Django's Birthday (Presented by Ranger and the Re-Arrangers)

Hot Club Swing musicians from around Puget Sound are coming together to celebrate Django Reinhardt’s 116th birthday! The concert will feature local band Ranger and the ‘Re-Arrangers’, plus several guest soloists will join the band for a few tunes each. Last year’s soloists played guitar, accordion, saxophone, mandolin, and violin. 

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

Ranger and the ‘Re-Arrangers’ evoke the spirit of a Paris cafe and the raucous energy of a Romani campsite. The evening will feature songs from their repertoire of swing standards, traditional European melodies, and of course, several of Django’s compositions. Says violinist Ranger Sciacca: “Our goal is to make this a fun variety show, featuring as many great musicians and different instruments as we can!”