Come and enjoy your swing dance party on Saturday night!

Line-up:

Singer and Rhythm Guitar：Vince Vahram

Guitar：Doug Martin

Clarinet：Toni Moretso

Bass：Pikar Rozi

Drums：Nico MEGE

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China’s premier gypsy jazz ensemble, The Hot Club of Beijing was founded in Beijing, China on January 23rd 2010. This date not only marks the beginning of the band’s formation, but also marks the 100th birthday of gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt who is credited as being the creator of gypsy jazz as well as founder of the legendary band, The Hot Club of France, with violinist Stephan Grappelli in Paris, France in the 1930s. On this date in 2010 guitarist Vince Vahram (France) met clarinetist Toni Moretso (France) and guitarist Li Zhengkai (China) at a local jam session celebrating Django Reinhardt’s centennial. It was here that the three decided to start their own ensemble in tribute to the musical legacy started by Reinhardt and Grappelli, thus The Hot Club of Beijing was born.

Just weeks after the band’s formation, the three founding members were joined by upright bassist Pikar Rozi (Xinjiang, China) and the new quartet was solidified. Within months the ensemble was performing all over Beijing as well as throughout mainland China.

In 2013 HCOB expanded to a quintet when American guitarist Doug Martin (Lulo Reinhardt Quartet, John Jorgenson Quintet) relocated back to Beijing and became the band’s new lead guitarist. Later that year founding member Li Zhengkai relocated to France and the group took a turn by adding percussionist Claudi Azizaj (Greece) to round out the swinging rhythm section. The band downsized once again in 2016 when clarinetist Toni Moretso left China to return to Europe. As it stands today the Hot Club of Beijing is a power quartet with two gypsy guitars, upright bass, percussion as well as vocals.

The group continues to carry on the tradition of Django Reinhardt as well as perform American swing classics complete with vocals and full band arrangements. Additionally, the band can be heard playing traditional gypsy waltzes, fiery Latin pieces and even traditional Chinese and Italian compositions where guitarist Doug Martin occasionally plays mandolin to add a different tonality. The band has a wide ranging vocal repertoire as well where listeners can hear rhythm guitarist and singer Vince Vahram sing in English, French, Italian and Chinese.

Since its inception, The Hot Club of Beijing has been extremely active all over China. In 2012 and 2013 the band won the category for Best Local Band in the Beijing City Weekend Reader’s Choice Awards and HCOB have recently won the same category again in 2017 and remains the only jazz ensemble to have done so.

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