Gypsy Jazz with the Piedmont Hot Club

Brad Cokendolpher (guitar) is the founder and leader of The Piedmont Hot Club. Brad began his musical journey in the fourth grade with bluegrass banjo, inspired by his great uncle. He later picked up the guitar in college and has since been in a number of bands in the Piedmont region including the Hot Club of North Carolina, Clare Fader and The Vaudevillians, and as multi-instrumentalist and vocalist with The Darnell Woodies.  Django continues to be his greatest musical inspiration.

Martha Bassett (guitar) has fronted multiple NC bands, playing swing, bossa nova, and Americana music. She hosts The Martha Bassett Show, which is a bi-monthly live musical variety show at the Reeves Theater in Elkin that features national, regional, and local musicians. TMBS is currently broadcast on radio throughout central and western NC, TN, KY, and VA.

Patrick Lawrence is a bassist, composer, producer, and arts administrator based in North Carolina. Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, he graduated from Vandercook College of Music in Chicago and spent many years performing in Chicago’s jazz and improvised music scene before relocating to the South. Lawrence performs widely throughout the region in Americana, jazz, swing, and roots music settings, including regular appearances with Martha Bassett and The Martha Bassett Show. In addition to performing on double bass, he serves as producer and manager for the acclaimed live music series at the Reeves Theater in Elkin, North Carolina. His work is known for blending strong jazz foundations with a collaborative Americana sensibility.

Gabriel Pelli is a violinist and guitarist, born in Switzerland, and living in North Carolina.   He is the founder of Onyx Club Boys, a band fusing the Gypsy Jazz style of Django Reinhardt with the NY Swing of Stuff Smith.  He’s also the director of the Carrboro Django Reinhardt Festival, which brings the best of Gypsy Jazz music from all over the world to NC.  He’s also a dedicated teacher, husband, and father of twins.   

Django Reinhardt was the first major jazz musician to emerge from Europe, and he is still considered one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time.

This is despite the fact that he played without the use of the third  and fourth fingers on his left hand after they were badly damaged in a  caravan fire while he was still a teenager. 

Reinhardt was born into a Manouche Romani family in Liberchies, Belgium 1910.

After developing an interest in jazz and listening to American stars like Louis Armstrong, he formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France, which he fronted with the violinist Stéphane Grapelli. 

Django was the leader of the Jazz Manouche style that originated in Paris, France, in the 1930s. It is typically played by a small-group jazz ensemble and shares some  characteristics and influences with other styles of jazz, like swing  and bebop, but retains its own distinctive sound, repertoire,  instrumentation and subculture.