It's taken time for violinist Ranger Sciacca to find his path in hot club swing, a musical style dominated by guitarists emulating the style's forefather, guitarist Django Reinhardt.
"The obvious thing — which I think would lead some people to say, 'Is that even gypsy jazz?' — is that we don't have a lead guitar," said Sciacca.
Sciacca grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington, studying fiddle music and classical violin. Then, he discovered Reinhardt's band, Hot Club of France. The hot club or gypsy jazz style is a blend of European Romani folk music mixed with American swing.
When Sciacca came to KNKX in 2018, he brought his hot club band, Ranger and the Re-Arrangers: his dad, Mike Sciacca, on rhythm guitar; Dave Stewart on mandolin; Mick Nicholson on bass; Eric Vanderbilt-Matthews on sax and clarinet; and Jeffrey Moose on percussion.
Ranger admits their band isn't a standard hot club lineup.
"Even though Django did play with a lot of percussion players, later in his career, it's not thought of as traditional gypsy jazz, and you won't see very many gypsy jazz bands with percussion. We think we're still gypsy jazz. We think it's the feel of the music, it's the sound," said Ranger.
Ranger's early teachers noticed his knack for improvisation on violin, and they encouraged it. He studied with famed Pacific Northwest fiddle player Stuart Williams, whose background in Irish folk music pointed the way for Ranger to play in a more communal way, like a jazz musician. Williams also gave him his nickname.
"Sometimes we'd be playing with a band of five fiddlers playing it the exact same way, and then one of us would be noodling and making up stuff, and that would be me. So he called called me Ranger the Re-Arranger," Ranger said.
Mike said music has deep roots in his family, Italian immigrants who instantly fell in love with jazz.
"Very early in the [1900s], my mom's uncle and my mom's brothers, and my mom, as well, who is an arranger, came to America and got on the jazz bandwagon," Mike said.
Ranger had his biggest breakthrough in the world of hot club jazz when he and his dad traveled to the famous event, The Festival Django Reinhardt, in Samois-sur-Seine, France, the village where Reinhardt lived his final years. Ranger said it helped launch this band.
"We got back from that and said, we're even more in love with the music than when we left, and we were forming the band and looking for people that fall, and by the next summer we were playing dozens of shows," Ranger said.
Ranger and the Re-Arrangers also performed the jazz standard, "I Can't Give You Anything but Love," featuring the vocals of Dave Stewart. Ranger likes to feature a singer when they play for dancers because it creates a closer connection to vintage swing.
"Django played with a lot of famous American players, and sometimes would humor them by letting them put in a vocal track," Ranger said.
Not your typical hot club swing band, Ranger and the Re-Arrangers bring a fresh perspective to a celebrated tradition.
Songs heard in this episode:
- "Gypsy Moon"
- "Song for Mike"
- "Tchavolo Swing"
