The sound drifts back like the scent of French cigarettes and strong espresso on a sultry night along the Seine in 1936 The sound of Parisian cafe socialites drinking Pernod and champagne in the world-famous Hot Club of France to the virtuoso musicianship of the world's first string jazz band,led by the flamboyant Gypsy guitarist, Django Reinhardt.
The original guitar hero, Reinhardt and musical soulmate violinist Stephane Grappelli forged a musical style tbat has endured,albeit fitfully,through a World War, the emergence of Rock and Roll, and the creation of a worldwide pop media culture. Today we're seeing a remarkable renaissance in Gypsy jazz guitar, Europe's answer to American-style flatpicking guitar. Led by an entourage of talented Europeans like Stochelo Rosenberg and Bireli Lagrene, this revival also includes some great American players like Raul Reynoso.
On his new CD, "Royal Street," Reynoso artfully recreates and reinterprets Reinhardt's astounding melodic and technical abilities on 13 classic and original songs.As a flatpicking artist, Reynoso generates great tone on his guitars, an original 1940 Selmer Modele Django Reinhardt (serial # 485), a 1995 Maurice Dupont Modele Selmer, and a 1982 Ibanez Maccaferri replica. In turn he swings (literally) from blazingly fast runs of linked arpeggios and chromatics to sweetly inspired waltzes like his originals,"Alicia Waltz" and "Waneta's Waltz."
On the Django originals here his playing never mimics the master, but gracefully devises his own lines that stay within the scope of the style, Listen to his lovingly prayed rendition of the immortal melody, "Nuages" for a firsthand lesson in bringing out the soulful, tone-laden potential of the acoustic guitar.
Like his musical template, the original Quintet of the Hot Club of France, Reynoso works in close quarters with other exceptional soloists. Here it is Chicago's fabled jazz violinist Johnny Frigo, who adds brilliant solos and backups throughout the CD.
During the War, when Grappelli fled to England to escape the Nazi regime, Django stayed behind and played with a clarinetist instead, and Reynoso also revives that sound in his work here with the inspired playing of Bob Reitmeier.
A talented vocalist as well, Reynoso effectively sings 1930's and 1940's swing tunes like "Lock My Heart and Throw Away the Key" and "Exactly Like You" to give the CD a broader sound.
"Royal Street" is, to use a timeworn cliché, must listening for any fan of Gypsy jazz and the Reinhardt style of guitar. Few American artists have captured the lighthearted gaiety and effervescence of the original Hot Club recordings as well as Raul Reynoso and his talented cohorts of this CD. Play on, mon ami!