Harmonious Wail
Resist Temptation
Range Records (www.rangerecordsusa.com)

The French café-gypsy jazz sound has gained traction with the emergence of Rupa and the April Fishes, the Hot Club of San Francisco, Pearl Django, and Pink Martini, and their fellow travelers. Since 1993, Madison, Wisconsin's Harmonious Wail (vocals, mandolin, guitar, upright bass, percussion) has explored vintage jazz and the insouciant Django Reinhardt-Stephane Grappelli blend of hot acoustic guitar and violin. Fronting sassy, sultry singer Maggie Delaney-Potthoff, Resist Temptation, the quartet's sixth release, tackles the American popular sound with original material, classics like Spencer William's 1917 "Tishomingo Blues," and some popping-hot, double-roasted rock chestnuts: Steely Dan's "Home at Last," The Band's "Unfaithful Servant," The Velvet Underground's "Who Loves the Sun," and Tom Waits' "You Can Never Hold Back Spring." With guests Howard Levy (harmonica, piano), David Bromberg (acoustic guitar), and additional session stalwarts on violin, slide guitar, accordion, and percussion, the Wail write a new page in the folk-jazz idiom. - Michael Stone

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