10 years is a long time to do anything, and Mississippi Hot Club has done it! Here’s their story from the last decade….

 

Like many musicians who play the music of Django Reinhardt in the US, Mississippi Hot Club was spurred by a love for bluegrass picking. It was around 2013 when MHC lead guitarist, Joshua Parlanti, and former rhythm player, Luke Zupan, were at home working out an old-timey tune, when Luke asked, “Have you ever thought about doing Django stuff?” But Josh recalled “Limehouse Blues” by Reinhardt, and at the time, playing jazz manouche seemed like an insurmountable task.

 

As Josh and Luke toyed with more approachable Django numbers, such as “Minor Swing” and “Dark Eyes,” they were active in the bluegrass band Natural Gadget, with Ian Stenlund, his brother Kai, and JP. The group played at clubs like Nomad for a couple years, and have one recording to crystallize that moment in time.

 

Eventually, Josh and Luke’s love for Django led them to add more gypsy jazz songs to their repertoire. As members of Natural Gadget moved out of town, Josh and Luke found new musicians to collaborate with who had a similar budding interest in the genre. Craig Sandberg joined the fold playing upright bass. Excited about their progress, they began the search for a violin player to complete the true Hot Club ensemble. Craig knew of a classically trained violin player, Alissa Jacobsen, who was also playing in old-timey bands in the area.

 

Alissa was not familiar with jazz manouche, and when agreeing to join the group, thought that she was joining a punk group a la Gogol Bordello. She took to the songs and improvisational style immediately – and now Alissa filled the space beside Django that Stephane Grappelli once did.

 

After compiling enough songs for a live set, their first show as a band with Josh, Alissa, Luke, and Craig was held at now defunct Honey club, opening for now long-time collaborators The Gentlemen’s Anti-Temperance League. During this time, MHC live sets were a mix of bluegrass and gypsy jazz.

 

With this line-up, they recorded their debut album, Hidden Willow Farm, recorded in a barn at Alissa’s grandmother’s farm in 2014. Josh was the engineer.

 

Not long after their first gig and recording, Craig announced that he would be moving out of state. Josh called Ian and asked for the phone number of a bass player that Ian knew, Jason Stanek. Ian told Josh that he would give him the number if he could play rhythm in the band as well. Ian had learned the la pompe style of rhythm from his buddy in high school, Sam Miltich, who by that time was a world-wide-recognized gypsy jazz guitarist. Josh agreed, and now MHC had two rhythm guitar players and a new bass player for a time.

 

Jason didn’t stick around long, and Joseph Downing saw MHC perform at 331 Club. He mentioned wanting to play bass with MHC, so Joe entered as Jason left. This was also a pseudo reunion, as Josh, Luke, Ian and Joe are all from the Iron Range town of Grand Rapids, MN (Alissa is originally from Stillwater, but we call her our surrogate Grand Rapidian). This line-up continued for many years. In 2016, they recorded Flour & Sawdust on the 2nd floor of a duplex that Ian was renting. This record was engineered by Kai Stenlund, and mixed by Kai and Josh.

 

Just one year later, in 2017, MHC booked their first session at a professional studio, Wild Sound Recording Studio, where they produced Swing Cities with Steve Kaul behind the board. Josh and Ian then mixed the record in a basement that Josh was renting in Uptown. As a matter of fact, after returning the mixes to Steve for mastering, Josh was hired as an engineer at Wild Sound.

 

Throughout this time, they performed at venues and festivals in the Twin Cities and in Wisconsin, including Twin Cities Jazz Fest, were hired to play several weddings and other private parties, and curated the annual Prohibition Swing Night, first at the Bedlam, then several at the Hook and Ladder.  They began to fully develop their current sound during a residency at Palmer’s Bar when Josh primarily played electric guitar and the band began to stretch out the solo sections, resulting in a unique, somewhat modernized interpretation of the Hot Club sound.

 

Now, when they are on stage together, MHC has the connection and energy that only a 10 years of playing together can create. Come celebrate a decade of music with us at the Hook and Ladder Theater on January 25th!

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