Not entirely sure that you would know gypsy jazz if it smacked you in the face?

Well, it's a good thing that Ameranouche will be stopping at the Sun Music Hall in Floyd on Friday to give you a crash course.

The New Hampshire-based band recently released its first official collection of recorded music, a self-titled album that features its trademark speedy sound, thickly steeped in the style of gypsy jazz great Django Reinhardt and the tradition of Jazz Manouche.

Rhythm guitarist Ryan Flaherty, contra bassist Benjamin Wood and lead guitarist Richard "Shepp" Sheppard make the complex music form seem deceptively simple as they race over tracks like "La Gitane" and "The Red Wing Tango."

Both Sheppard, who has worked with artists such as Hot Tuna and Taj Mahal, and Wood cultivated an appreciation for gypsy jazz while studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Flaherty was hooked after hearing the music during a visit to Prague, Czech Republic. After making their personal rounds about the country, the three met by chance in New Hampshire and began to carve out their own creative niche in the music industry.

They are now one of the most respected gypsy jazz bands in the country.

Ameranouche kicked off its "Great South Tour of '06" in North Carolina, and the band will be heading back home later in the summer to start work on its next album.

Sheppard took time out from relaxing pre-tour at his parents' home in South Jersey to chat about the past, present and future plans for Ameranouche.

How are you feeling about the upcoming tour?

Richard Sheppard: So far the truck's running, everyone seems to be playing pretty well, we're having a good time, and the music is wonderful, it's enlivening for us all. We just love to play with each other. We get a chance to meet people and stay with people and turn people on to this music.

What exactly is "gypsy jazz"? How would you describe it, and how is it different from blues and traditional jazz?

RS: What's really unique about this music is the rhythmic pulse, the liveliness of it, in the sense that it's very recognizable and bouncy, but it's very different in another respect.

It's very improvised and very in-the-moment; it has a distinction in the style. That's really the thing that makes the music sound the way it does, kind of like the alluring thing.

The rhythm section is what makes this music move and have a very distinct character. This music is decidedly European, but yet it's very American as well. It's a wonderful combo of Europe and America.

It's very good to see positive connections between our two countries. We do very much so need to maintain that positive, spiritual bond.

Tell me more about your other influences.

RS: I've always been a great admirer of Django [Reinhardt], but I also like Beethoven tremendously, I enjoy the paintings of Monet, and sort of relate that to this whole music. I also like the writing of John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway, and relate it a lot to the form and composition of the music.

What attracted you to gypsy jazz in the first place? What was your first experience with it, and what draws you to it more than other types of music?

RS: I used to ride with my dad in the truck and we used to listen to AM radio, listening to country western music, and there was also this wonderful guitar playing, and this playing, a lot of it was influenced by Django.

I always loved the feel and the style of this music, and the deeper I got into it, I noticed a more personal and very deep connection to things I can't really explain. The music is like rhythmic laughter, that's what's so wonderful. It's very positive and nice that way.

How did your education at Berklee translate to gypsy jazz?

RS: It translates wonderfully. The nomenclature is very inclusive and able to translate well to many realms, so it allows me to communicate with other folk, people who are in the audiences who are not necessarily musicians, you can talk to them and try to communicate with them. It basically allows more clarity to happen.

What would you say to entice someone unfamiliar with Ameranouche to come to your show in Floyd?

RS: I'd say that they would enjoy music that is at once both mysterious and extremely familiar, and swinging.

We're a very swinging group, we like to swing. I mean that in the musical sensibility.

We'll be performing songs from our CD, and songs from Django and other modern masters like Stochelo. We enjoy music, enjoy life, enjoy fellowship with one another. If folks come out to the show, and they like good music, I think that they'd be pleased. And I think they'd have a good time.

What are your future plans beyond the tour?

RS: We'll record another album in the fall. The main thing is to try and work this music without it being commonplace.

We're trying to work with different avenues that allow us to stretch composition. But the most important thing is that I want us all to be friends, and make music together, and investigate music.

Whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen. My biggest thing is I want be healthy, and be a good friend, and be a good guitar player to the group, and kind of do my job in the group.

All I can hope for is good health, good music and "Latcho Drom," which means "pleasant journey" in Romany [language of the gypsies in Europe].

We love to play together, we love to make this music, we love that when it happens, it just makes us very happy. We're just regular guys, we're working men, we're not stars. We make music, that's what we produce.