PREVIEW – Tatiana Eva-Marie Sings 30s-40s French Gypsy Jazz at Caffe Lena Thursday

“Gypsy jazz” singer Tatiana Eva Marie arrives at Caffe Lena (47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs) Thursday as an import with impeccable pedigree, a supple voice, warm onstage charm and a crackerjack band. 

Daughter of a Swiss-French composer father and Romanian violinist mother, she was born in Switzerland and raised there and in France. She came to New York and soon formed her Avalon Jazz Band, fine-tuning it to the agile, light-footed zip of classic Gypsy Jazz ala its inventors guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grapelli. 

Her violinist Gabe Terracciano also plays with the Turtle Island String Quartet including a summer show at SPAC’s recent jazz festival with Terence Blanchard’s expanded young band. Wallace Stelzer plays bass and Max O’Rourke plays guitar, sharing solo time with Terracciano.

Always ambitious, Eva Marie wrote the libretto for Swiss composer Gerard Massini’s opera “Eden Park,” and her latest album (of 10 since 2016) “Djangology” features lyrics she wrote for Reinhardt’s songs. Inspired by the Renaissance artist tradition, she earned a Master’s in medieval literature at the Sorbonne, and she designed the artwork for “Djangology.” She starred in Gerome Barry’s first feature film “Swing Rendezvous” based on her life in New York. And she is already performing live the songs for her next album – of songs from Disney films, sung in French. 

Highly telegenic, like the young Maria Muldaur, Eva-Marie’s YouTube videos have generated 80 million views.

Thursday marks her first Caffe Lena performance. Elsewhere, she’s earned rapturous reviews.

The New York Times dubbed her “The gypsy-jazz warbler.”

Downbeat noted, “Tatiana Eva-Marie and her Avalon Jazz Band explored the connection between Paris and New Orleans,” where the Gambit Weekly “Best of New Orleans” praised her this way: “The soft tones and playful energy vocalist Tatiana Eva-Marie employs while tackling the hot jazz styles of the 1930s and 1940s has earned her plenty of accolades both nationally and in her adopted hometown of New York City, where the Avalon Jazz Band is becoming a staple of a thriving Gypsy jazz scene.”

And New York’s Village Voice reported she and her Avalon Jazz Band  “…continue in the beloved steps of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, but with a contemporary and delightful American twist.”

Their Caffe Lena debut Thursday is presented as part of the Jazz at Caffe Lena collection and The Bright Series, thanks to Kevin and Claudia Bright.

7 p.m. Tickets $34.71, members $30.37, students and children $17.90; plus modest fees. 518-583-0022 www.caffelena.org