What is Gypsy Swing?
Hot Club Quintet of France
The Gypsy Guitar
Gypsy Jazz Festivals
Why I like Gypsy Jazz so much

What is Gypsy Swing ?

Gypsy Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Hot Jazz, Jazz Manouche, Swing Gitan

As the name implies, this music style is Jazz, but it's played in a Gypsy way.

Origin and history

When the Hot Club Quintett with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli began 1934 to blow the stages in Paris with just five men, in America still played the Big Bands.
Indeed, Gypsy Swing was invented before, but comes very close to the jazziness of Bebop, wich came later at 1940.

Django celebrated with his two compositions "Appel indirect" (Mai 1938) and "Rhytme Futur" (Oct 1940) the Modal Jazz, which came into the consciousness of the world in 1958, thanks to Miles Davis' "Milestones".

While american Jazz developed and changed time for time, got free with "Free Jazz" and ended his career in melting with other music styles as Rock and Pop into "Fusion", Gypsy Jazz kept his tradition and is played today, as the Swing era had never ended.

Altough Gypsy Swing is played mostly by gypsies, more and more "gadjos" (non-gypsies) play this music now and spread it all-over the world.

Instrumentation

When you think about Gypsy Swing, you will inevitably have a guitar in your mind and as next a violin.
When you think about American Jazz, you will rather make associations with a saxophone and a trumpet.
The famous swinging ride of the jazz drum has no use in Gypsy Swing. The drum is replaced by the percussive rhythm guitar.

A very important thing in Gypsy Jazz is the sound of the original Selmer Maccaferri guitar. This kind of guitar gets still produced by a few luthiers all-over the world.
The sound of the Gypsy Guitar is so typical, that it is allmost impossible, to play Gypsy Jazz with a ordinary Western style guitar to get the authentic sound.

Next to the guitar and the upright bass, instruments as violin, clarinet and accordion are very common in this music style.

Musical material and Phrasing

The solos in Gypsy Jazz are basically made of two components: arpeggios and chromatic notes. Of course there are other elements as scales, chord melodies and some gymmicks, to aerate the solo.
The playing of inside and outside, wich are common practice in American Jazz, are allmost not adopted in Gypsy Jazz.

While American Jazz has the tendency, to sound aerial and erratic, Gypsy Jazz sounds down to earth and the melodies are quite traceable, comprehensible and singable. Probably because of the use of the many arpeggio notes in the solo.
Maybe that's the reason, why people of all ages love Gypsy Swing so much.

The Gypsy Jazz Masters of today

Fortunately, Jazz Manouche was kept in the old tradition and delivered from one generation to another. For a long time, it was only known by the gypsies. The most Jazz guitarists know Django Reinhardt, but not many know the Gypsy Swing Masters of today. Thanks to YouTube, they got discovered and can reach everyone now. The following gets bigger day by day.
There are Gypsy Swing Festivals allover the world.

The Gypsy Jazz Masters of today are…





Of course, this is only a very small selection of the must known. There are many more interesting musicians in this genre.  see "Thanks"

Who ever has the chance to see and hear one of those guitar players live and direct, will never forget this experience for the rest of his life. I promise :-)
At least, you should watch them on YouTube.