About the Band

Sam Miltich and the Clearwater Hot Club are dedicated to preserving and performing the music of the late, great Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. Sam and his father, Matthew, have been performing since Sam first learned to play the guitar at age 13.
The Clearwater Hot Club was formally put together in the summer of 2003. The following November their first album, "Sammo: The Clearwater Hot Club" was released. After playing throughout the midwest and the United States, the group released a second CD in 2004 entitled "May Rain." Since that time, the Clearwater Hot Club has toured in the United States, Canada and Japan including appearances at Django Fest Northwest and the 1st Annual Ginza International Jazz Festival in Tokyo, Japan. Sam (lead guitarist) and Matthew Miltich (bassist) lead the group with Mark Kreitzer and Paul Miltich playing rhythm guitars. Other soloists extraordinaire join the Clearwater Hot Club including Don Vidal (saxophone), Tom Schaefer (violin), Olivier Manchon (violin), and Tony Balluf (clarinet).

Sam Miltich grew up in norhern Minnesota in a musical family. Gatherings in the Miltich home bring family and friends together to play music and sing. Sam has played music from a young age starting on the piano, learning to read and write music, then playing bass and tuba for his school's band. At age 14, Sam began to study the guitar seriously. Exposed to many styles of music, some of Sam's musical influences include: Django Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, Jimi Hendrix, Andres Segovia, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Maurice Ravel, Stevie Wonder, Stochelo Rosenberg, and Bireli Lagrene. Sam is a lover of all musical styles from jazz, to rock, to classical, to tamburitzan, to Brazilian bossa nova. At age 15, Sam heard Django Reinhardt's music in Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown" and knew he would dedicate his life to the music of Django Reinhardt and the art of the gypsy jazz guitar. Sam has played throughout the country as well as Holland, Germany, and Japan. He toured with David Grisman and the Stephane Wremble Trio in 2006 on Amoeba Music's "Gypsy Caravan." Sam played at the Lincoln Center in New York City as a member of the Robin Nolan Trio at a concert honoring Django with international musicians. Sam has also toured with Paul Mehling's Hot Club of San Francisco. Sam has shared the stage and bill with such great artists as the Ferre' Brothers, Angelo DeBarre, Dorado Schmitt, Fapy Lafertin, Ludovic Beier, Samson Schmitt, and Ken Pepolowski.

Matthew Miltich plays string bass along with son, Sam, in The Clearwater Hot Club. Matthew grew up listening to the swing music his father played as well as to Doc Evans, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and others. He also loved the tamburitza music of his Croatian heritage. In gypsy jazz he’s discovered what seems to be the perfect blend of stringed instruments with jazz rhythms and melodies. He’s an admirer of the great Ray Brown as well as jazz bassists Ron Carter and John Clayton. Matthew lives in northern Minnesota, a life-long resident of the north woods.

The Clearwater Hot Club features other fine musicians: Don Vidal (saxophone/Grand Rapids, MN), Sam’s Uncle, Paul Miltich (guitar/Grand Rapids, MN), Mark Kreitzer (multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter/Minneapolis, MN), Tom Shaefer (violinist/St. Paul), Patrick Harison (accordionist/ Minneapolis, MN). Sam and The Clearwater Hot Club have also accompanied Twin Cities singers Charmin Michelle and Connie Evingson.