gypsy swing

GYPSY SWING
300 ppp (download)

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[audio:http://inter-jazz.com/audio/ijp_gypsy_swing_antsela.mp3]

Gypsy Swing is a musical idiom originally made popular by the work of Belgian-born guitarist Django Reinhardt in the 1930s. Django was foremost among a group of guitarists working around Paris in the late 1920s and 30s. By mixing Gypsy elements to his jazz improvisations, Reinhardt created an entirely original music style, a distinctively European dialect of jazz, subsequently known by different names like Gypsy Jazz, Jazz Manouche, Hot Club Swing, Jazz Gitan, etc.

Gypsy swing evolved in 1930s as a blend of the Manouche-Romani culture and African-American Hot Jazz, but also had some of its roots in other musical styles popular during the same era, like the Tango and the Vals-musette.

Today, three generations after its inception, Gypsy Swing music is alive and well, and has gained a status as an important, living musical tradition among the Romanies in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, whether you call them Manouche, Gitan, Sinti or Roma. The skill is transferred orally from older relatives to the new generations, who in turn absorb new influences in their playing before passing the torch forward.

Music is an important part of Manouche life: families and friends like to gather and play music – sometimes just for themselves, in other occasions in front of an audience – on a way reminiscent of the after hours jam sessions so popular in the American Jazz scene of the 1940’s and 1950’s.

We have tried to transfer this ambience to the concert halls by selecting some of the greatest Manouche-Romani musicians of today and allowing them to freely improvise on the tunes they cherish: old American Standards, Django’s evergreens, contemporary songs, or original compositions. The results are particularly exciting, and showcase the vitality and creativity of these wonderful Gypsy musicians.