The Hot Club of San Francisco: 30 Years

This single disc compilations serves as a “humble sampling of the past 30 years,” as described in the liner notes, of the gypsy caravan of the Hot Club of San Francisco. Their motto is “What Would Django Do,” and it has served the team of Paul Mehling/g, Isabelle Fontaine/voc-g, Evan Price/vi, Jordan Samuels/g and Sam Rocha/b well through the decades. All of the strengths and attitudes of the quintet are in display here, as team stretches between classic Reinhardted mooded two steppers like the hotcha “Vendredi 13” to lovely lyricisms of  “Them From Gipsyland.” Fontaine is a lovely cassone on “La Gitane” and two stepper “Milord,” with the team giving a caravan mood to modern jazz pieces like “’Round Midnight” and even doing a bit of The Beatles on a fun “If I Needed Someone.” A wide rainbow of colors on this album reflect the width and breath of Reinhardt’s shadow.

www.hotclubsf.com

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