GYPSY JAZZ

Some background

• The French gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt and the violinist Stephan Grappelli formed, in 1934, Le Hot Club Quintet du Paris. This group established a unique style of music called Gypsy Jazz.

• Gypsy Jazz draws from the music of the Roma or gypsy people, American Swing, French Musette and flamenco.

• Django Reinhardt is regarded as one of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century

Le Hot Club Quintet

DjangoStephan

This group paved the way for the Lead Guitarist!

French Roma people

Gypsy, or Roma, people• Gypsy people have been discriminated against in

Europe for centuries. Like Jews, homosexuals, and socialists they were hunted down and killed by Nazis in WW2

• They are traditionally wanderers, travelling across Europe in their caravans, setting up on common areas, annoying the local people with their different customs, beliefs and lifestyles

• One of the points of contact between the host culture and the gypsies was music – which they were paid to play at weddings, funerals, birthdays, and other public events

Some musical influencesLouis

Armstrong

Gypsy musicians

Mus

ette

Flamenco

Gypsy jazz sounds like…

• “Minor Swing” played by contemporary musicians https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6uXGSTfz_4

• Listen to Django here ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoIJ4W7kXiQ

Amazing Fact

• Django Reinhardt lost his 3rd and 4th fingers off his left hand in a fire when he was 18. His amazing speed and dexterity comes from a 2 finger technique.

MaccaferriSelmer

Taking Gypsy jazz apart - musically

• Hot Club line-up – solo guitar, rhythm guitar(s), violin, double bass

• There’s an emphasis on improvising (guitar, violin solos)• The repertoire was popular songs from the 20s and 30s,

the Blues, and original songs• Improvising soloists use arpeggios, extended chords,

chord substitutions, scales - minor (gypsy, harmonic), blues

• Rhythms - range from fast to ballad, mainly in 4/4. Rhythm guitar style – “Le Pompe” (Boom Chick, Boom Chick, Boom Chick, Boom Chick)

Taking Gypsy jazz apart • Django used many gtr devices - rakes, glissandos,

tremolos, pedal notes. Grappelli used glissandos, vibrato and rapid string crossings

• There are limited tone colours because of the instrumentation (strings only).

• The timbre is light, tempos range from very fast to ballads (although these are played up in tempo), and the dynamics are light – due to the acoustic properties of the instruments

• Songs are often in guitar keys (C, Am, Dm, G, E) rather than saxophone keys (Bb, F, Eb, Cm)

Finally

• Gypsy jazz is fun to listen to and to dance to• It is enjoyed and played by musicians and

listeners both young and old• There are Hot Club festivals around the world,

where people get together and jam to the gypsy jazz repertoire