Django Festival Allstars: Evolution

On Evolution, their fifth recording together, the Django Festival Allstars salute the 25th anniversary of the Django Reinhardt NY Jazz Festival, founded in 2000 by Pat Phillips and her late husband, Ettore Stratta, and held every year since then at New York City's celebrated Birdland Jazz Club. While the name "all-star" is sometimes overused, that is not the case here. This really is an all-star quintet, perfectly suited and ideally prepared to refresh and update the "Gypsy jazz" of Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli's Hot Club de France performances that inspired and captivated Parisians and music-lovers around the world in the 1930s and '40s.

The album is comprised of a dozen sunny and enchanting themes, every one of which was written and arranged by one of the Allstars. Even though the songs are new, the character and spirit of Gypsy jazz are ever-present, and the ensemble never misses a beat while bringing the music charmingly to life, even when tempos are so swift as to border on the unreachable. Most of these charts require a considerable amount of awareness and agility, which the Allstars have in abundance.

That agility is put to the test quickly on lead guitarist Samson Schmitt's "Rire Avec Charlie," whose tempo seems rapid until one hears violinist Pierre Blanchard's whirling  "Balkanic Dance" or accordionist Ludovic Beier's dynamic "Swing and Ready," which make "Charlie" appear unhurried by comparison—as does Schmitt's lively "Casse Noisette." Beier also wrote the less animated "El Destino" and "Around Toots" (on which he plays accordina), Blanchard "Nothing But Kind" and "Dorado's Smile," Schmitt "Lovely Wife," "Sunshine in My Heart" and the album's seductive finale, "Stenli."

The group's other members are rhythm guitarist Francko Mehrstein and bassist Antonio Licusati, neither of whom wrote any songs but whose rhythmic and harmonic presence is indispensable. Improvisations, which emerge naturally from the melodic blueprint, are invariably sharp and persuasive. Evolution is not only a wonderful tribute to the great Django Reinhardt but a tasteful and charming almanac of Gypsy jazz that fares quite well on its own.