DjangoFest Mill Valley California June 8-11

[Lois Gilbert]

DjangoFest Mill Valley California - 4 days of Gypsy Jazz June 8-11

142 Throckmorton Theatre
The sizzling sound of gypsy jazz music at the
2006 Django Fest - Mill Valley
Top International Gypsy Jazz musicians perform six concerts over 4 days with workshops June 8-11


THURSDAY, June 8 - 8PM
FRIDAY, June 9- 8PM, workshop at 2pm
SATURDAY, June 10- 3PM and 8PM; workshops from 10am-12pm and 12pm-2pm
SUNDAY June 11- 3PM and 7PM; workshops from 10am-12pm and 12pm-2pm


142 Throckmorton Theatre in downtown Mill Valley, California


Tickets range from $25-$45 and can be purchased by calling 415-383-9600, or at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre box office. For more information or to purchase online visit www.142throckmortontheatre.com. Pre-seating is available with an additional charge.


DjangoFest Mill Valley (pronounced jan-go) is a four-day festival celebrating the music and spirit of Django Reinhardt, a French gypsy musician who contributed significantly to American jazz's golden age in the first half of the 20th century. From June 8-11th, downtown Mill Valley will become infused with the spirit of this positive and contagious music, cultivating a true festival atmosphere as first-time hosts to the event. Players and enthusiasts from around the world will congregate to hear top, international Gypsy Jazz musicians in concert with exciting opportunities for fans, such as workshops, events at supporting venues such as the Sweetwater and Mount Tam Amphitheatre, “djam” sessions with other aficionados of this distinctive and vibrant genre of acoustic guitar driven music, and much more. See full schedule below. Visit www.142throckmortontheatre.com for more information including artist biographies.

Gypsy Jazz was invented and perfected in the cafes of Paris in the 30's and 40's by the influence of Django Reinhardt. A dramatic mix of American Swing, Parisian Musette, Spanish Flamenco and Eastern European, this unique style of guitar-driven jazz has been preserved and added to by devoted followers.


Born in Belgium in 1910, Reinhardt was one of the first important jazz musicians to be born in Europe, and one of the most important jazz guitarists of all time. He spent most of his youth in Basque Gypsy encampments close to Paris and began performing guitar, violin and banjo professionally at an early age. When he was 18, Reinhardt was injured in a fire which left the third and fourth digits on his left hand severely damaged. Reinhardt focused on the guitar and developed an original style of playing that emphasized his undamaged fingers, the distinct Django-gypsy style. Playing with the infamous “Quintette du Hot Club de France” in 1934, Reinhardt produced a number of recordings at this time and played with American Jazz legends such as Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Rex Stewars and Louis Armstrong. After stints of touring the UK and US and playing with greats such as Duke Ellington at Carnegie Hall, Reinhardt returned to Paris and formed new collaborations while returning to his gypsy lifestyle, finding it hard to adjust to modern conveniences. He continued composing and recording until his death in 1953. (source: Wikipedia.org)

[Peterdubya]

SCHEDULE:

Thursday, June 8 8:00pm CONCERT with Hot Club Pacific with Bruce Forman, Robin Nolan Trio with Howard Alden

Friday, June 9 2-4:00pm WORKSHOP with Stephane Wrembel: Foundation for Improvisation

Friday, June 9 8:00pm CONCERT with Hot Club Sandwich, Kruno, Stephane Wrembel

Saturday, June 10 10-12:00pm WORKSHOP with Paul Mehling: Pick Power: For Speed, Volume and Control

Saturday, June 10 12-2:00pm WORKSHOP with Robin Nolan: Gypsy Jazz Licks

Saturday, June 10 3:00pm CONCERT with Kruno, John Jorgenson Quintet

Saturday, June 10 8:00pm CONCERT with Hot Club of Berkeley, Robin Nolan Trio with Brandi Shearer, Samson Schmitt Trio with Tim Kliphuis

Sunday, June 11 10-12:00pm WORKSHOP with Samson Schmitt: Correct Right Hand Technique

Sunday, June 11 10-12:00pm WORKSHOP with Tim Kliphuis: The Grappelli Workshop

Sunday, June 11 12-2:00pm WORKSHOP with John Jorgenson: Introduction to Gypsy Jazz Guitar

Sunday, June 11 3:00pm CONCERT with Pearl Django, Samson Schmitt Trio with Tim Kliphuis

Sunday, June 11 7:00pm CONCERT with The Younger Generation with Sammo Miltich, Samson Grisman, Annie Staninec and Jason Vanderford, Hot Club of San Francisco, John Jorgenson Quintet

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS:
Friday, June 9 2:00pm Workshop with Stephane Wrembel Foundation for Improvisation
The purpose of this workshop is to reproduce the Gypsies' approach to learning improvisation on the guitar, without knowing theory. All the required material is on the fretboard. The key is to have the right tools to unlock it.
Also learn how to improve your rhythm, increase the architecture of your solos, and how the gypsies understand music and where they get their material. A lot of secrets get revealed here... Stephane Wrembel is the author of the now famous method book "Getting into Gypsy Jazz", published by the prestigious Melbay publications.

Saturday, June 10 10-12:00pm WORKSHOP with Paul Mehling Pick Power: For Speed, Volume and Control
Paul Mehling (of the Hot Club of San Francisco) has developed a powerful series of exercises and practice regimens that will help all plectrum (flatpick) guitarists play with greater strength, speed, expressiveness and authority.
Paul provides many paths to success for players at all levels. He shows you the basics - how to grip the pick and maintain proper hand and arm positions for fluid playing and to avoid tension and fatigue. He then takes you through a graduated series of chord and single string exercises to get your mind and hand working together. These include strumming and damping, scales, chromatic exercises, “speed blasts,” arpeggios, tremolo, sweep picking and much more.

Saturday, June 10 12-2:00pm WORKSHOP with Robin Nolan: Gypsy Jazz Licks
This workshop will feature a unique collection of hip Gypsy Jazz "licks" which are applied to some of the most popular standards being played in the Gypsy Jazz scene today. These licks will allow you to begin soloing over the changes immediately without being bogged down by academic rhetoric or theoretical approaches which characterize so many study books in the genre and render them a frustrating waste of time and money.
You will be learning the basic vocabulary of Gypsy Jazz itself. The very building blocks that make up the language. You will be playing MUSIC!.... not scales, not arpeggios, not complicated harmonic theories or life threatening technical exercises! It's Gypsy Jazz, not rocket science! We want to help you enjoy the music and show a few things that will definitely impress your friends...

Sunday, June 11 10-12:00pm WORKSHOP with Samson Schmitt: Virtuosity Through Correct Right Hand Techniques
Samson will develop his approach to right hand Gypsy guitar techniques needed to eventually achieve virtuosic effects and strong phrasing in the Gypsy style. He will use slow, medium and fast swing tunes borrowed form the Django repertoire to illustrate his concepts.

Sunday, June 11 10-12:00pm WORKSHOP with Tim Kliphuis: The Grappelli Workshop
On tour, Tim Kliphuis’ workshops are hosted wherever possible in addition to concerts. Tim works on the three aspects of jazz violin playing that made Stéphane Grappelli famous: Melody, Tone and Timing. The repertoire comprises standard Hot Club and Swing tunes such as Minor Swing, Summertime, Sweet Georgia Brown and Nuages.

Sunday, June 11 12-2:00pm WORKSHOP with John Jorgenson: Introduction to Gypsy Jazz Guitar
John Jorgenson's "Introduction to Gypsy Jazz Guitar" will be geared towards the player who is just starting to learn gypsy jazz and swing guitar, and will cover both rhythm and lead techniques. For rhythm playing, various chord shapes and patterns that can be utilized in many different songs will be demonstrated along with elementary music theory behind these progressions. In addition, the right hand rhythm patterns that are the very life blood of swing playing will be taught. The beginning lead guitarist will again be shown various scale and arpeggio combinations and how to use them over the most common chord changes in gypsy jazz music. Along with left hand fingering (including the "two-finger" and "four-finger" approaches) various right hand picking techniques will be taught (including "gypsy-picking" and alternate picking). After having taken this workshop, the student should be left with a good understanding of the elements that make up gypsy jazz and swing.