Everything old is new again (well, nearly everything) thanks to
these savvy, intrepid local hepcats. Gaucho — no, not a
Steely Dan cover combo — is a sextet consisting of acoustic
guitarists David Ricketts and Michael Groh, accordionist Rob Reich,
Ralph Carney on various wind instruments, bassist Ari Munkres, and
drummer Pete Devine.
Deep Night is sixteen standards/chestnuts (mostly from
the first half of the 20th century) played in the mode of Belgian Gypsy
jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt’s Hot Club de France and their
disciples the Hot Club of Cowtown and Hot Club of San Francisco. You’ll
likely notice a common thread: Hot, here denoting driving
tempos, vigorously rhythmic, invigorating swing, and sultry melodies.
Along with an assortment of expressive clarinets, Carney blows
scorching sax in the boldly big-hearted manner of pre-bebop players
Coleman Hawkins and Johnny Hodges, and growling trumpet à la
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington’s brass section. Think the accordion
is for squares? Reich’s squeezebox is the thick, tangy mayonnaise that
offsets the caliente generated by the rest. The guitarists
— heck, the whole lot — play fabulously with not a single
excess note.
This is jazz that wears its heart on its sleeve with plenty of
Saturday savoir faire and swagger and straight from (and to) the heart
of musicianship. In the a.m. or Deep Night, this’ll chase the
blues away posthaste. (Porto Franco Records)
