July 25--Musical fashions have come and gone since Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli codified "gypsy jazz" in their Quintet of the Hot Club of France, in the 1930s.
Yet the lure of this idiom -- with its buoyant melodies and relentlessly chugging rhythms -- hasn't lost a whit of its power since then. Some bands play better than others, some cling more closely to the Reinhardt-Grappelli model than others, but the core appeal of this music easily transcends changing tastes and times.
The large crowd that packed the Green Mill Jazz Club on Friday night reaffirmed the point, paying close attention to the finely honed work of Occidental Gypsy, a quintet that champions age-old values of gypsy jazz.
Listeners hoping to hear an ensemble that pushed back against the conventions of the style or otherwise tried to redefine them may have been mildly disappointed. Unlike, say, the Hot Club of Detroit, Occidental Gypsy didn't remake this music with new ideas or aggressive, contemporary jazz improvisation.
Instead, the musicians of Occidental Gypsy emerged as classicists, above all celebrating the optimistic spirit that made Reinhardt-Grappelli an antidote to the tough times of pre-World War II Europe (and beyond). The suits and matching blue shirts that the members of Occidental Gypsy sported on stage may have struck a kitschy and unnecessarily nostalgic note. But what mattered most -- the music-making -- proved carefully considered and nimbly delivered.
The heart and soul of this band were wrapped up in the work of violinist Eli Bishop, who played at a level one sooner expects to encounter from a top-notch classical violinist in a concert-hall setting. Bishop's silken legato phrases, impeccable pitch and seemingly effortless technique in fast-moving passages represented the best of Occidental Gypsy's work and made him the focus of attention whenever he played.
This was especially true in "Tears," from the repertoire of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Bishop's deep-amber tone and rhapsodic way with a phrase suited the tune and elegantly rode the pulsing rhythmic backdrop of the band (with brothers Brett and Jeff Feldman on lead guitar and bass, respectively, plus vocalist-guitarist Jeremy Frantz and drummer Erick Cifuentes). Similarly, the Reinhardt-Grappelli staple "Minor Swing" provided an occasion for Bishop's free-flowing improvisation.
Yet for all the spontaneity that Bishop conveyed, his solos unfolded in carefully conceived ensemble arrangements throughout the band's first set. Rather than allow for extended cadenzas and rambunctious give and take, Occidental Gypsy opted for tautly pre-ordained conceptions of familiar repertoire. This showed the care and precision of the organization's work, but it also robbed the performance of a measure of spontaneity and surprise.
Even so, there were sonic pleasures to be had, particularly in an energetic, gypsy-jazz transformation of Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)," which opened the evening. More than once, vocalist-guitarist Frantz brought the large crowd to near silence through the warmth and openness of his singing, as in "Georgia on My Mind." Others may command bigger, brighter voices, but the heartfelt quality and reedy tone of Frantz's singing disarmed listeners.
The awkward lyrics to the band's "Gypsy Blues" could use some reworking, but the tune's high spirits certainly provided a lively finish to the set. Better still, Bishop's violin solo lent depth of sound and thought to a song that otherwise might not have seemed likely to accommodate it -- until he put bow to strings.
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic
hreich@tribpub.com
