Gypsy Swing Review

Mark O'Connor's second CD with his Hot Swing Trio is more than just a salute to the late, legendary jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli; it firmly establishes as him as a bona fide jazz violin virtuoso, thanks to being distributed by a major label this time around. The capable guitarist plays gypsy swing a la Django Reinhardt without sounding like a clone; bassist , who spent a decade as a member of Grappelli's rhythm section in his last years, provides a perfect match for his two bandmates. Each member of the trio contributed originals to the session. O'Connor's "In Full Swing" is absolutely breathtaking, while it is fun imagining how Grappelli and Reinhardt might have interpreted his enticing "Stephane and Django."

Hard swinging, original, all-acoustic gypsy jazz straight from New Orleans! The New Orleans based Russell Welch Hot Quartet plays an exciting, fresh version of swing-era jazz in the style of the great gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. The group's first release (all original music), Showarama Hot Trio, was nominated "Best Traditional Jazz Album" by the New Orleans Offbeat Music Awards who called the playing, "masterful," and a review by Offbeat Magazine stated, "This is no easy listening outing but instead, the kind of spiritually dense record that sparks the mind to be sharper, the tone to be warmer, the heart to be more open."…