Hot Club of Detroit turns up the heat at ECC
The Elgin Community College Visual and Performing Arts Center's SecondSpace Theatre will be transformed into an intimate bistro featuring the gypsy-jazz stylings of the Hot Club of Detroit on Friday and Saturday, March 5-6. The five-piece ensemble performs at 8 p.m. on both nights at the arts center, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.
For more than seven decades, combos called "Hot Clubs" have channeled the gypsy jazz sound of French guitar virtuoso Django Reinhardt. Since Reinhardt founded the first Hot Club in Paris in 1934, the combos have spread throughout the globe - in Tokyo, San Francisco, Seattle, Sweden, Norway, Austria and other locales.
Hot Club of Detroit offers a fresher take on the tradition - substituting the violin with a saxophone and an accordion, and incorporating a more modern jazz sound. Since its founding in 2003 by lead guitarist Evan Perri, the group quickly rose to prominence, garnering critical acclaim and five Detroit Music Awards. Their current release is 2008's "Night Town."
"We kinda use the gypsy jazz thing as a springboard for all these wonderful ideas we have in our heads that we've grown up with here in Detroit," Perri explains. "In the future, I'd even like to incorporate some Motown stuff into this type of music."
Audiences are encouraged to enjoy a French-themed preconcert gourmet dinner prepared and served by students of ECC's award-winning Culinary Arts and Hospitality Institute of Elgin. The menu includes a starter of potato leek soup; a choice of steak au poivre with potato celery root purée, shrimp De Johnge over penne pasta or haricot vert; and a dessert of chocolate mousse. The cost of the dinner is $19 per person.
Seating is available for $20 per person on March 5 and $25 on March 6. Tickets for all performances in the ECC arts center are available online at tickets.elgin.edu or at the ECC box office located in the arts center. Box office hours are noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. To purchase tickets by phone, call (847) 622-0300. All major credit cards are accepted.
For more information about the ECC Arts Center, visit elgin.edu/arts. Video clips of upcoming artists and events can be found at youtube.com/ECCArtsCenter. Connect and talk to the arts center on Standing Room Only, a blog at eccartscenter.com/. The arts center also can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/ECCArtsCenter.
Spartan Drive, from McLean Boulevard west to Renner Drive, is closed due to construction and is expected to reopen in May.
Motorists may use either Fleetwood Drive or Weld Road to Second Street as an alternate route. From the west, motorists entering Spartan Drive from Randall Road will be detoured north onto Renner Drive to access the campus. For information, visit elgin.edu/maps.