Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » lePercolateur: Pop Manouche

6

lePercolateur: Pop Manouche

By

View read count
lePercolateur: Pop Manouche
Something different and exciting is brewing on lePercolateur's Pop Manouche. This Chicago-based, Hot Club-indebted outfit finds a way to blend the sonic sensibilities of Django Reinhardt's famed band into an alt- pop/alt-folk/alt-instrumental format on their debut album, creating something unique in the process; it's as if songstress Sam Phillips, the beyond-category Pink Martini, indie folk band Hem, Reinhardt, and a few other unlikely collaborators got together to make some music.

The core instrumentation—violin, multiple guitars and bass—immediately points to the gypsy in lePercolateur's soul. Some energetic tunes with upbeat guitar accents and feisty violin work confirm this connection and fly by in fun fashion ("Bad Crazy Day"), but nothing flies too close to the gypsy jazz norm; the songs themselves and the presence of vocalist Candace Washburn, who injects a good amount of the "pop" into Pop Manouche, make sure of that. Middle Eastern-leaning music with a surfer undercurrent ("Two Weeks"), shuffling country-blues-pop hybrids ("Darling"), haunting instrumental meditations ("Oscura") and a whole lot more surface during this eleven song program.

While lePercolateur itself is a five person band, several guests stop by to beef-up the line-up and add some different flavors to the music. Three horn players—trumpeter Corey Wilkes, tenor saxophonist Shawn Maxwell and trombonist Adam Thornburg—tangle during a harmonious polyphonic solo spree on "Nothing Special," Bryan Pardo's clarinet sets the scene for "Two Weeks," which also benefits from some basic tambourine backing from Stephen Lynerd, and a third guitarist—Gabriel Datcu—drops in for a couple numbers; all parties help lePercolateur expand its aural outlook.

Pop Manouche presents a band that drinks from the Quintette du Hot Club de France's well, yet finds sustenance in other musical realms. This stylistic openness contributes to the success of the hybridized music that lePercolateur produces.

Track Listing

Bad Crazy Day; Nothing Special; Dancing In The Kitchen; All I Want Is You; Two Weeks; Goin' Out; Waiting For The End Of The World; Open Up The Door; Darling; Oscura; House.

Personnel

Marielle de Rocca-Serra: violin; Stacy McMichael: bass; Sam Random: guitar; Kevin Rush: guitar; Candace Washburn: vocals; Corey Wilkes: trumpet (2); Shawn Maxwell: tenor saxophone (2); Adam Thornburg: trombone (2); Bryan Pardo: clarionet (5); Stephen Lynerd: tambourine; Gabriel Datcu: guitar (5, 10).

Album information

Title: Pop Manouche | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Chicago Sessions

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.