Pearl Django

Pearl Django
Pearl Django at Bastille Day (2008)
Background information
Genres	Gypsy swing
Years active	1994-present
Labels	Modern Hot Records
Members	Tim Lerch Michael Gray Rick Leppanen David Lange Jim Char
Past members	Neil Andersson Troy Chapman Ron Peters Greg Ruby Pete Krebs Dudley Hill Shelley D. Park David Firman Ryan Hoffman

Pearl Django is a jazz group established in 1994 in Tacoma, Washington by guitarists Neil Andersson and Dudley Hill, and bassist David "Pope" Firman. The group's stated focus is to incorporate the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli with American swing music. Initially a trio, they have changed and added members over the years and are now a quintet. Based in Seattle, they have played around the United States, as well as in France and Iceland.

They played at the prestigious Festival Django Reinhardt in Samois-sur-Seine and at Juan de Fuca Festival. They have played with Martin Taylor,Bucky Pizzarelli and Gail Pettis, the two-time recipient of the Earshot Jazz ‘Jazz Vocalist Of The Year’ award. The British virtuoso Taylor turns up on three tracks of their 2011 album Eleven. On their 12th album, Time Flies, released 2015, all but one of the tracks are their own compositions, except one that is a classic bossa nova.