Joe Craven

I can’t stop listening to multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven’s Django Latino. It is sooo good. Django Latino is a collection of compositions by the renowned Hot Club of France duo of guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli played by Craven “through a musical lens of Latin America.” “Minor Swing” is reworked as a Puerto Rican plena. Bassist Sam Bevans’ playing on this song is butter-smooth, and Rick Montgomery’s steel drums add a pretty touch. The well-known “Nuages” is both stately and sexy, played as a Cuban danzón, and the gorgeous ballad “Anouman,” done as a bolero, is muy romántico with Craven on violin and Matt Eakle on bass flute. Even Craven’s kids join the fun on “Double Scotch/Artillerie Lourde,” impossible not to love as a wacky playful cumbia, with Tom Schmidt on clarinet.