Victrola Voilà! (yes, the exclamation point is part of the band name) was first formed by guitarist Melanie Moralez in Montana in 2022. After relocating to Rochester, NY in 2024, she re-formed the group with Brian Williams on bass, Jim Santa on guitar, and Gavin Rice on various instruments, including drums, guitar, and banjo.
The band focuses on playing a Django Reinhardt repertoire, which can be described as 1920s, 30s, 40s Parisian swing/hot club/jazz manouche with a bit of old timey blues, French musettes, and vintage jazz standards included.
MELANIE MORALEZ (band leader, guitarist) has been playing guitar for much of her life and started focusing on this genre in 2016 as she co-formed Seattle-based bands Lulu Swing and Byron Street Swing. She was, later, also a member of the long-established band Montana Manouche. She enthusiastically attends "Gypsy Jazz"/Django camps all over the country, where she's had the opportunity to hear and learn from the masters. She's an avid jazz jam host and eagerly looks forward to continuing to contribute to the swing jazz manouche community in Rochester.
GAVIN RICE (banjo, guitar, and more) is an early jazz enthusiast and collector studying at the Eastman School of Music, where he majors in music education and jazz performance with a focus on upright bass. Passionate about the Jazz Age, Rice is recognizable for his keen, vintage, fashion stylings. He owns over 50 vintage instruments and is a proficient, multi-instrumentalist. He incorporates authentic period instruments into performances and educates others on the rich history of early jazz, aiming to revive interest in lesser-known figures beyond the genre’s giants. He brings a joyful, often comedic, voice to Victrola Voilà! by presenting as the band’s highly entertaining front man.
BRIAN WILLIAMS (bass) launched his musical career in 1972 with the Swamp Root String Band playing festivals and fiddler's conventions all along the Appalachians. Later, he joined the John Mooney Blues Band and toured for 10 years performing in clubs, festivals and concert halls from Maine to Chicago to New Orleans, sharing the bill with national acts; Muddy Waters, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Paul Butterfield and Asleep at the Wheel. In 1985 he joined “Bobby Henrie and the Goners,” performing Roots R’n’R, Rockabilly and Swing in honky tonks, dance halls and festivals coast-to-coast.
In 2000, he formed the French Jazz trio Lumière and later, the Djangoners playing “Gypsy Jazz” in the tradition of the great Django Reinhardt.
Brian also plays with the Bossa Nova Bradley Brothers, the Biltmore Commandoes and is now pleased to be part of the Rochester, NY incarnation of “Victrola Voilà!”
JIM SANTA (guitar) has been studying Gypsy jazz with Stéphane Wrembel for the past three and a half years, honing his craft in a style he deeply admires. Though not a career musician, this marks his first band experience since high school—many years ago. He’s thrilled to be part of such an incredible group and to share in the magic of making music together.
