Hot Club of Baltimore with Alexis Tantau

Description

Founded by acclaimed guitarist Michael Joseph Harris in 2013, The Hot Club of Baltimore has quickly become the premier Django Reinhardt style swing band in the U.S. The captivating Alexis Tantau brings the added dimension of French vocals to the group for Passport to the World Series this Spring.  Alexis Tantau and the Hot Club of Baltimore will perform songs from jazz manouche (French Gypsy Jazz). Soloist Tantau will be accompanied by Hot Club members Eddie Hyrbyk, bass, Michael Joseph Harris, guitar, and Sami Arefin, guitar.

Since making the transition from classical singing to jazz, Tantau has taken the Baltimore/Washington jazz scene by storm. She has performed at Germano's, Petit Louis Bistro, the Creative Alliance, and the French Embassy among other venues. Her renditions of famous French songs by the likes of Edith Piaf, Eartha Kitt, and Charles Trenet, wonderfully compliment the World War II era vibe of the Hot Club and show off Tantau's vocal timbre and French diction. She can be heard on the group's last album, Place de Brouckère, released this past summer and their upcoming album, Coquette, coming in March.

French Gypsy Jazz style, or "jazz manouche", is attributed to Belgian born Jean Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt. Django founded the Quintet du Hot Club de France in Paris in the 1930s. A main characteristic of gypsy jazz, in addition to string instrumentation, is the use of rhythm guitar in place of drum.

See more at hotclubofbaltimore.bandcamp.com