Hot Club Mania at Sunset Series (July 9, 2026)

I really like Downtown Hopkins. I was early for an early show. So I decided to walk up and down Mainstreet, a street that has a lot going for it. The Star Tribune even highlighted the mile-long strip the other day, and what stood out to me was how diversified the commercial corridor is with small businesses like Black Stone Manor Clock Repair next to the knife Sharpening Center. There are multiple antique stores and dance studios. But what may be the crown jewel is the Hopkins Center for the Arts, a center that brings students from all over the metro for their productions and is sponsor of the Sunset Series at the city’s downtown park.

The summer concerts series starts at 7pm on Thursday evenings and runs until mid-August. I was there to catch Hot Club Mania.

If you like Gypsy jazz in the vein of Django Reinhardt, you will like Hot Club Mania, consisting of Glen Helgeson on electric guitar, Gary Schulte on violin, Jay Epstein on drums and Steve Pikal on bass. They are the kind of band that help make the Twin Cities such a diverse place, musically speaking, as they have dedicated their craft to an artform that was created in the 1930’s.

Hot Club Mania recently played the Twin Cities Jazz Festival and will be at the American Swedish Institute’s Cocktails in the Castle on September 25th. And although their music was created in the smoky clubs of Paris, the music fit quite nicely in a small downtown suburban park on a beautiful summer’s evening.

Hot Club Mania played quite a bit from the Reinhardt musical cannon, but they also played some of their own music from their 2009 Hot Club. One of the songs was “Blues de Paris” which was inspired after taking a tour of the Parisian sewers.

It was a treat to get up close and watch the group work together. They are built around Schulte and his violin, but each member had a chance to showcase their touch in regards to a musical style that is reserved, sophisticated, but still manages to keep your toes tapping as a few concertgoers got up to dance and a few parents sidestepped to the beat to prevent their toddlers from storming the stage.

It wasn’t all hot club jazz. They snuck in a Benny Goodman tune “The Smooth One.” They even played a little Texas Swing with “I Hear You Talking.” A personal and fan favorite was a Russian folk song “Dark Eye,” a song that gave the musicians the opportunity to add dramatic flourishes and send the crowd into the night with a little pep to their steps.

FREE SUMMER MUSIC SERIES IN DOWNTOWN PARK From local favorites to emerging new talent, the Sunset Series is a showcase for great talent from all genres. Join us Thursday evenings, mid-June though mid-August at 7pm in Downtown Park, 40 Ninth Avenue S, Hopkins. Bring a chair and some friends! If there’s rain, we’ll announce we’re moving indoors by 3pm day of concert.