A refreshing take on the legacy of gypsy jazz by a London based guitarist who has well and truly captured the spirit of those Hot Club days without any suggestion of plagiarism.
A new name to me, Diplock knows his way around the 'Macca' and manages to maybe bring it closer to the present without any disrespect to the past. He is aided and abetted by Thomas on bass, Oswald on rhythm guitar and an assortment of friends who make cameo appearances.
At first this dampened my enthusiasm as I'd assumed the musicians listed above would be le tout ensemble and my appetite was well and truly whetted. Nevertheless, their individual contributions are all beautiful and we had Diplock's Djangoesque playing holding it all together.
Rose Room was Joe Webb's only feature but he was on fire with guitars and bass providing support.
Ebarme Dich from JSB's St. Matthew's Passion may seem an unusual choice until you remember how Jacques Loussier got the cigar from doing just that. Kansas Smittys' 'Smitty' plays clarinet, his solo upping the tempo before it returns to a more secular setting.
Giacomo also blows hot on Just One of Those Things opening his solo with a quote from You and the Night and the Music before getting down to business.
In between these two numbers the leader impresses on I'm Confessin' - Django lives!
No guests on the next three. Cefalú moves out of Paris into bossa nova territory, a journey Django would probably have enjoyed. Interlude is a brief guitar piece. Both are Diplock originals. Je Ne Sais Pas Dire is a delightful waltz.
Amazingly, there's only one violin feature but, as it's Matt Holborn, it's been worth waiting for. I Can't Get Started is a tune that, even without the lyrics, always stirs the emotions. It's one of those songs that grab you and Matt and Harry do just that.
The album moves through the decades to bring in Kourosh Kanani for Jimmy Rowles' The Peacocks. An interesting finale to an enjoyable, if not groundbreaking, album (I've always felt that sometimes groundbreaking is just another name for musical vandalism!) Lance
www.harrydiplock.co.uk
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