A marvelous story my grandmother often tells me about Django Reinhardt:
As a young girl during world war II she used to live in Toulouse in the South of France. One night she and her sister in law broke the curfew the occupying Germans had ordered. Pretending to be officer's wives they snook in to an auditorium where Django was performing for the German military forces.
Here eyes still sparkle every time she talks about the wonderful music Django played that night!
Click to read entire weblog!
vrijdag 31 december 2010
zondag 26 december 2010
Documentary
Het Thomas Baggerman Trio - "Minor Swing" by D.Reinhardt from Alexander Koning on Vimeo.
So I thought I'd post a little sneak preview from my new project in wich I combine my passion about Gypsy Jazz with my love for documentary filmmaking. In this clip my guitar teacher Thomas Baggerman and his Trio (who are some of the main characters in the film) play theire version of Django's "Minor Swing".
www.thomasbaggermantrio.com
Click to read entire weblog!
dinsdag 30 november 2010
Jimmy's back!
Jimmy Rosenberg performing again at BIMHUIS Amsterdam!
A collection of the videos on Youtube made from the Jimmy's guest appearance at the "Three of kind" concerts in Amsterdam wich I was lucky enough to attend to.
Click to read entire weblog!
A collection of the videos on Youtube made from the Jimmy's guest appearance at the "Three of kind" concerts in Amsterdam wich I was lucky enough to attend to.
Click to read entire weblog!
maandag 29 november 2010
A night in town!
50 people and; Bireli, Stochelo, Paulus
I couldn't believe what I saw last night when I accidentaly came by an add for this "Three of kind concert" in my hometown Utrecht. Only 50 people in the audience and the line-up: Stochelo Rosenberg, Bireli Lagrene, Paulus Schafer!!! Don't people understand great music?
Click to read entire weblog!
I couldn't believe what I saw last night when I accidentaly came by an add for this "Three of kind concert" in my hometown Utrecht. Only 50 people in the audience and the line-up: Stochelo Rosenberg, Bireli Lagrene, Paulus Schafer!!! Don't people understand great music?
Click to read entire weblog!
zondag 12 september 2010
My new "La Fée" D-Hole Gypsy jazz guitar!
A real beauty!
Proudly presenting my new "La Fée" guitar handcrafted by the excellent young french luthiers from "Guitares La Fée". Carefully chosen after the great help
from the guys at "Guitare village" in Domont near Paris. Playing a little intro to "Minor Blues" by legendary Django Reinhardt. Now the only thing left to do is learn how to play it ;-)
Click to read entire weblog!
Proudly presenting my new "La Fée" guitar handcrafted by the excellent young french luthiers from "Guitares La Fée". Carefully chosen after the great help
from the guys at "Guitare village" in Domont near Paris. Playing a little intro to "Minor Blues" by legendary Django Reinhardt. Now the only thing left to do is learn how to play it ;-)
Click to read entire weblog!
zaterdag 14 augustus 2010
The Gypsy Jazz video collection; Concerts
Keep an eye on this post as it will be updated with interresting Gypsy Jazz concert video's from time to time!
Django Reinhardt connexion
Geüpload door ouakthecat. - Ontdek andere muziek video's.
Gipsy Jazz guitar masters, a beautiful example of Stochelo Rosenberg and Romane playing togheter.
The legendary Gipsy Project organized by Bireli Lagrene.
Click to read entire weblog!
Django Reinhardt connexion
Geüpload door ouakthecat. - Ontdek andere muziek video's.
Gipsy Jazz guitar masters, a beautiful example of Stochelo Rosenberg and Romane playing togheter.
The legendary Gipsy Project organized by Bireli Lagrene.
Click to read entire weblog!
maandag 3 mei 2010
Work in progress : MINOR SWING
Yeah, I know, but I just couldn't help myself....
Aldough I now really understand the importance of good technique, and taking it slow at first, I could not help myself recording my efforts on "Minor Swing" that I was working on for some time now. It is a way to celebrate my first six monts of guitar playing I think. Anyway, I won't play Minor Swing for awhile, It's now back to Gypsy Picking technique and rhythm practice.
Click to read entire weblog!
Aldough I now really understand the importance of good technique, and taking it slow at first, I could not help myself recording my efforts on "Minor Swing" that I was working on for some time now. It is a way to celebrate my first six monts of guitar playing I think. Anyway, I won't play Minor Swing for awhile, It's now back to Gypsy Picking technique and rhythm practice.
Click to read entire weblog!
vrijdag 30 april 2010
How to learn to play Gypsy Jazz.
Learning to learn...
So I have been practicing for awhile now, and some problems arise. It's not hard to find Gypsy Jazz lesson resources on the internet, and so I found myself with a great collection of studybooks, DVD's, online Howto's and Guitar Pro files stacked up in front of me and I started to lose track. Where to start?
A selection of my Gypsy Jazz studybooks
According to my teacher Thomas the answer was; Technique!The key to good Gypsy Jazz playing absolutely lies in the technique that differs completely from other guitar styles. First there's the right wrist angle needed to free the top of the guitar and allow it to produce as much sound as possible (the nature of this lies in the fact that Django Reinhardt used to be a banjo player, when he switched to the guitar as a jazz instrument he needed the produce as much volume as possible to be heard in the ensemble since electric guitars were not yet invented.) And then there's the swept picking style that gives all the character to Gypsy Jazz, the pick is used to hammer on the strings a bit like its done inside a piano, this is also for volume purposes. A good control of your right hand or "La Plume" (the feather) as it's called is absolutely unbearable in the genre and a much discussed skill in the Gypsy Jazz scene.
The other important thing to realize are the typical chord shapes en the vertical descent during scales and arpeggios on the guitar neck. A lot of these unique techniques come straight from the fact that Django, due to a fire that burned his caravan, only had two functioning fingers on his left hand. When you look well at Gypsy Jazz fingerings and remenber this fact, it will help you understand how the music works.
Django Reinhardt and his two finger technique
Back to the study material;
Knowing this now, and talking to my teacher about it he recommended two useful resources: Michael Horrowitz's Gypsy Picking and Denis Chang's the art of accompaniment. I myself would add Samy Daussat's Swing Manouche Super Debutant (only available in French) because it has some very easy to play but very characteristic tunes in it.
A tune from Samy Daussat's book.
This is for me the base I use to learn to play Gypsy Jazz. Wrong technique (so I've been told) can take years to be corrected again, and I really would like to avoid this.
So it was back to square one for me, the few months I had been practicing were not all lost but I had to leave my "Minor Swing" solo practice to play open string exercises. This might seem a little boring at first, but after a few weeks sweep picking was almost natural to me. Even when trying to play some easy Nirvana tunes I had practiced when first playing the guitar I found myself doing it in the Gypsy Jazz sweep picking style automaticly.
Others might say that in the real Gypsy Jazz tradition learning to play good rhythm is the first thing you do, and of course good rhythm playing techniques are very important and you should use a great deal of your practice time playing along rhythm sessions to your favourite Django recordings. But I don't see why you shouldn't learn soloing and rhythm at the same time. Important is to get good at both.
Conclusion: I find that good Gypsy Jazz playing starts with good technique, a little like the "wax on, wax of" story in the old karate kid movies; it might seem boring and useless at first, but will payoff loads when you finally get to realy play.
Click to read entire weblog!
See the trailer of the new documentary about Gypsy Jazz I'm making!
So I have been practicing for awhile now, and some problems arise. It's not hard to find Gypsy Jazz lesson resources on the internet, and so I found myself with a great collection of studybooks, DVD's, online Howto's and Guitar Pro files stacked up in front of me and I started to lose track. Where to start?
A selection of my Gypsy Jazz studybooks
According to my teacher Thomas the answer was; Technique!The key to good Gypsy Jazz playing absolutely lies in the technique that differs completely from other guitar styles. First there's the right wrist angle needed to free the top of the guitar and allow it to produce as much sound as possible (the nature of this lies in the fact that Django Reinhardt used to be a banjo player, when he switched to the guitar as a jazz instrument he needed the produce as much volume as possible to be heard in the ensemble since electric guitars were not yet invented.) And then there's the swept picking style that gives all the character to Gypsy Jazz, the pick is used to hammer on the strings a bit like its done inside a piano, this is also for volume purposes. A good control of your right hand or "La Plume" (the feather) as it's called is absolutely unbearable in the genre and a much discussed skill in the Gypsy Jazz scene.
The other important thing to realize are the typical chord shapes en the vertical descent during scales and arpeggios on the guitar neck. A lot of these unique techniques come straight from the fact that Django, due to a fire that burned his caravan, only had two functioning fingers on his left hand. When you look well at Gypsy Jazz fingerings and remenber this fact, it will help you understand how the music works.
Django Reinhardt and his two finger technique
Back to the study material;
Knowing this now, and talking to my teacher about it he recommended two useful resources: Michael Horrowitz's Gypsy Picking and Denis Chang's the art of accompaniment. I myself would add Samy Daussat's Swing Manouche Super Debutant (only available in French) because it has some very easy to play but very characteristic tunes in it.
A tune from Samy Daussat's book.
This is for me the base I use to learn to play Gypsy Jazz. Wrong technique (so I've been told) can take years to be corrected again, and I really would like to avoid this.
So it was back to square one for me, the few months I had been practicing were not all lost but I had to leave my "Minor Swing" solo practice to play open string exercises. This might seem a little boring at first, but after a few weeks sweep picking was almost natural to me. Even when trying to play some easy Nirvana tunes I had practiced when first playing the guitar I found myself doing it in the Gypsy Jazz sweep picking style automaticly.
Others might say that in the real Gypsy Jazz tradition learning to play good rhythm is the first thing you do, and of course good rhythm playing techniques are very important and you should use a great deal of your practice time playing along rhythm sessions to your favourite Django recordings. But I don't see why you shouldn't learn soloing and rhythm at the same time. Important is to get good at both.
Conclusion: I find that good Gypsy Jazz playing starts with good technique, a little like the "wax on, wax of" story in the old karate kid movies; it might seem boring and useless at first, but will payoff loads when you finally get to realy play.
Click to read entire weblog!
See the trailer of the new documentary about Gypsy Jazz I'm making!
donderdag 15 april 2010
How Youtube changed everything....
Denis told me about Thomas.
I somtimes asked myself if I was doing the right thing writing this blog. I mean, there are some visitors that seem interrested, and it's fun for me to have as a souvenir. But could it really be helpful to the way I learn to play Gypsy Jazz. And as a matter of fact it actualy did! Here's what happened:
I posted this video of me improvising on licks from the Denis Chang learning DVD. I got one reply wich came from Denis Chang himself. He recommended seeing a good friend of his who could help me out with the basic technique. And this is how I met Thomas Baggerman. A brilliant young Gadjo guitar player who was able to tell and show me everything there is to know about the right technique (I will talk about the importance of this in another post)
Thomas Baggerman at a workshop with Denis Chang.
Now this event changed everything for me since Thomas already had years of experience in the Gypsy Jazz scene he introduced me to numerous Gypsy Jazz festivals and to the Sinti musicians here in Holland, and, even more important he showed me the right way to experience Samois! (more on this in later posts)
"The Thomas Baggerman Trio in action"
Visit The Thomas Baggerman Trio on:www.thomasbaggermantrio.com
Click to read entire weblog!
I somtimes asked myself if I was doing the right thing writing this blog. I mean, there are some visitors that seem interrested, and it's fun for me to have as a souvenir. But could it really be helpful to the way I learn to play Gypsy Jazz. And as a matter of fact it actualy did! Here's what happened:
I posted this video of me improvising on licks from the Denis Chang learning DVD. I got one reply wich came from Denis Chang himself. He recommended seeing a good friend of his who could help me out with the basic technique. And this is how I met Thomas Baggerman. A brilliant young Gadjo guitar player who was able to tell and show me everything there is to know about the right technique (I will talk about the importance of this in another post)
Thomas Baggerman at a workshop with Denis Chang.
Now this event changed everything for me since Thomas already had years of experience in the Gypsy Jazz scene he introduced me to numerous Gypsy Jazz festivals and to the Sinti musicians here in Holland, and, even more important he showed me the right way to experience Samois! (more on this in later posts)
"The Thomas Baggerman Trio in action"
Visit The Thomas Baggerman Trio on:www.thomasbaggermantrio.com
Click to read entire weblog!
donderdag 8 april 2010
Latcho Niglo
Six months now since I first started playing guitar. Here I practice on a little traditional tune called "Latcho Niglo" from Samy Daussat's book: "Swing Manouche pour super debutant". It will be the last chorus like piece for a while since I now really understand the importance of good basic technique and rhythm playing, so I will now focus on that for the time being! (I promiss)
And a brilliant version by my friend Frédéric:
Click to read entire weblog!
And a brilliant version by my friend Frédéric:
Click to read entire weblog!
maandag 15 februari 2010
Arpeggios and chord progressions....
Working with Denis Chang DVD's;
"Practicing connecting arpeggios from the Denis Chang DVD."
Christmas came early for me last year as I recieved the Denis Chang DVD's I had ordered on Hyperhipmedia.com much faster than I had expected.
Bumping into Denis Chang and his video lessons while looking for Gypsy Jazz resources on the internet is not that hard. And since he plays togheter with people like Stochelo Rosenberg, Wawau Adler and Tim Kliphuis it must be good , right? So I ordered the whole deal, 5 DVD's on improvisation and accompaniment. Enough to keep me occupied for at least the next two to three years (and probably even longer).
Excerp from the Denis Chang DVD's
The DVD's turned out to be even better than I eventualy thought. Denis has a clear way to explain all the aspects of Gypsy Jazz. The well arranged menu's make it easy to navigate and learn everything you need to know about Gypsy Jazz one step at a time.
After watching the intro and practicing "La pompe" for a while I started with the arpeggios last week. I allready knew some from my Romane book : "L'esprit Manouche" but I had no clue how to combine them. So I was glad Denis showed me. After a few hours of practice I found myself improvising a little tune combining Denis' licks with Romane's and a few of my own I stumbled on whyle playing. And then it occured to me; "I was making music!" Thank you Denis!
An arpeggio I came up with by myself, altough I don't know if it's right, I think it sounds ok.
Click to read entire weblog!
"Practicing connecting arpeggios from the Denis Chang DVD."
Christmas came early for me last year as I recieved the Denis Chang DVD's I had ordered on Hyperhipmedia.com much faster than I had expected.
Bumping into Denis Chang and his video lessons while looking for Gypsy Jazz resources on the internet is not that hard. And since he plays togheter with people like Stochelo Rosenberg, Wawau Adler and Tim Kliphuis it must be good , right? So I ordered the whole deal, 5 DVD's on improvisation and accompaniment. Enough to keep me occupied for at least the next two to three years (and probably even longer).
Excerp from the Denis Chang DVD's
The DVD's turned out to be even better than I eventualy thought. Denis has a clear way to explain all the aspects of Gypsy Jazz. The well arranged menu's make it easy to navigate and learn everything you need to know about Gypsy Jazz one step at a time.
After watching the intro and practicing "La pompe" for a while I started with the arpeggios last week. I allready knew some from my Romane book : "L'esprit Manouche" but I had no clue how to combine them. So I was glad Denis showed me. After a few hours of practice I found myself improvising a little tune combining Denis' licks with Romane's and a few of my own I stumbled on whyle playing. And then it occured to me; "I was making music!" Thank you Denis!
An arpeggio I came up with by myself, altough I don't know if it's right, I think it sounds ok.
Click to read entire weblog!
Rakrel Romanes?
To talk the talk;
"Knikker Lagréne singing in Romanes."
My passion for Gypsy music is not limited to the sounds alone but also to the culture of Roma and Sinti. The ideology of freedom and creative beauty is one loads of us long for. Although sadly the lives of the Rom are often submitted to racism and persecution they still manage to cultivate theire heritage of blessed musicality and their own language spoken from the depths of the Eastern European countrys to the South of France. Romanes is a language wich finds here roots in India just like the Rom do (or Dom as they called themselves at that time). Later the language evolved as the Rom started to travel over Armenia and Eastern Europe. It became a mix of German,Italian, Romanian and Hungarian. A beautiful language very suitable for beautiful songs....
Find translations from English to Romanes in this elaborate Romanes Lexicon
Click to read entire weblog!
"Knikker Lagréne singing in Romanes."
My passion for Gypsy music is not limited to the sounds alone but also to the culture of Roma and Sinti. The ideology of freedom and creative beauty is one loads of us long for. Although sadly the lives of the Rom are often submitted to racism and persecution they still manage to cultivate theire heritage of blessed musicality and their own language spoken from the depths of the Eastern European countrys to the South of France. Romanes is a language wich finds here roots in India just like the Rom do (or Dom as they called themselves at that time). Later the language evolved as the Rom started to travel over Armenia and Eastern Europe. It became a mix of German,Italian, Romanian and Hungarian. A beautiful language very suitable for beautiful songs....
Find translations from English to Romanes in this elaborate Romanes Lexicon
Click to read entire weblog!
Talking all that Gypsy Jazz....
Freakin' Phrygian;
Since Gypsy Jazz has alot to do with, eh.....Jazz I thought it might be clever to learn something about this style of music. I had already heard about arpeggios and chord progressions and I slowly start to be able to put both of them together now. Still I was curious so I ran a Google search on "Jazz Guitar".
This was one of the first sentences that came out under beginner lessons:
"This G Mixolydian scale is the V of the C major scale. The G Bebop Scale can be played on most chords that are diatonic to the key of C major, but not on the C major chord itself because the F is an avoid note for the C major chord".
source: www.jazzguitar.be
WTF?!!?
Bireli Lagréne, Gypsy Jazz God
So now what? It all seemed very confusing to me... Talking about this with a musical friend of mine (Frédéric Zolnet) he told me he recognized the problem. Pentatonic, Diatonic, Dominant, Sub Dominant and freakin' Phrygian. But then he told me not to worry. He had read an interview with Bireli Lagréne whose answer to the question: "Wich arpeggio do you play over a Deminished Chord?" Simply was "Wich what?! do I play over what?"
Click to read entire weblog!
Since Gypsy Jazz has alot to do with, eh.....Jazz I thought it might be clever to learn something about this style of music. I had already heard about arpeggios and chord progressions and I slowly start to be able to put both of them together now. Still I was curious so I ran a Google search on "Jazz Guitar".
This was one of the first sentences that came out under beginner lessons:
"This G Mixolydian scale is the V of the C major scale. The G Bebop Scale can be played on most chords that are diatonic to the key of C major, but not on the C major chord itself because the F is an avoid note for the C major chord".
source: www.jazzguitar.be
WTF?!!?
Bireli Lagréne, Gypsy Jazz God
So now what? It all seemed very confusing to me... Talking about this with a musical friend of mine (Frédéric Zolnet) he told me he recognized the problem. Pentatonic, Diatonic, Dominant, Sub Dominant and freakin' Phrygian. But then he told me not to worry. He had read an interview with Bireli Lagréne whose answer to the question: "Wich arpeggio do you play over a Deminished Chord?" Simply was "Wich what?! do I play over what?"
Click to read entire weblog!
dinsdag 9 februari 2010
Our second Djam session....
"Les Yeux Noirs" from left to right: Nico Hegt, Frédéric Zolnet and myself hanging in there with the chords.
Click to read entire weblog!
Click to read entire weblog!
maandag 8 februari 2010
Blow the wistle on em...
Paulus Schäfer Gipsy Band feat. Wattie Rosenberg and Prisor Jazz Band;
During the cultural Sunday's organized in our city every first Sunday of the month, club Mammoni presented two of the finest Dutch Gypsy Jazz ensembles. First up were Paulus Schäfer and Wattie Rosenberg in a packed club. Togheter with jam buddy Fréderic and his friend Nico we enjoyed the balanced conversation between violin and guitar. During the end of the set an older man came on stage, put four fingers in his mouth and started wistelling to "Les Yeux Noirs" absolutely amazing.
After that it was up to the Prisor Jazz Band; Years of experience, stereotype looks and an interresting mix between two solo guitars, one Selmer type and one electric Jazz guitar (played by Eddy Grünholtz)created an absolute magical atmosphere filled with pumping rythmes and beautiful warm melodies. Again I was honored to be able to witness such beauty.
Feigeli Prisor Photo: Gaby Penders
Click to read entire weblog!
During the cultural Sunday's organized in our city every first Sunday of the month, club Mammoni presented two of the finest Dutch Gypsy Jazz ensembles. First up were Paulus Schäfer and Wattie Rosenberg in a packed club. Togheter with jam buddy Fréderic and his friend Nico we enjoyed the balanced conversation between violin and guitar. During the end of the set an older man came on stage, put four fingers in his mouth and started wistelling to "Les Yeux Noirs" absolutely amazing.
After that it was up to the Prisor Jazz Band; Years of experience, stereotype looks and an interresting mix between two solo guitars, one Selmer type and one electric Jazz guitar (played by Eddy Grünholtz)created an absolute magical atmosphere filled with pumping rythmes and beautiful warm melodies. Again I was honored to be able to witness such beauty.
Feigeli Prisor Photo: Gaby Penders
Click to read entire weblog!
woensdag 3 februari 2010
I hope you like Djammin too.....
My first ever jam session... a sweet defeat;
After my first lesson with Popy I felt really comfortable practicing today. I was going along nicely with my chord progressions. Put on my Denis Chang DVD and played till it hurt. So when Frédéric mailed me to ask me if I would join him and his new friend Nico for a jam session that night there was not a split second of doubt.
I met Frédéric about a month ago when I was looking for a suitable place on the internet to post an add asking around for people in my neighbourhood also suffering from Djangofever. Came out Frédéric had beat me to it. I followded his link and we mailed back and forth for a while, sharing tips, resources and planning to meet up sometime for a genuine Gypsy Jazz jam session at his place.
So far so good... so what? You might think...
Well... here's what happened;
Entering appartment, shaking hands, enjoying drink, putting livingroom table aside... no problem. The wellknown opening tune of "Minor Swing"... Still no sweat... The first chords of "Minor Swing"... Hey! That came out pretty good! Then "Les Yeux Noirs"... oeps, reality check... Nico and Frédéric were long gone as I desperatly tried to follow the grid lying in front of me. Maybe a little to much to soon... Embarassing?, hum, slightly, but whatever...
I was glad Frédéric reacted comprehensivly to my incompetence and tried his best to make it easier for me to play the right chords by showing me simplified versions of the real Gypsy Jazz deal (wich he seemed to master pretty well by the way!) I tried my very best to keep up and felt I did not manage to bad the first half hour or so. I tried to play not to loud so any mistake would pass unnoticed, but this was underestimating my newly made jam friends. Arriving to "Ceasar Swing" I started to give up, not wanting to slow down any longer the anticipated fun and extasy of jammin I felt Fédéric and Nico were so eager to experience.
And so they played! Wonderfully!
Nico with his years of experience and Frédéric with his entousiasm and elborate skills were an absolute blessing to hear and see. I soon got over my little defeat and soacked up the sweetness of being in a place were people play Gypsy Jazz guitar with their heart and soul!
Songs I will have to practice for our next meeting; "Minor Swing", "Les Yeux Noirs" and "Ceasar Swing"
On my way out Frédéric gave me a short list of grids to practice for our next appointment... so I suggest I stop blogging...and start playing!
Click to read entire weblog!
After my first lesson with Popy I felt really comfortable practicing today. I was going along nicely with my chord progressions. Put on my Denis Chang DVD and played till it hurt. So when Frédéric mailed me to ask me if I would join him and his new friend Nico for a jam session that night there was not a split second of doubt.
I met Frédéric about a month ago when I was looking for a suitable place on the internet to post an add asking around for people in my neighbourhood also suffering from Djangofever. Came out Frédéric had beat me to it. I followded his link and we mailed back and forth for a while, sharing tips, resources and planning to meet up sometime for a genuine Gypsy Jazz jam session at his place.
So far so good... so what? You might think...
Well... here's what happened;
Entering appartment, shaking hands, enjoying drink, putting livingroom table aside... no problem. The wellknown opening tune of "Minor Swing"... Still no sweat... The first chords of "Minor Swing"... Hey! That came out pretty good! Then "Les Yeux Noirs"... oeps, reality check... Nico and Frédéric were long gone as I desperatly tried to follow the grid lying in front of me. Maybe a little to much to soon... Embarassing?, hum, slightly, but whatever...
I was glad Frédéric reacted comprehensivly to my incompetence and tried his best to make it easier for me to play the right chords by showing me simplified versions of the real Gypsy Jazz deal (wich he seemed to master pretty well by the way!) I tried my very best to keep up and felt I did not manage to bad the first half hour or so. I tried to play not to loud so any mistake would pass unnoticed, but this was underestimating my newly made jam friends. Arriving to "Ceasar Swing" I started to give up, not wanting to slow down any longer the anticipated fun and extasy of jammin I felt Fédéric and Nico were so eager to experience.
And so they played! Wonderfully!
Nico with his years of experience and Frédéric with his entousiasm and elborate skills were an absolute blessing to hear and see. I soon got over my little defeat and soacked up the sweetness of being in a place were people play Gypsy Jazz guitar with their heart and soul!
Songs I will have to practice for our next meeting; "Minor Swing", "Les Yeux Noirs" and "Ceasar Swing"
On my way out Frédéric gave me a short list of grids to practice for our next appointment... so I suggest I stop blogging...and start playing!
Click to read entire weblog!
maandag 1 februari 2010
So he taught me...
My first Gypsy Jazz Guitar lesson;
After a first appointment that I unfortunately could not attend to I was in for a rematch tonight....
I felt strangly calm during the afternoon rush hour, the extra time I had planed getting to my teachers home was slowly ticking away as the cars infront of me wouldn't move an inch. It was only when I got to the final traffic light around the corner of Popy Basily's home that my handpalms started to get slightly damp. I parked my car next to a big trailer home at the entrance of the small Sinti settlement and wandered on to the alley between the houses. I had forgotten to write down the exact housenumber and the names on the mailboxes didn't really help out as many of them had Basily written on them.
Just as I was about to ask a young boy walking a small dog the way to Popy's house I heard my name being called behind me.
Fashionably as always with his long black coat, tailord pants and shiny shoes Popy showed me the way to his home. Arriving at the front door he kicked of his shoes in a reflex. When I asked him if I should do the same he firmly recommended it if I had the intention to stay in good understanding with the lady of the house. Needles to say my socks were touching the rug within seconds.
My teacher Popy Basily
After meeting Popy's wife and kid "Tchavo" (wich later turned out not to be the name of his son but the Sinti word for "Boy") we sat down around the kitchen table and picked up our guitars. Then the first question I had so much anticipated upon the last few weeks came; "So... show me what you got." and of course the even so strongly awaited nerves really kicked in now. Somehow I managed to get out a very poor version of "Montagne St. Genevieve" I had spent so much sweat on practicing the last few months. Popy didn't really seem to be impressed, and frankly I don't blame him.
So I desided to pick myself togheter and show him my chord progression on Minor Swing I started practicing since saturday. As soon as I struck the second chord Popy joined me and started improvising. He then corrected me on the chords, showed me what they where supossed to be: "A Minor", then "the one you just did", followed by "the other one on the third dot". Ten minutes later we where making music! Me stumbling over my chords and Popy keeping everything together with a beautiful improvised melody. When I asked him the names of the chords so I could write them down Popy admitted not knowing all of them. "I know how to play them, not what they are called." I replied that it surely was better than knowing them all by name without being able to play them. This was Gypsy Jazz the way the Gypsy teach it, and I absolutely loved it....
Click to read entire weblog!
After a first appointment that I unfortunately could not attend to I was in for a rematch tonight....
I felt strangly calm during the afternoon rush hour, the extra time I had planed getting to my teachers home was slowly ticking away as the cars infront of me wouldn't move an inch. It was only when I got to the final traffic light around the corner of Popy Basily's home that my handpalms started to get slightly damp. I parked my car next to a big trailer home at the entrance of the small Sinti settlement and wandered on to the alley between the houses. I had forgotten to write down the exact housenumber and the names on the mailboxes didn't really help out as many of them had Basily written on them.
Just as I was about to ask a young boy walking a small dog the way to Popy's house I heard my name being called behind me.
Fashionably as always with his long black coat, tailord pants and shiny shoes Popy showed me the way to his home. Arriving at the front door he kicked of his shoes in a reflex. When I asked him if I should do the same he firmly recommended it if I had the intention to stay in good understanding with the lady of the house. Needles to say my socks were touching the rug within seconds.
My teacher Popy Basily
After meeting Popy's wife and kid "Tchavo" (wich later turned out not to be the name of his son but the Sinti word for "Boy") we sat down around the kitchen table and picked up our guitars. Then the first question I had so much anticipated upon the last few weeks came; "So... show me what you got." and of course the even so strongly awaited nerves really kicked in now. Somehow I managed to get out a very poor version of "Montagne St. Genevieve" I had spent so much sweat on practicing the last few months. Popy didn't really seem to be impressed, and frankly I don't blame him.
So I desided to pick myself togheter and show him my chord progression on Minor Swing I started practicing since saturday. As soon as I struck the second chord Popy joined me and started improvising. He then corrected me on the chords, showed me what they where supossed to be: "A Minor", then "the one you just did", followed by "the other one on the third dot". Ten minutes later we where making music! Me stumbling over my chords and Popy keeping everything together with a beautiful improvised melody. When I asked him the names of the chords so I could write them down Popy admitted not knowing all of them. "I know how to play them, not what they are called." I replied that it surely was better than knowing them all by name without being able to play them. This was Gypsy Jazz the way the Gypsy teach it, and I absolutely loved it....
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maandag 25 januari 2010
One, two, three, one, two, three....
My first steps;
Three monts now since I first picked up my Gypsy Jazz guitar. I still practice alot on "Montagne St. Genevieve" as played by Romane. I.m not even half way the speed it should be, but I'm happy to be able to play it somewhat decently allready. I wonder how I will look back on this a year from now...
Click to read entire weblog!
Three monts now since I first picked up my Gypsy Jazz guitar. I still practice alot on "Montagne St. Genevieve" as played by Romane. I.m not even half way the speed it should be, but I'm happy to be able to play it somewhat decently allready. I wonder how I will look back on this a year from now...
Click to read entire weblog!
vrijdag 8 januari 2010
My first encounter...Finaly...
Popy Basily at Club Madness, The Hague;
Yesterday was the big night, I was finaly going to withness genuine live Gypsy Jazz in Club Madness in The Hague. Since a few months now Popy Basily is playing there every thursday night....
When we arrived at the club it was still empty, except for Popy and his band members; Mark, Gino and Antal sipping beer at the counter. I sat down on the squeeky barchair and awaited the magic. While my brother made fun about my nervousness Popy got on stage and a small miracle unfolded!
The watching crowd not much bigger than the band itself wen´t crazy hearing Limehouse blues, Dark eyes, Minor Swing, Sweet Georgia Brown, Bossa Dorado and much more played at a dazling speed with mindblowing virtuosity.
During the break, enjoying a sigarette in front of the club I asked Popy if he would teach me...and he would....
Click to read entire weblog!
Yesterday was the big night, I was finaly going to withness genuine live Gypsy Jazz in Club Madness in The Hague. Since a few months now Popy Basily is playing there every thursday night....
When we arrived at the club it was still empty, except for Popy and his band members; Mark, Gino and Antal sipping beer at the counter. I sat down on the squeeky barchair and awaited the magic. While my brother made fun about my nervousness Popy got on stage and a small miracle unfolded!
The watching crowd not much bigger than the band itself wen´t crazy hearing Limehouse blues, Dark eyes, Minor Swing, Sweet Georgia Brown, Bossa Dorado and much more played at a dazling speed with mindblowing virtuosity.
During the break, enjoying a sigarette in front of the club I asked Popy if he would teach me...and he would....
Click to read entire weblog!
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