Paul Mehling
Paul Mehling (Dupont MD-50, Modele Selmer Guitar) is the founder of The Hot Club of San Francisco. He began playing the guitar at the age of six. Early on in school, Paul studied the bass and by age 16, he began violin lessons and was self-taught on the mandolin, tenor, and plectrum banjos. Influenced by The Beatles and his mother’s jazz records of Django Reinhardt, Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet, Paul decided to take his passion to the next level, and began studying jazz improv with trumpeter/educator Ray Brown. With this musical melting pot laying the foundation, it was only natural that Paul would make music his life.
Paul’s desire led him throughout the United States and Europe, where he found himself improvising on the streets. In his 20’s, he was a member of several bands, including the Hot Club of Friends, The Magnolia Jazz Band, and Jake Stock and the Abalone Stompers. Paul has since performed and played with swing practitioners, Serge Krief, Dan Hicks and the Acoustic Warriors, Maria Muldaur, John Jorgenson, Pearl Django, David Grisman, Howard Alden, Florin Niculescu, Christophe Lartilleux, Gonzalo Bergara, Angelo Debarre, Robin Nolan, and Bireli Lagrene to name a few. He has also made several television and radio appearances, most notably with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band on their syndicated radio show, “Riverwalk, Live From The Landing.” In the fall of 2003, he performed as an international guest artist for the First Annual Gypsy-Jazz Festival in New Caledonia. He has also served as co-producer of DjangoFest SF, a San Francisco Bay Area festival dedicated to gypsy jazz.
In 1991, Paul went out on his own and formed The Hot Club of San Francisco, which released its first CD in 1992, entitled, “QHCSF”. Since then, Paul and the Hot Club have released 13 CDs on various labels, five of which were produced by Paul. The group has been presented by the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center in New York, the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, Festival de Jazz in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and the Festivals du Django Reinhardt in Samois-sur-Seine, France and Akureyri, Iceland.
Paul has produced five volumes of an instructional video series for Homespun Tapes titled, “How to play Django Style Gypsy Jazz Guitar,” a project which was begun in 1997. He also enjoys occasional collaborations with his wife, dancer/choreographer Kerry Mehling, and her company, “Talismanic Physical Theater.”