Evan Perri

Lead Guitar

Although he claims to have no Gypsy blood in him, Hot Club founder Evan Perri spent nearly six years roaming the campuses of five different colleges in search of the right music program. He studied jazz at Berkelee College of Music, Musictech College in Minneapolis, and Western Michigan before settling in at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is the son of a jazz guitarist, but Evan did not pick up a guitar until age 16 and never heard a Django Reinhardt recording until his twenties. However, while still a fan of greats like Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell, he vividly remembers hearing Django for the first time and thinking, "This is it. This is what I've been looking for." The HCOD was born out of his desire to recreate the sound he describes as "Parisian Café 1936, but with better sound equipment" in Detroit. A dedicated student of Reinhardt and the gypsy guitar tradition, Evan is currently playing the "Model Jazz" guitar made by Manouche Guitars.