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TUCSON WEEKLY, PUBLISHED ON MARCH 8, 2007:
Live
By GENE ARMSTRONG
Le Chat Lunatique
Le Chat Lunatique, Molehill Orkestrah, Pearl Handled Pistol
Club Congress, Friday, March 2
In Woody Allen's tragicomic masterpiece Sweet and Lowdown, Sean Penn's character, Emmet Ray, constantly
compares himself to, but never emerges from the shadow of, Django Reinhardt. It's doubtful that guitarist John
Sandlin, of the Albuquerque combo Le Chat Lunatique, is destined to a similar fate.
Sandlin (with matinee-idol good looks and nylon-string pyrotechnics) is obviously steeped in the gorgeous
gypsy-swing pioneered in the 1930s by the Belgian master Reinhardt, but he also proved himself a versatile player,
with a style all his own, when his band headlined an immensely satisfying concert last Friday night at Club Congress.
Even spiffier than the unsigned quartet's vintage suits, pencil moustaches and fedoras was the music, a combination
that included rowdy jump blues and Western swing, Sephardic marches and Latinized waltzes, Celtic breakdowns
and French romanticism...
...Violinist Muni Kulasinghe played Stéphane Grappelli to Sandlin's Reinhardt, and bassist Jared Putnam wailed a
couple of tunes, including the Bob Wills-style "Millionairess" and a version of Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher"
that didn't sound as if it had just been removed from mothballs. Most charming was Sandlin's arrangement of Erik
Satie's haunting "Gnossienne No. 1," which evolved from its stark, minimalist opening to embrace a reggae-tinged
syncopation. Sly and righteously swinging takes on "The House of the Rising Sun" and Paula Abdul's "Straight Up"
helped provide entry points for the diverse listeners in the house. Content neither to be a novelty act (Squirrel Nut
Zippers, anyone?) nor staid revivalists, Le Chat Lunatique proved they can rock the "hot club" while playing it cool.
Live
By GENE ARMSTRONG
Le Chat Lunatique
Le Chat Lunatique, Molehill Orkestrah, Pearl Handled Pistol
Club Congress, Friday, March 2
In Woody Allen's tragicomic masterpiece Sweet and Lowdown, Sean Penn's character, Emmet Ray, constantly
compares himself to, but never emerges from the shadow of, Django Reinhardt. It's doubtful that guitarist John
Sandlin, of the Albuquerque combo Le Chat Lunatique, is destined to a similar fate.
Sandlin (with matinee-idol good looks and nylon-string pyrotechnics) is obviously steeped in the gorgeous
gypsy-swing pioneered in the 1930s by the Belgian master Reinhardt, but he also proved himself a versatile player,
with a style all his own, when his band headlined an immensely satisfying concert last Friday night at Club Congress.
Even spiffier than the unsigned quartet's vintage suits, pencil moustaches and fedoras was the music, a combination
that included rowdy jump blues and Western swing, Sephardic marches and Latinized waltzes, Celtic breakdowns
and French romanticism...
...Violinist Muni Kulasinghe played Stéphane Grappelli to Sandlin's Reinhardt, and bassist Jared Putnam wailed a
couple of tunes, including the Bob Wills-style "Millionairess" and a version of Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher"
that didn't sound as if it had just been removed from mothballs. Most charming was Sandlin's arrangement of Erik
Satie's haunting "Gnossienne No. 1," which evolved from its stark, minimalist opening to embrace a reggae-tinged
syncopation. Sly and righteously swinging takes on "The House of the Rising Sun" and Paula Abdul's "Straight Up"
helped provide entry points for the diverse listeners in the house. Content neither to be a novelty act (Squirrel Nut
Zippers, anyone?) nor staid revivalists, Le Chat Lunatique proved they can rock the "hot club" while playing it cool.