Track Listing

1. Nature Boy
2. I'm Confessin'
3. Gypsy in My Soul
4. Nuages
5. Lover Come Back to Me
6. Lullaby of the Leaves
7. Until
8. April in Paris
9. Caravan
10. The Lonely One
11. Night and Day
12. You and the Night and the Music
13. Django's Premonition (Anouman)
14. I Cover the Waterfront
15. S'Wonderful / Dizzy Atmosphere

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60836 in Music
• Released on: 2004-12-03
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
"Hot Club Swing" in the style of Django Reinhardt, with vocals! Jazz vocalist Connie Evingson sings with three different Hot Club groups: Pearl Django, Parisota Hot Club and Clearwater Hot Club. This CD features tunes typical of the genre ("Caravan", "Night and Day", "I'm Confessin"), Django originals ("Nuages", "Anouman"), and some unusual offerings by Sting ("Until") and Dizzy Gillespie ("Dizzy Atmosphere").

Amazon.com
With Gypsy in My Soul, Connie Evingson goes from cool Beatles to hot jazz. As a follow-up to her Let It Be Jazz, Evingson pays tribute to one of the most distinctive and wonderful sounds in jazz history, the French hot clubs of guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930s and '40s. Assisting her are three different bands, Parisota Hot Club and Clearwater Hot Club from her Minnesota home and Pearl Django from Seattle. All have the guitar-led sound just like Django Reinhardt, while Clearwater and Pearl Django add the violin that also helped make the Django sound distinctive (in his case, most famously by Stephane Grappelli). (Parisota substitutes a clarinet, which was a lesser-known aspect of the Django sound.) The groups' sound is also supplemented by accordion (Dan Chouinard and Patrick Harrison), vibes (Susan Pascal), and other instruments. Gypsy in My Soul isn't a note-by-note re-creation: Django didn't use vocals (Evingson provides lyrics to his "Anouman" music for "Django's Premonition" and she sings Susannah McCorkle's lyrics to his "Nuages"), and though he did perform American standards, those wouldn't have included Sting's "Until" or the Nat "King" Cole hit "Nature Boy." But it's a fun listen on its own terms, and might open up a new audience for Django. --David Horiuchi

Rick Mason, City Pages, November 24, 2004
With her own delicious sense of swing, silken phrasing, and sense of adventure, Evingson really nails Django's spirit.

Customer Reviews

SHADES OF DJANGO
This is a stunning album, which succeeds vocally, instrumentally, and in its choice of repertoire. From the start, it's apparent that the gypsy of the title is the Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt. The spirit of the Hot Club Of France, and Django's urbane partner Stephane Grappelly, is most apparent in the accompaniments by Pearl Django, and the Clearwater Hot Club, both of which include a violin in the line-up. Those by the Parisota Hot Club substitute a clarinet, a la Hubert Rostaing, and the Gallic flavour is enhanced by the occasional accordion. The title song, to which Connie gives a coloratura introduction, opens and closes with the familiar sound of Minor Swing, and "April in Paris" and "Nuages" deploy French lyrics, the latter written by Susannah McCorkle.

There are half-a-dozen standards here, but other songs are no less noteworthy, not least Sting's "Until", which Connie sings in a delightfully laid-back folksy style, whilst Arthur Schwartz's lovely ballad "You And The Night And The Music" is given a Latin-American beat. Sigmund Romberg's classic "Lover, Come Back To Me" is taken at a fast tempo, with a chugging guitar rhythm, and sounds more like a celebration than a refrain for a lost love. But that's a minor cavil, which is more than outweighed by the treasures on offer, including scat singing that is a treat to listen to (and you won't hear me say that very often!).

Great cd
Perfect especially if you like Hot Club-music. And Connie has a fine voice as usual. / Bertil (Sweden)

Gypsy Jazz lives
Connie Evingson has never sounded better in this tasty collection of gypsy infused tunes. Backed by three different groups, this unapologitically romantic effort is full of infectious rhythms and solos. Whether it is a song aimed at the heart or the feet, Gypsy in my Soul will lift your spirits. Makes you want to grab your Gitanes and head for a late night cafe.