Re: [Harp-L] Django Reinhardt



For those who enjoy gypsy jazz, I recommend celebrating Django’s 100th by seeing the European gypsy jazz virtuosos Dorado Schmitt (guitar), Samson Schmitt (guitar), Marcel Loeffler (accordion), and Pierre Blanchard (violin). They are making a rare US tour to Minnesota, Santa Cruz, Hollywood, Costa Mesa, New York, and other locations. For more info, see

http://www.djangobirdland.com/

I love playing gypsy jazz on the chromatic and plan to attend the weekend jams at “Django in June” on June 18 and 19 at Smith College in Northampton, MA.

http://www.djangoinjune.com/

I also plan to attend the Northwest Djangofest at Whidbey Island in September:

http://www.djangofest.com/nw/

This festival has great jams and you meet musicians form all over the world.

If you play gypsy jazz, please join me. It’s lonely being the only harmonica player at these events. (Gypsy jazz harmonica players are even rarer than bluegrass harmonica players.) I’ve learned dozens of heads, mostly from Robin Nolan’s Gypsy Jazz Play-Along CDs, and then learned to improvise around the chord changes. As typical in jazz jams, folks take the head, then go around the circle improvising, then ending by returning to the head. Seems gypsy jazz musicians are comfortable with the sound of the harmonica because it resembles the accordion, one of the traditional gypsy jazz instruments.

-- David Naiditch



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