CONCERTS

77TH SEASON OF

national gallery of art | december 16, 2018

Upcoming Events of the SeventySeventh Season of The William Nelson 

Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin Concerts

Unless otherwise noted, concerts 

are held in the West Building, West 

Garden Court.

Daniel Schlosberg, piano

Jessica Aszodi, soprano

Russell Rolen, cello

Sung /  Unsung: Weill and Poulenc 

December 23, 3:30

Eric Mintel Quartet

East Building Auditorium

December 28, 12:10

Suchertorte Chamber Ensemble

Jeffrey Schindler, conductor

A Toast to Vienna in 3 /4 Time

A program commemorating 

Leonard Bernstein’s famous 

Young People’s Concerts 

December 30, 3:30

New York Opera Society

The Evolution of Fools: 

From Jesters to Buffoons

Celebrating Sense of Humor

January 6, 3:30

General Information

Admission to the National Gallery of Art 

and all of its programs is free of charge, 

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording 

equipment during the performance 

is not allowed.

Please be sure that all portable electronic 

devices are turned off.

—

Concerts are made possible in part 

through the generosity of donors to the 

National Gallery of Art through The Circle. 

Reserved seating is available in recognition 

of their support. Please contact the 

development office at (202) 842-6450 or 

circle@nga.gov for more information.

—

The department of music produced 

these program notes. Copyright © 2018 

Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington

Cover Peter Grippe, Jazz Musicians

(detail), 1945, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington, Reba and Dave Williams 

Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams

NGA.GOV/MUSIC
PROGRAM THE ENSEMBLE

Hot Club of San Francisco 

Paul Mehling, solo guitar

Evan Price, violin

Sam Rocha, bass

Isabelle Fontaine, rhythm guitar

Jordan Samuels, rhythm guitar

Hot Club, Cool Yule

December 16, 2018 | 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

The program will be announced from the stage.

The Hot Club of San Francisco is an ensemble of accomplished and versatile musicians 

celebrating the music of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli’s pioneering Hot 

Club de France with style and panache. The Hot Club borrows the instrumentation 

of violin, bass, and guitars from the original Hot Club, while breathing new life into the 

music with innovative arrangements of classic tunes and original compositions from 

the group’s superb lead guitarist, Paul Mehling. The Hot Club also features the amazing 

violin of two-time Grammy Award–winner Evan Price and a swinging rhythm section. 

To hear the ensemble live, or on any of its eleven albums, is to be carried back to the 

1930s and the small, smoky jazz clubs of Paris and the refined lounges of the famous 

Hotel Ritz. Often called Gypsy jazz, the music of the Hot Club of San Francisco has 

entranced audiences around the globe for over twenty years. Acoustic Guitar hailed 

the group’s playing as “intricate, scorching and often brilliant.” With frequent international and national tours — from Iceland to the Lincoln Center and the Monterey Jazz 

Festival — the Hot Club of San Francisco keeps this historic music fresh and alive.

Photo by Lenny Gonzalez

PROGRAM NOTE

Django Reinhardt is rightly hailed as one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived, 

but many people praising his accomplishments as a guitarist tend to overlook his roots 

in Gypsy culture and the musically fertile, polyglot Paris of the 1920s. Reinhardt and his 

companions used all these elements, along with American jazz, to create a new “Gypsy 

jazz,” but the Gypsy heritage seems to be its most important ingredient. Once you hear 

it, you can’t forget it. It is sophisticated, yet also has a sentimental quality. It is delicate, 

but the rhythms are played at breakneck speed. It has a swinging, jazzy feel, but many 

of the songs are waltzes. It is Gypsy jazz, and the popularity of this sometimes flamboyant, sometimes melancholy guitar music is growing around the world. Aficionados 

everywhere are forming bands, called Hot Clubs in honor of Django Reinhardt’s 

famous Quintet of the Hot Club of France.