track.

“Wrap your Troubles in Dreams” is proof positive that Django lives in the city where America was born. Bravo Barry (and crew)!

Posted by admin at 9:59 AM on 2010/04/27

RIP Herb Ellis

Uncategorized No Responses »
Apr 222010

The world has lost one of the greatest jazz guitarists ever.  I saw Herb Perform many times over the years. I personally spoke to him about his collaberations with Joe Pass a few years ago.  He was one of the last jazz guitarists to use 4 to the bar rhythm (Freddy Green Style as opposed to La Pompe).  His improvisations were always tasteful and grounded in the blues.

His contribution was mighty.  Perhaps he and Django are jamming as we speak….

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postmortem/2010/03/jazz-guitarist-herb-ellis-dies.html

 

Posted by admin at 10:27 AM on 2010/04/22

Antoine Boyer - L'univers Isolite de Francis Moerman CD and DVD

Uncategorized No Responses »
Apr 082010
I recently received a CD/DVD set from well-known Gypsy Jazz aficionado Scot Wise; as so often happens when I get mail from Scot, it was rare and enchanting music, played by people I hadn’t heard of before. And–also as usual–I was impressed.
The discs featured the often overlooked compositions of Francis Alfred Moerman, as played by father and son duo Sebastian and Antoine Boyer.  Great fans of Moerman’s music, the pair tracked down the aging giant at his 17th century farmhouse, where the recording project took shape, eventually growing to include a half-hour documentary about the process that is at once touching, enlightening, and full of a pulsing life too often missing in more derivative records. It isn’t necessarily the virtuosity that makes the difference–though even at 11 years old, Antoine is well on his way to that–but the sensitivity with which father and son approach their icon’s work.
(See a clip from the duo here.)
Within the jazz community, Moerman is certainly a less recognizable name than Reinhardt, and most of the tunes on display were unfamiliar to me. But almost immediately, I was struck by the inventiveness of Moerman’s compositions; they seemed in many ways to bridge old Musette traditions and more modern jazz innovations in ways I hadn’t heard before.
But even without the music, the movie would be a wonderful look at some of our last links to the earlier generations–Moerman talking about a semi-retired Matelot Ferret playing on park benches for unsuspecting tourists, Alain Antonietto lamenting the “Djangomania” that has given rise to a narrow-minded focus on technical prowess. When young Antoine picks up the Busato on which Django is supposed to have written Anouman, it’s with a real sense of history.
The CD/DVD combo is currently available at Djangobooks.com: Antoine Boyer – L’univers Isolite de Francis Moerman CD and DVD 

Posted by admin at 9:04 PM on 2010/04/08
© 2011 Djangology.Net Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha