Biography
Led by guitarist Evan Perri, the Hot Club of Detroit ranks among those 21st-century ensembles that have refreshed the Gypsy swing idiom first popularized by Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt, who succumbed to a brain hemorrhage at age 43 on May 16, 1953 yet continued shaping subsequent generations of players for more than five decades afterward. While certain contemporary Gypsy jazz practitioners strive to replicate Reinhardt’s 1930s and 1940s recordings with purist fidelity, others pursue a broader palette that merges admiration for his legacy with later influences; Perri’s ensemble plainly belongs to the latter group. Its book encompasses numerous Reinhardt originals alongside period pieces never penned by the guitarist, among them Jelly Roll Morton’s “Sweet Substitute” and Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose.” The Detroit unit has also documented material composed well after Reinhardt’s passing, including Miles Davis and Victor Feldman’s “Seven Steps to Happen,” Wes Montgomery’s “Leila,” and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s bossa nova classic “How Insensitive,” also known as “Insensatez.” Even an unexpectedly brisk treatment of the theme from The Godfather has found its way into the repertoire.
Born June 12, 1979 in Detroit, Perri spent his formative years in nearby Grosse Pointe, MI, where piano lessons began at age four; during adolescence he played electric bass in local punk bands before concentrating on guitar. The son of a jazz guitarist, he absorbed the work of Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Joe Pass, and other bop or post-bop six-string players, yet his introduction to Gypsy swing occurred only after he relocated to Minnesota to enroll at the McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul. The late guitarist Mike Elliott, himself a former student of bop icon Johnny Smith, ignited Perri’s interest in Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, an attraction that grew sufficiently intense to become his primary focus. Upon returning to Michigan, Perri established the Hot Club of Detroit in 2003. Mack Avenue issued the group’s self-titled debut in 2006, at which point the personnel comprised guitarists Colton Weatherston and Paul Brady, clarinetist Dave Bennett, acoustic bassist Shannon Wade, and accordionist Julien Labro; unlike Reinhardt’s Hot Club of France Quintet, this lineup contained no violin. After the first recording Weatherston and Bennett both departed, though Bennett’s exit produced the more decisive shift in sound; tenor and soprano saxophonist Carl Cafagna took his place, rendering the bop and post-bop facets of the music still more pronounced. Mack Avenue brought out the Hot Club of Detroit’s third album, It’s About That Time, in 2010. The 2012 release Junction featured saxophonist Jon Irabagon and vocalist Cyrille Aimée.
Born June 12, 1979 in Detroit, Perri spent his formative years in nearby Grosse Pointe, MI, where piano lessons began at age four; during adolescence he played electric bass in local punk bands before concentrating on guitar. The son of a jazz guitarist, he absorbed the work of Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, Joe Pass, and other bop or post-bop six-string players, yet his introduction to Gypsy swing occurred only after he relocated to Minnesota to enroll at the McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul. The late guitarist Mike Elliott, himself a former student of bop icon Johnny Smith, ignited Perri’s interest in Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, an attraction that grew sufficiently intense to become his primary focus. Upon returning to Michigan, Perri established the Hot Club of Detroit in 2003. Mack Avenue issued the group’s self-titled debut in 2006, at which point the personnel comprised guitarists Colton Weatherston and Paul Brady, clarinetist Dave Bennett, acoustic bassist Shannon Wade, and accordionist Julien Labro; unlike Reinhardt’s Hot Club of France Quintet, this lineup contained no violin. After the first recording Weatherston and Bennett both departed, though Bennett’s exit produced the more decisive shift in sound; tenor and soprano saxophonist Carl Cafagna took his place, rendering the bop and post-bop facets of the music still more pronounced. Mack Avenue brought out the Hot Club of Detroit’s third album, It’s About That Time, in 2010. The 2012 release Junction featured saxophonist Jon Irabagon and vocalist Cyrille Aimée.