Re: [Harp-L] Django Reinhardt

[David & Jackie Naiditch <french10@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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