I must admit that until recently I was not much of a fan of gypsy swing. This art form was perfected in the 1930s by the great Django Reinhardt, and since he died, all that's left is to try to copy his inimitable style. But something happened to me a few months ago on the way to the shopping mall that has changed my musical future.
Every Sunday I would perfom our regular jazz standards with my steadfast trio, Tamir Miller on piano (a very sought after accompanist), Oren Sagi on double bass, and myself. Oren has a parallel career playing with the "Swing de Gitanes", a great trio of the classic Django style. One day, Tamir couldn't make the gig and Oren asked one of the gypsy swing trio (Bar Tsalel) to join us. The rhythm completely blew me away. For me, their swing is just the thing. We barely broke for intermission (and this over three hours of playing). Another time, I asked the whole trio to do the mall gig, while I handled some university business. I managed to reach the mall in time to hear their last set. When I approached the mall, I was sure I was listening to a recording. Sure enough it was them. Wow!
About two months ago we started playing together, and have now a couple of performances (and demo) under our belt. We are hoping to play at one of the upcoming jazz festivals here. And, if you live in Israel, you can hear us at the Shablul jazz club on September 28th.
So now I have a split musical personality. I'm not giving up on Tamir and our standards, but I am hoping to soar with the gypsies. How do you like the name "Gypsy Flush" for our new band?
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