COYLE — Concerts in the Woods will begin the new year with an old favorite, the Gypsy jazz band Ranger and the Re-arrangers.
The group led by Ranger Sciacca on the violin will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Laurel B. Johnson Community Center, 923 Hazel Point Road. Admission will be by donation.
Complimentary cookies and coffee will be served at intermission to guests.
“I first saw Ranger at age 7 or 8 playing fiddle about 22 years ago while attending a music school recital on Bainbridge Island,” said series organizer Norm Johnson.
“He was amazing even then.”
His current work centers around Gypsy jazz — also known as gypsy swing or hot club jazz — which is a style of jazz music often said to have been started by guitarist Jean “Django” Reinhardt in the 1930s in Paris, France, Johnson said.
“The fast pace and clearly visible Gypsy rhythms set it apart from other types of jazz.”
In addition to Sciacca, band members are Dave Stewart, playing mandolin and singing; Jeffrey Moose, percussion and vocals; Neil Conaty, upright bass, and Mike Sciacca, rhythm guitar.
The band’s repertoire includes swing standards, traditional Gypsy melodies, the music of Django Reinhardt, and Ranger’s originals.
The Sciaccas formed the band in 2006 after a pilgrimage to the Django Reinhardt festival in Samois Sur Seine, France.
The band has now released four CDs and performs more than 100 times each year at music festivals, concerts in the park, swing dances, weddings and other events.
The band was a finalist for Best World Traditional Song at the Independent Music Awards in 2007 and 2010 and performed at Djangofest Northwest in 2011 and 2016.
For more on Ranger & the Re-Arrangers, see www.rangerswings.com.
For more about the Concert in the Woods series, see coyleconcerts.com.
