Background information
An introduction (start here)
Is it a Maccaferri?
Or is it a Selmer?
The Internal Resonator
About Mario Maccaferri 
in English
in French
Selmer Primer
About François Charle
The Selmer Maccaferri book
Manouche-Tone Strings

Musicians
Paul Mehling
Raul Reynoso
John Jorgenson
Romane
Swing guitar links
 
 

the rest of the site
Paul Hostetter, luthier
Back to the main page

Email: click here
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Steve Royall's Django Reinhardt Swing Page was the first real page devoted to the subject, and has a special spot in my heart for that reason. He keeps tabs on the scene in Samois better than anyone, and has a nice bunch of op-ed pieces and reminiscences. And a few guitar ads too. Tell him Groucho sent you.

Norway's Hot Club Records is a good place to find some really terrific recordings. Never mind that the guy on their front page is playing a plastic guitar (that's not a Maccaferri). 

Iris Musique is a very impressive label from Paris that has all of Romane's albums, as well as a wild variety of other music: vintage swing by Reinhardt and Grappelli you cannot get elsewhere, a great deal of fabulous Brazilian music, show tunes, country blues, some musette accordeon. You have to go see for yourself. They sell CDs online there too. 

From Australia, Yaron Hallis's Hot Club Page has a great number of pages devoted to great gypsy and Klezmer musicians, a good adjunct to Steve Royall's Site, above. He also has links to where you can order CDs. 

From France,L'Echo des Cuillères, a new one well worth checking into.

  In no particular order...
  Some bands and players of note (who have webpages):

Hot Club of San Francisco
  My neighbors, my friends. See their page on my site, too.

Bratsch
   The first band to cross the gadjo/rom line in one piece. True pioneers, and 
     fabulous musicians.
. 
The Rosenberg Trio
   The maximum number of tasteful notes in the shortest period of time. 

Francis-Alfred Moerman
    Not quite a webpage, but includes good info (in French) and a message link. This man is
     extraordinary. I hope to offer a translation of a wonderful interview he gave a few 
     years ago in France's Trad Magazine. He has recorded a few times with Thierry 
     Robin, I highly recommend those CDs. 

Bireli Lagrene
    Yes, he has a webpage, small but a good start. Forthcoming, a page on his Dupont 
     guitars. 

Hot Strings
   Fere Scheidegger leads this fine band from Bern, Switzerland. A great guy, he 
      is swing central for the Alps. He also plays one of the earliest Selmers in
      existence. 

Robin Nolan Swing Quartet
   Few gadjos earn outright praise from Gypsies the way these guys do. 

Hot Club of Cowtown
  What?! Can this be? Another band from Austin? 

Raul Reynoso and the Rhythm Brothers
  This is a link from inside my own site. 

Frank Vignola
   A somewhat strange webpage, but a wonderful player with one foot in the manouche
     swing world, anyway. 

Howard Alden
   A longtime playing partner of Frank Vignola, Howard is less known for his 
    Django-style  playing, but I've heard him play both in the Django and Eddie Lang 
    styles with absolute authority. See his current Dupont on the details page. 
    Hear him play it in the Woody Allen film Sweet and Lowdown. 

8½ Souvenirs
  From Texas, with a decided goût français. Bonjour, y'all. 

Hot Club of Norway
   A band and a record label, too. All good.

Hot Club of Chicago
  A veteran outfit in the Windy City. On aiment du violon là. 

Orkest Polytour
     A highly regarded band from the Netherlands, and some really quirky translating! 

Latcho Drom
     The band, not the film*.  You need to click "Go To Summary" and then scan down to
     the Latcho link.

Erisson
     A fresh new French band with a nice page and some sound files thereon. Dit bonjour. 

Pearl Django
     From the Pacific Northwest, a very fine group with a major grip on rhythm! 

Henry Kaiser
     Henry has absolutely nothing to do with swing music - not even close. But he's
     my pal, he does play a Dupont MC 8½, and has a very unique musical life. 
     Have a look at this site. 

Paris Combo
     Featuring not only the formidable Potzi on guitar, but a bassist from Madagascar,
     this is one of the freshest coolest bands in a long time. Their second record seems
     to be easy to find. Whimsy and excellent musicianship, we like this. 

* I once bought a video of the film Latcho Drom very cheap. Now it seems it costs a lot more, even at Amazon.com. When I find a reasonable source for the film in video format, I'll post it here. Let me know if you know of a good source for it too.