This article was originally published to coincide with DjangoFest 2007, which took place from May 30 through June 1 in Mill Valley.

It is the sound of joy: an acoustic guitarist spins rhapsodic melodies, delicately filigreed lines alternating with a sweeping attack. Behind him, two rhythm guitars and a bass provide a chunky, unstoppable beat. And a violin solo soars above them all, wrapping the punchy ensemble in a sweet coating like some decadent bon-bon.

It has been more than 70 years since Belgian guitar legend Django Reinhardt first solidified this sound, fusing small-group swing with Parisian musette and gypsy folk music to create something new and irresistible with his band, the Quintette du Hot Club de France. But the spirit of Django lives on through a legion of new groups, twelve of which will gather in the Bay Area for DjangoFest San Francisco 2007. 

This annual extravaganza of concerts and workshops begins Thursday, May 31, and runs over four successive nights at Mill Valley's 142 Throckmorton Theatre.

Gypsy swing, or "Django music" as it's often called, has been undergoing a renaissance over the past decade, with a particular concentration in the American Northwest. "I don't know how many bands there are," admits Nick Lehr, founder and director of DjangoFest. "It seems like every week I'm hearing about another one." The greater Bay Area alone is home to at least four "Hot Club" ensembles, while numerous other groups take the Reinhardt sound, if not the "Hot Club" name, as their inspiration.

Lehr is direct about the source of this lasting influence. "Django was a genius," he says. "Just like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis or Louis Armstrong. Certain people come along, and their voice is so clear, they make it sound easy and simple. Django's music is accessible. People latch on to the happiness of it. And I'll tell you, once someone hears it, they're hooked."

Embracing the Fun Spirit of Gypsy Jazz

Paul "Pazzo" Mehling is lead guitarist for the Hot Club of San Francisco, the best known of the Bay Area's gypsy swing ensembles, which has jus released its tenth album, "Yerba Buena Bounce." As enthusiastic when talking about his music as he is onstage, Mehling personifies the fun spirit of gypsy jazz... something not all of Django's acolytes tend to share. 

"If you go and hear real gypsies playing this music, they will not talk to the audience between songs," says Mehling, a touch of disapproval in his voice. "They will not tell you anything, they will not smile, they will not acknowledge applause. But in the HCSF, I want people to feel like they know us by the end of the show."

He continues: "A lot of the guitar players just play guitar, and then eventually it's the violinist's turn. It's very delineated. But in my band we'll comment back and forth when we're improvising, kind of like a ping-pong match, bouncing from one end of the stage to the other. We try to make it engaging for the listener, so they can feel like they're a part of it."

Mehling first got bitten by the Django bug as a kid, hearing old records from his father's collection. "I was a nerdy kid who wanted to listen to anything but what was playing on the radio," he says with a laugh. "Anything that had a swing beat just gave me goosebumps. That's still my acid test for if something's good or not: does it give me goosebumps?"

Diving Headlong into the Gypsy Jazz Revival

Mehling founded the HCSF in 1990, after a five-year period playing eclectic folk with Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks. The local Hot Club was one of the first groups to dive head-first into the gypsy-jazz revival. "There were bands before the HCSF," says Mehling, "but it was more of a lark for most of them. Nobody was even serious enough to get the right guitar, get a Selmer or a Selmer-style."

In Mehling's view, getting just the right guitar sound is crucial to nailing down the elusive gypsy swing atmosphere. He explains: "One of the things I think we contribute to the Gypsy Jazz movement is that sense of swing. A lot of bands are real interested in pyrotechnics, playing fast and playing hot and being amazing. But that's not the part of Django that I'm really all that interested in.

"I'm thinking, 'what would it be like if Django was still alive?' What would he be recording, what would he sound like? He died in 1953. A lot has happened since then! So we're trying to keep Django's spirit and memory alive, by playing his tunes and using his instrumentation, but we're also tweaking it for popular consumption in current times."

This new take on classic 1930s-era gypsy swing sometimes leads the quintet well beyond the standard canon of tunes recorded by Reinhardt. "Sometimes we get flak for doing a Beatles song or whatever, but most people seem to like the variety."

Lehr takes this philosophy further, and often uses his festivals as platforms to expand the gypsy swing genre. "You gotta push the envelope a little bit," he declares. "We want to include more audiences, but also to get the Django fans to open up to more possibilities. 'Django music' doesn't have to mean just one particular sound. Lots of musicians have drawn from him. I'm trying to bring something new into the mix and let some cross-pollination happen."

DjangoFest '07: Opera, Klezmer & a Wah-Wah Pedal

The 2007 DjangoFest lineup stretches boundaries with the Fishtank Ensemble, a quirky group that combines gypsy music with Japanese, klezmer, flamenco and operatic influences. And master guitarist Stephane Wrembel is bringing a new electric outfit with drums and organ that Lehr describes as "acid rock, jazz, gypsy and jam all mixed up. He's playing gypsy guitar through a wah-wah pedal!"

The festival also features several dynamic pairings. Croatian guitar virtuoso Kruno will share a stage with his Swedish counterpart Andreas Öberg on two nights, Dan Hicks will play with the band Hot Club Sandwich, and guitarist Frank Vignola will join the Robin Nolan Trio. Adding a local twist, straight-ahead guitarist Mimi Fox will appear alongside the Santa Cruz-based Hot Club Pacific.

Rounding out the schedule are Vancouver's Marc Atkinson Trio, along with locals Gaucho, Café Americain and the young violinist Annie Staninec. In the afternoons, many of the headliners will lead workshops and master classes, making DjangoFest something close to a full-immersion experience for the most dedicated fans.

Keeping Gypsy Jazz Alive

Putting it all together is a challenge even for Lehr, who started presenting Django festivals at Washington's Whidbey Island in 2001 and branched out to San Francisco three years later. 

"I'm still learning as I go," he says. "It's all about who's available when, and can I get enough sponsorship money to get airplane tickets together, that sort of thing. The festivals have never been hugely successful financially, but we manage to stay alive."

Although the audiences could be larger, the attendees are surprisingly diverse. "All types of people come out," says Lehr. "You have your hardcore Django guitar nuts, and people who like anything acoustic, or anything European. It doesn't really matter what your age or political persuasion or economics are, this music connects with everybody." Mehling concurs, wryly adding, "we get both kinds of people with blue hair."

When not touring or playing at events like DjangoFest, the HCSF pares down to a smaller group for local gigs, billing itself as Le Jazz Hot. "We usually leave out one rhythm guitar, but it's the same personnel," says Mehling. "In Le Jazz Hot, things are less formal. We can take more chances than we could in a big concert situation. It's a lot of fun, but not many people know about it."

Channeling a jazz legend while retaining a personal identity and sense of adventure on stage can be a tall order, but Mehling is both up to the task and humble about his part in keeping the music alive. "I don't profess to be Django Reinhardt," he says, "and I don't try to be him. Nobody can fill those shoes. Some of the guys out there are truly great. They're amazing guitarists and may even go down in history as being as great as Django. But they're still following him. And really, when someone is the first, they're usually the best."

Forrest Dylan Bryant is a jazz journalist and DJ based on the San Francisco Peninsula. He writes frequently for online and print publications and can be heard on Friday mornings as the host of "No Cover, No Minimum" on KZSU, 90.1 FM. You can visit him online at http://www.fojazz.com.