Contact

Eve Polich

Hot Jazz DJ Extraordinaire

Authentic Jazz + Lindy Hop Dance Instructor

Old Time Music Promoter

evepolich [at] avalonjazz [dot] com

Even more New Years Eve Merriment...

MICHAEL ARENELLA AND HIS DREAMLAND ORCHESTRA

burlesque sensations Pandora and Brooklyn Baby Doll

the TAP DANCING MINSKY SISTERS

AND

JUNGLE JAZZ AND BELLY DANCE VIRTUOSO JULIA KULAKOVA...

PERFORMING ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31st to ring in the new year!

And it is FREE!!!

The madness, I mean, band- starts at 9:30 with a floorshow at 10:00.

There is a prix fixe menu or you can just hang around the bar.

at Cercle Lounge.

(241 W. Broadway at N. Moore Street)

please RSVP 212-226-6252

Michael says, "No longer need we pretend to be brooding in depression-era glamour... 

now it's for real - and how fashionable!

(fortunately for us however, hooch is still legal)"

Currently Listening To

Tears

Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli

from album Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli

Hard Travelin'

Woody Guthrie

from album The Very Best Woody Guthrie

Give My Love To Rose

Johnny Cash

from album Walking The Line: The Legendary Sun Recordings

Across The Blue Ridge Mountains

Flatt & Scruggs

from album Recorded Live at Vanderbuilt University

Stephane Wrembel

So...

I've been listing Stephane Wrembel's shows on here with a vague idea that he plays Django jazz. I knew he was good because someone whose taste I trust sent me his gig list. But, yeah, I had zero clue.

I went to see Stephane play last night at Barbes and I have to say...it was freaking amazing. It is like Spanish-rock and roll-Django-on-steroids-and-weed. He is very French and his hands get blurry quite a bit because they must play at about 40o beats per minute about 90% percent of the time.

Stephane Wrembel

Django Reinhardt

It is not difficult to imagine him morphing from gypsy jazz to straight out rock electric guitar rock solo, which he sort of hints at sometimes. 

I have been a Django lover for a long time, I listen to his music when I'm alone in my apartment cleaning , reading, staring into space. I listen to Django on long car rides, play his music for brunch and dinner guests. My favorite tunes are the slower ones: Peanut Vendor, Nuages, Manoir De mes Reves. Django is mellow, even when the beats per minute surpass the speed of light.

But Stephane, well! He is anything but mellow. His music is driving and virtuosic in a totally new way. He has completely embodied the spirit of a decades dead, two-and-a-half-fingered gypsy, but it is not imitation. It is homage and self-fulfillment simultaneously. That takes a lot of love. 

I enjoyed the drummer (Richard Lee) very much, his solos were baaaad and swung hard. The rhythm guitarist (Koran Hasanagic) was sort of hidden behind his hair but his supporting and solo work came through beautifully. The bassist (Cassidy Holden) hadn't played with them before, an unknown, dressed in all black, and sort of obscured by his instrument, he killed it. The whole band was featured and equally talented, by no means was it the "Stephane Show". 

I'll be back next week. Barbes is a wonderful little bar and if you can, I highly recommend getting your deprived little asses down there at 9:00 on Sunday, earlier if you want a seat.

Hound's Tooth: Tin Pan's latest!

Lettin' ya'll know that Tin Pan newest CD has just arrived at Jesse's door and soon we can all run out...to CDbaby and iTunes to purchase it. 

The CD is called Hound's Tooth and has their new and hopefully permanent bassist, the most-awesomest-ever Rob Adkins playin' on it. 

Jesse has uploaded a track to his blog.

Not sure what the price will be, but it will certainly be worth every penny. Gotta love Tin Pan.