What’s cool and hot at the same time? Easy: The Hot Club of Philadelphia. This ensemble gives a contemporary twist to Gypsy Jazz as part of the “Jazz Upstairs” series, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20, Rodale Community Room, Miller Symphony Hall, Allentown.

The group traces its origins back to 2001 when guitarist Barry Wahrhaftig created an ensemble dedicated to Gypsy Jazz music of the legendary Hot Club of France Quintet. That group featured jazz legends guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli.

Says Wahrhaftig, “I came up in Philly and caught the music of the ‘60s. I started as a self-taught rock guitarist. Later, I studied with Howard Alden and Tal Farlow. I played rhythm and blues, blues, jazz.

“Then I studied with Stephane Wrembel, who wrote ‘Bistro Fada’ for Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight in Paris’ [film]. Next, I went to Europe to study with gypsy guitarists. When I came back, I found other Django nerds and put the band together.”

Noting that the band has been together for 16 years, Wahrhaftig says, “It’s not that easy to keep bands together. Jim Stager has been with us from the beginning. Joseph Arnold has been with us for 10 years. Love of the music has kept us going. And the fan base has been growing.”

He points out that the Hot Club’s second album, “Gypsy Routes,” came in at No. 11 on Philadelphia jazz station WRTI’s Top 100 albums of the year.

On the band’s music, Wahrhaftig says, “People like to hear things that have melodies, that swing. People sometimes dance spontaneously to our music. I sometimes think of it as jazz for people who don’t really like jazz.”

He notes that Hot Club’s music is all-acoustic:

“It’s music with a continental and gypsy flair. Usually, we don’t have drums. We don’t have horns. Acoustic music has a warmer sound than electronic music.

“Plus, we have opened up to learning the great ‘20s and ‘30s music. We also do some Beatles and Hendricks in our style, which people are surprised and happy to hear.”

Other members of the Hot Club of Philadelphia, in addition to Wahrhaftig, Stager and Arnold, include Dan Pearce and Phyllis Chapell.

Stager does bass and vocals. He is a native Philadelphian who has played with the bands Huffamoose and The World Takes.

Arnold is a violinist, composer, arranger, and leader of the Joseph Arnold Orchestra. He also plays with the Birmingham Six, an Irish Rock band.

Pearce plays and teaches in the Philadelphia area. He has studied jazz at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and Columbia College, Chicago. He also studied instrumental performance and film scoring at Berklee College of Music.

Chapell does vocals in 13 languages from Brazil, Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well as American folk, jazz and popular music. She also composes and has a CD of her own, “Naked World.” Chapell has her own ensemble, Phyllis Chapell & Siora. On Oct. 20, she’ll sing “La Foule,” made famous by Edith Piaf, among other tunes.

The Hot Club of Philadelphia is working on its third CD.

Tickets: Miller Symphony Hall box office, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown; allentownsymphony.org; 610-432-6715