Until the past generation, people became jazz fans because it was the best music for dancing, and not listening to cacophonic solos.Guitarist Dorado Schmitt and his Django All Stars reminded the packed audience at the Lobero that the first distinction of jazz is swing as they turned the hip theatre into a gypsy caravan celebration.
They Reinhardt look-alike both dressed and picked the strings like his bohemian idol, and along with Ludovic Beier/acc, Pierre Blanchard/vio, DouDou Cuillerier/g, Amati Schmitt/g and Brian Torff/b delivered joyful and infectious tunes of yesteryear like “Daphne,” and when was the last time you heard a song named after a dance, such as “Charleston” which was mixed with sighing violin strings and frenzied fret work.
The mood got cozy and intimate as Amati Schmitt posted up some genteel and deft trio tracks before delivering more triplets than an obstetrician at a fertility clinic on a hot stomper while Torff slapped the bass like it was the newborn infant.
The highlight of the 2+ hour concert had to be, however, when pianist Roger Kellaway ambled on stage and with the whole crew produced a fluffy read of “Nuages” that created cirrus sounds of serenity. His introductory verse with Blanchard’s violin on “Tea For Two” was a glorious bow, but Schmitt had no intention of keeping the sound as a sterile museum piece. His solos mixed the nuance of Reinhardt, but with added swaths of Dick Dale, and the whole team produced an opening to the stomping “Avalon” that was a wild ride down a country road. Even better was when the band incorporated Latin lilts as on the bouncing “Bossa Dorado” or when Schmitt exchanged his guitar for a violin for a wonderful pas de deux with Blanchard on “Song For Ettore” that mixed nostalgia with a Left Bank stroll.
The mix of melody, mirth and musicianship showed the heights that jazz can reach when its returned to its first love, when “jazz” once again becomes a verb, as in “jazzing up” one’s life. Tonight, the caravan came and brought the treats!
Upcoming at the Lobero is Tierney Sutton’s tribute to Sinatra’s 100th birthday Dec 09