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Django Festival Allstars: Evolution
by Jack Bowers
On Evolution, their fifth recording together, the Django Festival Allstars salute the 25th anniversary of the Django Reinhardt NY Jazz Festival, founded in 2000 by Pat Phillips and her late husband, Ettore Stratta, and held every year since then at New York City's celebrated Birdland Jazz Club. While the name “all-star" is sometimes overused, that is not the case here. This really is an all-star quintet, perfectly suited and ideally prepared to refresh and update the “Gypsy jazz" of Reinhardt ...
Continue ReadingDjango Festival Allstars: Evolution
by Pierre Giroux
There is a comforting certainty in knowing that some traditions, when treated with respect, do not fade over time but become more luminous. Evolution, by Django Festival Allstars, remains firmly rooted in its lineage. It is an album that looks forward while honouring its origins, reaffirming that Manouche jazz. When played with conviction and humility, it remains one of the most vital in modern acoustic music. Rather than chasing trends, this ensemble refines a language passed down through generations, shaping ...
Continue ReadingFrench Gypsy Jazz
by Nick Catalano
At various times since its origin, jazz has had an interesting claimant. The French have long maintained that the various musics leading up to the development of jazz in the early years of the 20th century contain Gallic seedlings....Their claim is justifiable. Without parsing the complex origins of the music one can simply make reference to the legendary Creole composer/ musicians led by Jelly Roll Morton and show how, because they were classically trained, they added new dimensions to the ...
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