Hot Club de Hull

Hot Club de Hull play The People's Republic on Thursday 19 November, as part of the Hull Jazz Festival. It's a free entry night, so you can just turn up and listen without having to book anything in advance.

What they do is a mix of gypsy jazz and hot swing, and they draw on music from the 1920s onwards. If you're not familiar with those terms, gypsy jazz is that acoustic, string-led sound that started with Django Reinhardt in Paris between the wars—lots of fast, nimble guitar work and a swing that's more about the dancefloor than the concert hall. Hot swing is its close cousin, the kind of upbeat, driving jazz that kept people moving throughout the thirties and for years after. Together they make for a set that's more about rhythm and melody than long, abstract solos.

Because they work from the 1920s onwards, the set isn't just a trip back to a single decade. It's a broad look at that whole era of acoustic jazz, so you'll hear the early swing alongside the later developments that kept the style alive. It's the kind of music that works as well as background for a drink as it does for a proper sit-down listen, and the free entry means you can drop in for one song or stay for the whole thing.

It's one of the nights in the Hull Jazz Festival, which runs across the city, so this is just one part of a wider programme of jazz on in Hull around that time. The People's Republic is the venue, the date is Thursday 19 November, and entry is free.