Pearl Django is a jazz group established in 1994 in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

by guitarists Neil Andersson and

Dudley Hill Dudley Hill is a village in the borough of City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England and is in Tong ward. History There are a few mentions of the name Dudley Hill prior to the industrial revolution. Religious history John Wesley (1703� ...

and bassist David "Pope" Firman. The group melds the music of

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

and

Stephane Grappelli Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece), a vestment in ancient Greece * Stephane (Paphlagonia) Stephane ( grc, Στεφάνη) was a small port town on the coast of ancient Paphlagonia, according to Arr ...

with American Swing. Initially a trio, they have changed and added members over the years and are now a quintet. Based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, they have played around the United States, as well as in France and Iceland. The band has performed at the prestigious

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 ...

Samois-sur-Seine Samois-sur-Seine (, ) is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located near Fontainebleau. Culture It is famous for being the town to which Django Reinhardt retired, and hosts a ...

and at Juan de Fuca Festival. They have played with Martin Taylor,

Bucky Pizzarelli John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020) was an American jazz guitarist. He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) ...

, and Gail Pettis, a two-time recipient of the Earshot Jazz 'Jazz Vocalist Of The Year' award. The British virtuoso Taylor turns up on three tracks of their 2011 album ''Eleven''. On their twelfth album, ''Time Flies'', released in 2015, all tracks are their own compositions except for one classic bossa nova.

Discography

References

External links

Official website

Pearl Django
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Jazz fusion ensembles Gypsy jazz musicians Swing ensembles Swing revival ensembles American jazz ensembles from Washington (state) Music of Seattle {{US-jazz-band-stub Jazz musicians from Washington (state)