The Hot Club of Los Angeles
The Cinema BarSepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles 90066
The Hot Club of Los Angeles returns to The Cinema Bar, where the Los Angeles quintet has maintained a long-running Monday residency. The listed band brings Josh Workman and Jake Bluenote on guitars, with Bluenote also singing, alongside Carl Byron on accordion, piano and vocals, Paul Eckman on upright bass, and Jim Doyle on drums and percussion. Their set centers on the group’s “nuevo Django” approach: Django Reinhardt-rooted gypsy jazz expanded with French chanson, Roma songs, bossa nova, jazz standards, film music and original compositions.
Formed in Los Angeles in 2011 by local working musicians, the Hot Club is known for giving the classic Hot Club sound “a unique and modern” treatment. Culver City News calls its energy “rousing, joyous and infectious,” while the Santa Monica Daily Press calls the players “masters, individually and collectively,” adding that it is “hard to stop smiling all night.” The ensemble served as house band for Jackson Browne’s Artists for Peace and Justice benefits in 2017 and 2018, backing Jeff Bridges, Adam Sandler, Gaby Moreno, Jack Black, T-Bone Burnett and Petra Haden, and has also accompanied Devo’s Gerald Casale. Glide Magazine hears “dazzling guitar and keyboard solos” in music it calls “gypsy jazz made new again.”
The Cinema Bar’s defining feature is its long-running place in Culver City’s music life: the family-owned bar has been serving drinks since 1947 and regularly hosts live bands. In the main room, acts play from a small corner stage beneath string lights and dark wood paneling, with barstools close by; the music can spill onto a covered patio. It’s a working bar as well as a show room, so expect drinks and conversation around the performance. The bar does not serve food, but visitors report bringing takeout from nearby spots. Recent listings describe live music with no cover, though check the night’s details before heading over. The venue’s website lists its address as 3967 Sepulveda Boulevard, Culver City, and current information supports that it remains open there.