Home / Events / Jazz Tuesdays/The Moonrise Club: Icy Hot Club

Lineup: Icy Hot ClubThe Icy Hot Club is a Los Angeles-based group that plays modernized Gypsy Jazz music in the style of Django Reinhardt. They often include re-worked versions of contemporary pop and rock songs, alongside traditional Gypsy Swing, with 3 part vocal harmonies. Generally consisting of two guitars and upright bass, The Icy Hot Club adds violin, clarinet, and/or drums as the situation calls for. Los Angeles native Ethan Emerson began playing guitar at age 13. He studied classical guitar with Mesut Ozgen at U.C. Santa Cruz, and then jazz guitar at UCLA with jazz legend Kenny Burrell and guitarist Anthony Wilson, son of legendary bandleader Gerald Wilson and guitarist for Diana Krall. During his time at UCLA he led his own jazz quintet, which performed at jazz clubs throughout Los Angeles, including the Jazz Bakery in Culver City. He also has written and recorded music for television, including a song on CBS's hit TV show How I Met Your Mother. Guitarist Ray Bergstrom started playing gypsy jazz in 2010 when he discovered a passion for this beautiful, expressive music. He is happy to have found a home in the music of Django Reinhardt. When not playing and singing with The Icy Hot Club, Ray can be found adding gypsy guitar to folk roots orchestra The Dustbowl Revival and electric guitar to jam rock group The Nikhil Korula Band. Ray has studied with John Jorgenson, Denis Chang, Frank Gambale, and Dave Celentano. "Part of a Westside retro-jazz-loving scene that also includes Dustbowl Revival, The Icy Hot Club repertoire includes Django Reinhardt-Stephane Grappelli classics “Minor Swing” and “Stompin’ at Decca” as well as jazz chestnuts like “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing.” But what sets them apart is how they recast pop tunes like “Sweet Dreams,” “Cantina Band” from “Star Wars” and Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” in gypsy jazz settings. “It’s faster, it’s more exciting, it’s more passionate than playing straight-ahead jazz,” Emerson says, struggling to explain the music’s appeal. “It’s really fun to play and improvise over." – Bliss, Pasadena Weekly