COYLE — Gypsy jazz will start off the new year at the Concerts in the Woods at 3 p.m. Sunday.
“Our first concert of the new year has become a tradition to have Seattle’s premier gypsy jazz band, Ranger and the ‘Re-arrangers,’ start us off,” said series organizer Norm Johnson.
The matinee will be in the Laurel B. Johnson Community Center at 923 Hazel Point Road.
Admission is by donation. Sunday’s all-ages concert will offer complimentary cookies and coffee at intermission.
The band features Ranger Sciacca on the violin, Mike Sciacca on rhythm guitar, Mick Nicholson on bass and Jeffrey Mosse on percussion.
The Seattle band “evokes the spirit of a Paris cafe and the raucous energy of a Gypsy campsite with their version of Gypsy jazz,” it says on its website, www.rangerswings.com.
The band’s repertoire includes swing standards, traditional Gypsy melodies, the music of Django Reinhardt and Ranger’s originals.
Past performances have been at the Seattle Art Museum, Edmonds Concerts in the Park, the Burke Museum, Best of the Northwest Arts Festival, Vin du Lac Winery, Djangofest Northwest, Pender Harbour Jazz Festival and Ethnic Fest Tacoma.
Awards include 2007 and 2010 finalist for Best World Traditional Song at the Independent Music Awards.
Gypsy jazz, also known as gypsy swing or hot club jazz, is a style of jazz music started by guitarist Jean “Django” Reinhardt in the 1930s. Because its origins are largely in France it is often called by the French name, “jazz manouche,” or alternatively, “manouche jazz,” said Johnson.
Django was among a group of Romani guitarists working in and around Paris in the 1930s through the 1950s.
Gypsy jazz is characterized by upbeat, high-energy swing on acoustic instruments, especially guitar, violin, bass, clarinet and accordion.
For more information, contact Johnson at 360-765-3449 or see www.coyle concerts.com.
