Jazz musicians gather to honor icon

Published 10:58 am Sunday, January 24, 2016

Gypsy jazz musicians from around Puget Sound will celebrate Django Reinhardt’s 106th birthday with an evening of music from 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Treehouse Café.

The party will be hosted by local gypsy jazz band Ranger and the Re-Arrangers and will feature guest appearances by Chris Laughbon on trombone, Sue Anderson on clarinet, Michael Gurule on alto saxophone and Barbara Hume, John Willett and Ann Parker on vocals.

There is no charge to attend; donations are welcome.

Reinhardt was an itinerant Gypsy who earned international acclaim in the 1930s. Many of his compositions became jazz classics, and he is considered one of the top guitar soloists of all time. Duke Ellington referred to Django as, “the most creative jazz musician to originate anywhere outside the United States.” Decades later, Jerry Garcia said, “Even today, nobody has really come to the state that he was playing at … nobody plays with the whole fullness of expression that Django has.”

Django passed away in 1953.

Ranger and the Re-Arrangers is led by violinist Ranger Sciacca. In 2011, the group performed at North America’s top gypsy jazz festival, Djangofest Northwest.

The evening will feature songs from their repertoire of swing standards, traditional gypsy melodies and, of course, Reinhardt’s compositions.

“Our goal is to make this a really fun event with tons of amazing guest musicians and different instruments,” Sciacca said.