The Soul of Paris is an exquisite work that features Douglas on upright bass, and Flagstaff guitar masters Ken Aurich and Larry Czarnecki. Violinist Allen Ames of Lyra is the featured guest on the recording.
CD Release party at Ken’s Creekside Sept. 3
Zazu will perform songs from their new double-disc CD The Soul of Paris at Ken's Creekside Sept. 3, 8-11 p.m.
There will be no cover charge.
Copies of The Soul of Paris will be on sale for $20.
Ken's Creekside and The Gypsy lounge are located in the heart of Sedona's gallery district, at 251 Hwy. 179.
For more information or to make reservations, call 928-282-1705.
Sedona's Steve Douglas has done many things in his life.
He's best known locally as an ace musician and owner of Artists In Rhythm, a company that provides made-to-order live wedding and event music in Sedona and Northern Arizona.
He's also been the district manager for nine restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area.
He also worked for Saga as a troubleshooter responsible for turning around numerous large accounts and feeding 5,000 Bank of America employees every day.
Douglas opened and handled seven food centers for Atari. He opened a State Farm Insurance firm in Santa Rosa, a Shaklee in San Francisco, and managed a crew through a major strike at Blue Shield.
But perhaps more than anything else, Steve Douglas is a realist.
The realist in Steve Douglas knew he was part of something special when his gypsy jazz trio Zazu fell into that oh-so-perfect groove a few years ago.
Realistically speaking, Douglas knew he couldn't count on that to last forever.
"Knowing that band chemistry, music interests and schedules can change, I decided the best way to preserve this was to record it professionally and release a first-class, well-designed recording," said Douglas.
The result is The Soul of Paris, a CD that is entrenched in the gypsy jazz sound of the legendary guitarist Django Reinhart. Recorded in Gregg Tauriello's Sweet 16 Studio in Cornville, The Soul of Paris is an exquisite work that features Douglas on upright bass, and Flagstaff guitar masters Ken Aurich and Larry Czarnecki. Violinist Allen Ames of Lyra is the featured guest on the recording, playing on about half of the 22 songs. Ames' presence, said Douglas, brought "fire, excitement and pure joy to the music and the atmosphere in the studio ... basically, Allan was on fire and loved the chance to play some gypsy-style music."
The double-disc recording was done in one lengthy session in mid-December. It's a "live" recording free of overdubs, fixes, pitch correcting, patches and all kinds of other technical wizardry so common in the recording industry today.
"We recorded it live sitting in a circle as if we were on a stage playing off each others' energy and visual cues," explained Douglas. "Friends of ours were in the studio that day watching the process, which they found fascinating."
Likewise, recording engineer Gregg Tauriello also found the process fascinating. "It was the first time I had recorded Django music and I was elated by the tones and the technical expertise of each of the players. I've been doing this for 18 years now and it takes a lot to impress me, and they impressed me. Not just in the technical sense, but they had this connection that most bands strive for. It seemed like they were all brothers. I was astounded by their energy. It was a 12- to 15-hour session, straight through, and their energy throughout was up and happy all day. It was pure joy."
"Pure joy" is probably the best description you'll find for the music of Django Reinhart. Zazu guitarist Ken Aurich, who has transcribed more than 100 Django and Django-type tunes, speaks of the music in reverential terms, calling it "truly honorable music."
The group's name, Zazu, explained Douglas, comes from the word Zazous, the young French bohemians in the 1930s who were huge fans of Cab Calloway's scat music. "During the German occupation of France from 1940 on, the Zazous frequented places where the hip jazzy gypsy music was played but always in fear of being arrested and shipped off to camps or jail. So, in tribute to them and the risks they took for the love of this music, we call ourself ZAZU. We love the name," said Douglas.
Of the CD's title, The Soul of Paris, Douglas said, "For the most part, the famous players of the day and the strongest compositions originated in Paris or were made famous there. Django Reinhart's groups were called Quintettes of the Hot Club of France, hot clubs referring to places to hear the 'hot' music of the day. There were many in Paris of this type. Today, around the world, there are 'Hot Club groups' in many cities including Tucson, headed by Matt Mitchell, and San Francisco, led by Paul Mehling."
