About Café Musette
Café Musette enjoys an enthusiastic following in Connecticut and Westchester, NY. In an evening with Café Musette, you will hear the music and influence of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, French musettes, classic French songs à la Piaf and Trenet, traditional Roma melodies from eastern Europe, plus flamenco, tango, and of course, many American jazz and pop standards that were part of the repertoire of the Hot Club of France back in the 1930s and ’40s.
Café Musette features chanteuse and artist Noreen Mola, who, during a given show, might sing in five different languages, and guitarist Larry Urbon, a leading exponent of the style known as Jazz Manouche. The rhythmic pulse known as “La Pompe” (“the pump”) dominates the sound of Café Musette and all of gypsy jazz, and never fails to get feet tapping. Larry’s Selmer Maccaferri-styled guitars have a clear, punchy acoustic tone not commonly heard among American jazz guitarists. He is also a noted fingerstyle performer on the 7 string guitar — which enables him to sustain both chordal accompaniment and distinctive walking bass lines — and also, with a variety of alternate 6 string tunings, similar to Pierre Bensusan and Michael Hedges.
Jazz Manouche is the gypsy-influenced jazz brought into prominence by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli beginning in the 1930s. Over the past 25 years, this style has been enjoying a major revival all over Europe, in Canada, the USA, and even in Australia and parts of the Far East. The small town of Samois-sur-Seine, southeast of Paris, is the ‘Mecca’ of Jazz Manouche music for thousands, hosting the Festival de Jazz Django Reinhardt each June. Today, ensembles and individual artists such as The Rosenberg Trio, Basily, Bireli Lagrene’s “Gypsy Project,” Dorado and Tchavolo Schmitt, Angelo Debarre, Romane, John Jorgensen, and The Hot Club of San Francisco have extensive followings and perform at large venues every year in Europe, Canada, and the USA.
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page updated 10-18-12