Manouche Gypsy Jazz Festival in Samois

DjangoDjango

Thinking of hitting the Gypsy Jazz festival in Samois, outside Paris in May. Has anyone been there before, and if so, would you recomend it ? It's a big Django'Fest with Macaferries akimbo !

Also, has anyone seen the the Manouche busker on the top of Grafton St playing guitar with a trumpet player backing him up ? He's bloody excellent.

Desmo

DjangoDjango wrote:

Thinking of hitting the Gypsy Jazz festival in Samois, outside Paris in May. Has anyone been there before, and if so, would you recomend it ? It's a big Django'Fest with Macaferries akimbo !

Also, has anyone seen the the Manouche busker on the top of Grafton St playing guitar with a trumpet player backing him up ? He's bloody excellent.

Do you mean the guy backing the trumpet player :-)?
I have seen him and he is indeed excellent. He comps with maniacally good rhythm and makes a wee bassline while he is doing it by fiddling with the bottom notes of teh chords. It is hypnotic and he makes it look effortless. I watched him do "All of Me" and that is not exactly a trendy or uplifting number but he made it bounce.

Des

Setun

I think I saw the same guy do Autumn Leaves, very Django alright. Haven't heard much about the fest though, sounds intriguing.

DjangoDjango

Hi Desmo,

Re, The Manouche player on Grafton St. I approached him one Sunday and asked him if he did lessons in Gypsy guitar, said he did so I went round to his apartment on capel.St. He studied with a proper gypsie in Paris and had the style well sorted.

Helped me a good bit with the style of playing and is very generous with the info, unlike a lot of other teachers I've been to.

It just goes to show, his Macaferri is a Chinese copy, and the trumpet player uses the top of a coke bottle as a muffler, but can they swing or what ?

Desmo

Daddio wrote:

I think I saw the same guy do Autumn Leaves, very Django alright. Haven't heard much about the fest though, sounds intriguing.

I used to hate Autumn Leaves; I always thought it was below me; very dated and quaint. Then I heard a Chet Baker version of it (on a tacky jazz channel on a flight to US) and it was dynamite. Now I love the tune but you have to make it swing. That guy on Grafton Street would do it great.

Desmo

DjangoDjango wrote:

Hi Desmo,

Re, The Manouche player on Grafton St. I approached him one Sunday and asked him if he did lessons in Gypsy guitar, said he did so I went round to his apartment on capel.St. He studied with a proper gypsie in Paris and had the style well sorted.

Helped me a good bit with the style of playing and is very generous with the info, unlike a lot of other teachers I've been to.

It just goes to show, his Macaferri is a Chinese copy, and the trumpet player uses the top of a coke bottle as a muffler, but can they swing or what ?

Wow; that was brave of you. I would be too embarassed to ask a busker in case they sneered or hit me. He had great rhythm; I guess that comes from a LOT of practice and counting and tapping your foot until you have it perfectly? Otherwise, what he did looked so simple it was easy to underestimate. When I try it, I just sounds leaden. What did he show you?

Des

Setun

Desmo wrote:

I used to hate Autumn Leaves; I always thought it was below me; very dated and quaint. Then I heard a Chet Baker version of it (on a tacky jazz channel on a flight to US) and it was dynamite. Now I love the tune but you have to make it swing. That guy on Grafton Street would do it great.

There's a great version of it by Cannonball Adderley's group ft. Miles Davis.
There is some phenomenal playing on that record, Hank Jones piano is brilliant.

satchmo

Daddio wrote:

There's a great version of it by Cannonball Adderley's group ft. Miles Davis. There is some phenomenal playing on that record, Hank Jones piano is brilliant.

That's right, on Somethin' Else - one of my favourite albums of all time. Great lineup... Adderley, Davis, Hank Jones, Sam Jones on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Just fantastic stuff, if anyone hasn't heard it then you're in for a treat. The version of Autumn Leaves is indeed exquisite, I heard it first on this album and instantly fell in love with it.

DjangoDjango

Desmo,
You asked what he showed me at my lesson, well for a start he told me it took him six months to learn how to hold the pick properly ! I began to loose interest at this point. Apperently, not one peice of your hand is to touch or rest on the guitar, try playing a solo like that.

He may make it look easy ! ! ! ! !

Desmo

DjangoDjango wrote:

Desmo,
You asked what he showed me at my lesson, well for a start he told me it took him six months to learn how to hold the pick properly ! I began to loose interest at this point. Apperently, not one peice of your hand is to touch or rest on the guitar, try playing a solo like that.

He may make it look easy ! ! ! ! !

I knew it only looked easy. Believe me, I know how hard it is to do. I have been trying and getting nowhere. I can play very badly and make it look like a lot of effort :-).

Des

Desmo

satchmo wrote:

That's right, on Somethin' Else - one of my favourite albums of all time. Great lineup... Adderley, Davis, Hank Jones, Sam Jones on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Just fantastic stuff, if anyone hasn't heard it then you're in for a treat. The version of Autumn Leaves is indeed exquisite, I heard it first on this album and instantly fell in love with it.

Thanks for the tip Daddio and Satchmo.

Des

stevejazzx

Desmo wrote:

I knew it only looked easy. Believe me, I know how hard it is to do. I have been trying and getting nowhere. I can play very badly and make it look like a lot of effort :-).

Des

Befor you start tips.

how is your guitar, how is the action, many of my students arrive at the house with unplayable guitars claiming that some dick in a guitar shop has told that thats the norm, the action should be low and comfortable(obviously should adjusted by someone who knows what they're doing)

Are your strings in good health, clean, and tuned properly don't even go any further without these provisions.

Are you sitiing comfortably, is your back straight is the guitar resting in your lap propoerly, you can find a lot more about this on the net

gypsy guitar, listen to any django record you'll invariably hear an even 4 beat rhythm consisting of a root thump i.e bass note followed by a downstroke across the strings, this is it at its most simplistic and easy to recreate.
Try minor swing (Am,dm,e7,am,dm,am,e7,e7b9b5on bass am) slowly and follow this. don't worry about having a bassline in the begining it will come naturally with time, but always watch out for it when lisrening so it gets in your head.

best of luck with it......

steve

Desmo

stevejazzx wrote:

Befor you start tips.

how is your guitar, how is the action, many of my students arrive at the house with unplayable guitars claiming that some dick in a guitar shop has told that thats the norm, the action should be low and comfortable(obviously should adjusted by someone who knows what they're doing)

Are your strings in good health, clean, and tuned properly don't even go any further without these provisions.

Are you sitiing comfortably, is your back straight is the guitar resting in your lap propoerly, you can find a lot more about this on the net

gypsy guitar, listen to any django record you'll invariably hear an even 4 beat rhythm consisting of a root thump i.e bass note followed by a downstroke across the strings, this is it at its most simplistic and easy to recreate.
Try minor swing (Am,dm,e7,am,dm,am,e7,e7b9b5on bass am) slowly and follow this. don't worry about having a bassline in the begining it will come naturally with time, but always watch out for it when lisrening so it gets in your head.

best of luck with it......

steve

Thanks Steve!! I am actually better than I made out above but the problem with comping is it gets boring comping to Band in a Box or Play-a-longs and I do not practice enough. I have made slow progress on my own.

Des

DjangoDjango

Hi Desmo,

It appears there are others out there, familiar with the 'Manouche' style of guitar playing. I told you about the guy from Grafton St. I went for lessons with, but I never mentioned the pick he uses, it must be at least an 8th of inch thick, a bit like trying to play a solo with a saucer. They had no amplification in the thirties, so the big pick and a 'D' hole Macaferrie meant you got heard over the rest of the band.

Stevejazz is spot'on with the tune 'Minor Swing' as a stepping stone into this style of playing, it's basically a simple 32 bar swing, but Django never played the same solo over it. I always started it with an 'A' Minor but my Gypsie freind informed me it is usually started with an Am6.

If you get yourself a recording of minor swing by Django, You'll know it by the 1'3'5' intro in A,D and E, Try that in Band 'in 'a box', I know B'I'A'B' can can sound a bit 'Syntie' but it's better than tapes !

And one more thing, about 'Autumn Leaves', I have used that tune for years to learn jazz guitar, It's basicaly two 2/V/1's back to back, I've heard some s**t versions but have you heard Eva Cassidys ? It's absolutly Fk----n amazing.

What more can I say ? If music be the food of love, None of us would be here in the first place, so it's a good job this one goes to eleven !

Desmo

DjangoDjango wrote:

Hi Desmo,

It appears there are others out there, familiar with the 'Manouche' style of guitar playing. I told you about the guy from Grafton St. I went for lessons with, but I never mentioned the pick he uses, it must be at least an 8th of inch thick, a bit like trying to play a solo with a saucer. They had no amplification in the thirties, so the big pick and a 'D' hole Macaferrie meant you got heard over the rest of the band.

Stevejazz is spot'on with the tune 'Minor Swing' as a stepping stone into this style of playing, it's basically a simple 32 bar swing, but Django never played the same solo over it. I always started it with an 'A' Minor but my Gypsie freind informed me it is usually started with an Am6.

If you get yourself a recording of minor swing by Django, You'll know it by the 1'3'5' intro in A,D and E, Try that in Band 'in 'a box', I know B'I'A'B' can can sound a bit 'Syntie' but it's better than tapes !

And one more thing, about 'Autumn Leaves', I have used that tune for years to learn jazz guitar, It's basicaly two 2/V/1's back to back, I've heard some s**t versions but have you heard Eva Cassidys ? It's absolutly Fk----n amazing.

What more can I say ? If music be the food of love, None of us would be here in the first place, so it's a good job this one goes to eleven !

Thanks for the info Django.
I actually like BIAB. I will stick the chords in. It is all I have to play with (sniff sniff). Eva Cassidy ? Singer? I heard someone Irish sing it on the radio one day and it was brilliant.
I did not catch the name at the time.

DjangoDjango

Desmo,

You must check out Eva Cassidys version of Autumn Leaves on her 'Songbird' album, she also does a cracking Over the rainbow.
She was from the states and was just about to make it big, but died from cancer a few years back.

Are you any good with B.I.A.B. ? I can just about put the chords in ! Is there a way to repeat a chord into the next box, I have to type it in again if there is a repeat.

Desmo

DjangoDjango wrote:

Desmo,

You must check out Eva Cassidys version of Autumn Leaves on her 'Songbird' album, she also does a cracking Over the rainbow.
She was from the states and was just about to make it big, but died from cancer a few years back.

Are you any good with B.I.A.B. ? I can just about put the chords in ! Is there a way to repeat a chord into the next box, I have to type it in again if there is a repeat.

I will check out Eva!

I am useless with BIAB. I know how to type in chords and rhythms but only at a primitive level. Copy (ctrl-c) and paste (ctrl-v) works to copy in repeated bits; you could use that.

I mainly use BIAB to play along with/learn standard tunes.
I have 2 real book collections in BIAB format which amount to about 500 jazz standards. Any that I do not have, I get in by finding midi files and importing them. Then when I get depressed, I pull out Autumn Leaves and either play pentatonics aimlessly or try playing the arpeggios of teh chords as they fly past. Having done that I will try out a new tune. For example, I wanted to do Send in teh Clowns and found some midis of it and now can fiddle with it in BIAB. Same with Concierto de Aranjuez last week. I am not very sophisticated musically (and am a crap guitarist) but it means I can get to play along with tunes that I hear somewhere and like the sound of.

stevejazzx

DjangoDjango wrote:

Hi Desmo,

Stevejazz is spot'on with the tune 'Minor Swing' as a stepping stone into this style of playing, it's basically a simple 32 bar swing, but Django never played the same solo over it. I always started it with an 'A' Minor but my Gypsie freind informed me it is usually started with an Am6.

If you get yourself a recording of minor swing by Django, You'll know it by the 1'3'5' intro in A,D and E, Try that in Band 'in 'a box', I know B'I'A'B' can can sound a bit 'Syntie' but it's better than tapes !

!

hey django are you good?
what experience do you have?
have you played live at all
I need backing/second guitarists from time to time it'd be good to have your number

DjangoDjango

Stevejazzx,

How ya doing, I can carry a tune in most styles, but i've been goin down the the jazz road for a long time. I've played a s**t load of gigs over the years with many bands, played with Hugh Buckley a few times and the usual suspects.

No shortage of gear, got an ES175for me birthday, ad it's hard to live up to, also have 335's, Les-pauls, etc.

If your doin a gig, and your short, give me a hollar, I know most of the heads, (Small Town) ! and I have my own personal bass player, but he does'nt play the wardrobe (Double bass), I also have a number of female singers available.

I have a gig lined up in a leading dublin hotel, just need the staff, are you in, it's an earner and would just be a sunday, might be even be able to rope Pat Collins in on the fiddle, he could blow a bit of Grappelii stuff over it.

Let me know how your fixed, I'm not into re-hearsing too much, just turn up and wing it, always works for me.

Not on this forum thing for long, so don't know how to PM you, mabey you can tell me how to do it.

See ya later, D

stevejazzx

DjangoDjango wrote:

Stevejazzx,

How ya doing, I can carry a tune in most styles, but i've been goin down the the jazz road for a long time. I've played a s**t load of gigs over the years with many bands, played with Hugh Buckley a few times and the usual suspects.

Cool, well my lowdown,
I do a lot corporate work(wine tastings, dinners, art gallerys weddings etc)through an agency, now originally i played with a swing guitarist backing me, not the best but a solid guy nonetheless now hes gone back to france I play i with a guy from newpark Steve mcf. a great guitarist who shames me...but hes constantly busy so I'm regulary interchanging him but have trouble finding someone who isn't too poncy i.e someone who wants to play bop fusion al night!

DjangoDjango wrote:

If your doin a gig, and your short, give me a hollar, I know most of the heads, (Small Town) ! and I have my own personal bass player, but he does'nt play the wardrobe (Double bass), I also have a number of female singers available.

will do....

DjangoDjango wrote:

I have a gig lined up in a leading dublin hotel, just need the staff, are you in, it's an earner and would just be a sunday, might be even be able to rope Pat Collins in on the fiddle, he could blow a bit of Grappelii stuff over it.

might be, I've got future gigs booked in for sundays....but sounds tempting..
will get back to ya.

DjangoDjango wrote:

Let me know how your fixed, I'm not into re-hearsing too much, just turn up and wing it, always works for me.

wing it eh, you're either really good or really........
do you play lead?

DjangoDjango wrote:

Not on this forum thing for long, so don't know how to PM you, mabey you can tell me how to do it.

click the username and it brings up the options, easy peezy stuff

Desmo

Any of you guys do lessons?

DjangoDjango

Stevejazz,

Bop fusion not my bag, I'd be more into standards, as for lead,I'd be handy enough in most styles, but I'm still 'pussey footing' with the jazz, I'd be happier backing someone in that style.

As for 'Winging it', I'm just really reckless, but have you ever played an impromptu gig ? It's amazing what you remember and come up with when you have to.

The wine tastings thing sounds interesting, can you get free samples and thrash the place ? Rock'n'Roll !