Bozeman/Livingston-area band Montana Manouche plays Gypsy jazz, and from the outset this self-titled album jumps. The musicians are long-time pickers and accomplished alums of many musical endeavors who have been together for several years.
Nancy and Ray Padilla (violin and rhythm guitar respectively) are joined by Dave Sullivan, lead guitar, Jerry Linn, upright bass and vocals, and Amy Dickensheets, vocals. Together, they offer tons of tight instrumental work to complement Dickensheets’s trilly soprano, luring us onto the dance floor.
Because this type of jazz started mostly in France, it was called “manouche jazz” or “jazz manouche.” It zeroes in on the repertoire of famed Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt and French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, who together formed the popular Hot Club of France in the ‘30s.
These Montana purveyors of the genre know how to play it, too. Sullivan says he loves playing Gypsy jazz because of its “honesty, European flavor and upbeat tempo.” And – wait – there’s no drummer! Not necessary, folks. Linn and Ray Padilla marshal the meter just fine, thank you. Ray utilizes that certain guitar strum, or “la pompe,” that is endemic to Gypsy jazz, making it swing.
Nancy Padilla penned two of the tunes. Her “Let Your Yes Mean Yes” is first on the docket. It’s got lots of thunkin’ bass, meaty guitar chords and swingy fiddle before Dickensheets chimes in with her light vocal touch.
The gang gets bluesy on “Lullaby of the Leaves,” with its twangy and sweet Sullivan lead guitar; and the Reinhardt style regales us during the exotic instrumental, “Bossa Dorado.” Sullivan and Nancy share unison lead riffs on guitar and violin before striking out on their own breaks, while Linn and Ray cook on it. Cool!
Linn vocalizes on the snappy “Rosetta,” and Nancy’s instrumental waltz, “Le Grand Ciel,” with its silky guitar solo and soaring Grappelli-esque violin, engenders a dream-state. A really pretty one. I like it!
Visit montanamanouche.com.
– Mariss McTucker