Gypsy jazz
.jpg)
The Gypsy- Jazz (from English Gypsy jazz ; short Gypsy ), and Jazz Manouche or Sinti -Jazz called (older, some still used name Gypsy -Jazz ), is a variant of Swing .
development
The beginnings of gypsy jazz can be traced back to the activities of the brothers Pierre Joseph “Baro” , Sarane and Jean “Matelo” Ferret in France, who played the Valse Musette with swing articulation at the end of the 1920s and primarily with the stylistic device of Chord breakdown ( arpeggio ) improvised. This approach was broadened in the playing of the Belgian-born guitarist Django Reinhardt , especially in the Quintette du Hot Club de France with the violinist Stéphane Grappelli , the most popular European jazz formation of the 1930s. Reinhardt's compositions and the extended chords he used are based on the same scales. Other Sinti guitarists worked in Paris in the musette ensembles, which were also very popular at the time . To this day, the swing musette - alongside pieces by Django Reinhardt - is an important part of the gypsy jazz repertoire.
Gypsy jazz is the first style of jazz to emerge in Europe. He has long since found worldwide recognition (e.g. annual festival “DjangoFest” in the USA), but still has the most practicing musicians and the largest audience in Europe. Django Reinhardt was the first representative of this jazz style to achieve world fame. Biréli Lagrène is currently probably the world's best-known performer. Other outstanding guitarists of swing-oriented gypsy jazz are Dorado Schmitt and his son Samson Schmitt , Angelo Debarre , Babik Reinhardt , Tchavolo Schmitt (known from Tony Gatlif's film Swing ), Mondine Garcia . Also to be mentioned are: Patotte Bousquet , Raphaël Faÿs , Fapy Lafertin , Yorgui Loeffler , Adrien Moignard , Rocky Gresset , Eddy Grünholz, Angelo Wagner, Feigeli Prisor , Noé Reinhardt , Sébastien Giniaux , Ritary Gaguenetti , Gismo Graf , Robin Nolan, Dario Pinelli, Mandino Reinhardt , Romane , Stochelo Rosenberg , Jimmy Rosenberg , Tornado Rosenberg , Paulus Schäfer , Diknu Schneeberger , David Klüttig, Joscho Stephan , Lulu Weiss and Patrick Saussois . Holzmanno Winterstein , Hono Winterstein and Titi Bamberger stand out among the rhythm guitarists .
In the traditional form of gypsy jazz, the tonal colors of the Hot Club quintet are still dominant today: violin , solo and two rhythm guitars , double bass . The drums can be dispensed with because of the typical percussive guitar accompaniment (la pompe) with its swing drive . Sometimes clarinet and accordion are also used. On the other hand, the singing is only cultivated by some of the groups. Few singers were able to establish themselves in the genre; Here are Kitty Winter , Dunja Blum or Dotschy Reinhardt to name.
It is typical of the more traditional form of gypsy jazz that it is passed on with a strong family bond. As a rule, it is passed on from father to son, from uncle to nephew, etc., without being noted in writing. It is common for beginners to listen for hours, memorize each song, and learn how to play with older players. Within the clan, the bands exist more or less as a family business, in which sons go on tour with their father and cousins and use their intensive musical experience to perfect their playing style. This form of passing on knowledge, as it is e.g. B. Waso Grünholz and Sani Rosenberg practice at their homes in Gerwen and Nuenen , is considered an intangible heritage of humanity in the Netherlands .
Maccaferri guitars are traditionally used as guitars, as they were built in the 1930s by the Italian luthier Maccaferri for the Paris-based company Selmer . This type of guitar, as well as today's replicas, is characterized by a high volume. The instrument is played while seated, is covered with steel strings and is struck with the pick .
Gypsy jazz in German-speaking countries
The term “Gypsy Jazz” or the similar, also older term “Music of German Gypsies”, chosen by the musicians not least with a view to their audience, came up in the 1960s because this music was closely related to Sinti musicians around the violinist Schnuckenack Reinhardt and the guitarist Häns'che Weiss and stylistically based on the model of the Manouche musician Django Reinhardt with his “Hot Club” line-up. Alfred Lora presented a different line-up with La Romanderie . The music of German “gypsies” reached a peak in popularity at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, which could not be achieved in the following period. A group of younger musicians broke away from this traditional group of Sinti musicians during the 1980s. These tend to be more in the direction of modern jazz .
In recent times, Sinti jazz has experienced a renaissance in German-speaking countries. The Zigeli Winter Quartet and the 16 Gypsy Strings from Stuttgart and Wawau Adler from Karlsruhe should be mentioned here; Also worth mentioning is the young guitarist Joscho Stephan from Mönchengladbach, who also goes on excursions into klezmer music. Coming from Vienna, Harri Stojka (who is not a Sinto, but Lovaro ) and Zipflo Weinrich should be mentioned.
Innovative ways of playing
A modal style of playing in contrast to the traditional chord-oriented ( Arpeggio see above ) improvisation style is usually a matter of course for representatives of Gypsy Modern Jazz; the more current idiom of jazz rock , with a style of playing oriented towards funk and soul or Latin jazz , is closer to her than that of swing from the 1930s. The music partly serves to articulate a political commitment against arbitrariness by the authorities and social discrimination.
In other countries, too, younger Sinti have left the swing idiom. The first to be mentioned here is the French guitarist Boulou Ferré , who was able to break out of his father's tradition (Matelo Ferret) in the direction of free jazz as early as 1970 by training with Olivier Messiaen . The process of replacing other guitarists, such as Christian Escoudé or Biréli Lagrène , was not quite as independent as with Boulou and his brother Elios Ferré , who set out in the direction of jazz rock and fusion, but sometimes also reflected the tradition of the musette in elegant arrangements. Harri Stojka and Karl Ratzer from Austria should be mentioned here.
Other well-known individual representatives and groups that innovatively develop gypsy jazz further are the Oechsner-Weiss Ensemble , Lulo and Markus Reinhardt , Hannes Beckmann , Ferenc Snétberger , Joscho Stephan , Django Lassi and the group Opa Tsupa .
literature
- Anita Awosusi (ed.): The music of the Sinti and Roma . Volume 2: The Sinti Jazz . Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma, Heidelberg 1997, ISBN 3-929446-09-X ( Series of publications of the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma 6).
- Michael Dregni: Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz . Speck Press, Denver CO 2006, ISBN 1-933108-10-X (English).
Web links
- Jazzmanouche.de - German web portal on the subject of Jazz Manouche with news, workshops and much more.
- Ernst Wilhelm Holl: The guitar in gypsy jazz (diploma thesis, Dresden 1999)
- Django Reinhardt Festival - multi-day open air festival in Hildesheim
Individual evidence
- ↑ SintiJazz (Immaterieel Erfgoed). Dutch Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage, accessed August 13, 2020 .
- ^ Gerhardt Litterst: Gypsy music between maintaining tradition and further development. In: Jazz Podium , 39/12, December 1996, page 26
- ^ Gerhard Kwiatkowski: Schüler-Duden - Die Musik , Mannheim / Vienna / Zurich, 1989, page 438
- ↑ Anita Awosusi: The Music of the Sinti and Roma Volume 2: Der Sinti-Jazz , series of publications by the Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma, Heidelberg, October 1997, page 113