Jazz Swing Quartet

Dinette Bio.
 
Dinette is a band that plays jazz primarily from the 1930s and 1940s.  The group formed in 2007 with founding guitarists Michael Rowley and Peter Kim.  John Cornes (bassist) was added soon after to make a trio while Libor Michalak (clarinet and saxophone) joined in late November of 2008 making the band a complete unit.
 
The band is comprised of Vancouver musicians and plays regularly around the lower mainland at festivals and events.  It is currently a regular at the Revel Room restaurant in Gastown.
 
Music of Dinette
 
The music Dinette plays is that of the french jazz characteristic of Django Reinhardt; Gypsy Jazz, also known by some as "Jazz Manouche" or "Gypsy Swing".  The style is characterized by the rhythm guitar which uses a special style of strumming known as "la pompe" that gives the music a percussive rhythm similar to the "boom-chick" of American bluegrass styles and creates a fast swinging feeling.
 
Django Reinhardt was the pioneer of this style with famous violinist Stéphane Grappelli.  He cofounded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Grappelli before World War II.  When World War II broke out the original quintet was on tour in the United Kingdom and Reinhardt returned to Paris. Grappelli remained in the United Kingdom for the duration of the war.  To replace him at that time Reinhardt reformed the quintet with clarinetist Hubert Rostaing.  Dinette follows this format.
 
Some of the songs Dinette plays are among Reinhardt's most popular compositions that have become jazz standards, including Minor Swing, Djangology, Stompin' at Decca,  Nuages, Duke and Dukie, Manoir de mes Reves, Dinette (the bands namesake) and many others Reinhardt recorded in that period.  Dinette also adds a few more contemporary surprises as well.