Evan Christopher Django à la Créole (Lejazzetal)

After Katrina, Mr. Christopher relocated to Paris for two years. There, he formed two new bands: Django à la Créole, featured on this CD, revisits the storied Hot Club band co-founded by guitarist Django Reinhardt, distilling and emphasizing that music's New Orleans elements. Mr. Christopher draws particular inspiration from Mr. Reinhardt's work with clarinetists, including Ellington sideman and New Orleans native Barney Bigard.

Beginning with the habanera beat dancing beneath "Douce Ambience," the bass and rhythm guitar of Mr. Christopher's drummerless quartet announce a strong rhythmic emphasis. But it's Mr. Christopher's finely calibrated control -- his fluid lines, piercing high notes, and exquisite quiver of vibrato -- and his rapport with the equally expressive guitarist Dave Blenkhorn that steal the show. This is repertory music of the best kind: informed by sincere study, yet never derivative; playful, more so than reverent; aimed at extending, not rehashing, a legacy.