(Vocal Jazz Gipsy) The Hot Club Of San Francisco - Live At Yoshi's San Francisco - 2012, MP3, 320 kbps

The acclaimed Hot Club of San Francisco and the popular French vocalist Isabelle Fontaine have created Meet Me in Paris, a charming concert invoking an unforgettable Parisian experience. Love songs and driving gypsy jazz are a combination made famous during the 20’s and 30’s in Paris by the legendary Hot Club de France, Django Reinhardt, and Stephane Grappelli. Following the First World War, the city became a gathering place for artists from around the world and The Hot Club’s unique sound of gypsy jazz reflects this inter-wartime collection of cultures. Keep time with the strum of the rhythm guitars and let the magical guitar and fiddle solos take you on a ride down the Seine and through the heart of the city. Ms. Fontaine’s mix of sweet and sultry songs adds a touch of beauty and authenticity that echoes the historic Ville-Lumière, “the city of light”.

The Hot Club of San Francisco is one of many bands focusing on the legacy of Django Reinhardt and Stйphane Grappelli, co-leaders of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France and innovators of swinging Gypsy jazz. But the HCSF have never slavishly stuck to the repertoire of the band that inspired them, preferring to build upon it. Lead guitarist Paul Mehling is an impressive soloist in Django's style without copying him, while Evan Price (formerly with the Turtle Island String Quartet) is a swinging violinist who has developed his own sound. After opening with a rarely performed Reinhardt/Grappelli instrumental, "R-26," much of this engagement recorded at Yoshi's features Isabelle Fontaine, a swinging yet never showy vocalist with an easygoing style. Henri Salvador's "Syracuse" features Fontaine's soft vocal, beautifully accompanied by the band. Cole Porter is one of Fontaine's favorite composers, so she chose several of his standards for this set. She includes the oft-omitted verse to "Just One of Those Things" and a playful "I Love Paris," in which Price nearly steals the show with his imaginative violin solo. She even restores the luster to "C'est Si Bon," a song so often performed in a hackneyed manner that it wore out its welcome for a long time. Recommended. ~ Ken Dryden

Isabelle Fontaine (vocals); Paul Mehling (guitar, banjo); Jeff Magidson (dobro); Evan Price (mandolin, violin); Jeff Sanford (soprano saxophone); Clint Baker (trumpet, trombone); Sam Rocha (tuba); The Wit-Lesses (background vocals).