The Hot Club of San Francisco is an American gypsy jazz band. Led by guitarist, songwriter, and arranger Paul 'Pazzo' Mehling, the group uses the instrumentation of violin, bass, and guitars from Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli’s Quintette du Hot Club de France and performs arrangements of gypsy jazz

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songs, and original compositions by Mehling. The Hot Club of San Francisco includes violinist Evan Price, the vocals of various members, and a

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm sec ...

. In the book, ''Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz'', Michael Dregni refers to the Hot Club of San Francisco as "one of the first American gypsy jazz bands."

Biography

Mehling was exposed to the music of Django Reinhardt music at a young age through his father's record collection. As a teenager Mehling was inspired by seeing Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, who drew on the music of Django Reinhardt, and by

David Grisman David Grisman (born March 23, 1945) is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acoustic mu ...

’s Dawg Music, a blend of swing and bluegrass. Early in his career Mehling performed with the Abalone Stompers, a New Orleans style traditional Dixieland jazz band, freelanced with the Santa Cruz Symphony, played with the Magnolia Jazz Band, and formed his first Gypsy jazz band, The Hot Club of Friends. Mehling later traveled to Paris to further develop his gypsy jazz guitar technique and feel with Django-style guitarist Serge Krief. Mehling has stated that Krief's emphasis on the importance of emotion, mystery, and romance in gypsy music had a lasting impact on his development as a musician. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Mehling joined Dan Hicks' band,

The Acoustic Warriors The Acoustic Warriors was a band formed by rhythm guitarist Dan Hicks in the early 1990s. In San Francisco from 1968 to 1973, Hicks led Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, a band that never used electric instruments and rarely used drums. The band reun ...

, appearing with them on the PBS show '' Austin City Limits''.

Works and recognition

Nationally broadcast performances of the HCSF include the Public Radio Exchange's '' WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour'' series, and

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' Riverwalk Collection. A story on NPR station KQED-FM on the Hot Club of San Francisco referred to Mehling as "one of the Godfathers of the Gypsy jazz revival". The Hot Club of San Francisco has released 15 albums, six of which were released on Mehling's Hot Club Records label. The group was the first American band invited to perform at the

Festival Django Reinhardt The Festival Django Reinhardt is a Gypsy jazz music festival held during late June or early July at Samois-sur-Seine, France. It began as a single evening festival in 1968, but in 1983, became an annual week-long event commemorating Django Reinhard ...

in Samois sur Seine, in 2000. Mehling appeared in the 2005 film ''Jeremy Cohen and Friends Celebrate Joe Venuti'', and performed on the soundtrack of the 2014 film '' My Old Lady''.

Discography

References

{{Reflist Gypsy jazz musicians Musical groups from San Francisco