The New Orleans Swingin' Gypsies embody the spirit of the classic swing era with a punk-rock twist that keeps the dancers on the floor. Crescent City native John Saavedra — a NOCCA graduate — channels Django Reinhardt into an energetic, New Orleans-inflected guitar sound, while partner Giselle Anguizola brings evocative vocals and tap dance, backed by a rotating cast of players.
The band has roots in both San Diego and New Orleans; Saavedra founded the group around 2014, and they split roughly 40 gigs a month between the two cities. They've been heard on ESPN's Monday Night Football and NCIS, and featured by WWOZ, OffBeat, and the French Quarter and Gretna festivals.
Their 2019 album Hot Boudin, produced by Randy Crafton, earned an OffBeat Best of the Beat nomination for best traditional jazz album. OffBeat praised their Django recordings as "faster, brighter, sprightlier and livelier than the originals."
