Les Belles du Swing
Les Belles du Swing is a swing band from Berlin. The sextet combines swing in the style of the 1920s to 1950s with entertainment and contemporary song lyrics in German.
description
The swing band was founded in 2005 by the pianist Doro Gehr and the guitarist Silke Fell. Bassist Maike Scheel has been a permanent member of the band since then. In 2006 the singer Katharina Gade joined them and in 2009 the saxophonist Miriam Siebenstädt and the drummer Lizzy Scharnofske . In 2014 Katharina Gade left the band. Since then there have been two singers in the band: Barbara Klehr and Katja Katsuba. The English saxophonist and clarinetist James Scannell has been playing the saxophone and clarinet temporarily since 2017. In 2018 the line-up of the band changed again. A second guitar was added with Sophie Decker. She plays the classic gypsy rhythm guitar and replaces Scharnofske on drums.
The band plays easy swing with German lyrics, sung in three voices, many of their own compositions and pay homage to the lifestyle of swing. Swing classics from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s are adapted to the times and interpreted with jazz improvisation and their own new lyrics. The musical focus of the band is European swing, especially French swing and Sinti jazz, called gypsy swing , not the popular American swing of the 1920s to 1950s. Since 2017, the band has been playing instrumental concerts in the style of swing manouche - as Gypsyswing is also called - in the "classic" line-up with two gypsy guitars. Pieces by Django Reinhardt , swing classics by Benny Goodman and appropriately adapted pop songs.
During the time of the Third Reich , swing and jazz were ostracized as degenerate art , which interrupted cultural development. Les Belles du Swing build on the French swing of the tradition of the Hot Club de France from the Paris of the 1930s, develop it further and combine it with elements from chanson , pop and modern jazz .
Awards
- 1989: Deutscher Kleinkunstpreis (D. Gehr) Theater Wilde Mixture
- 2005: In-House Composition Prize Berlin Culture Senate (M. Scheel)
- 2006: Audience award at the Jazz & Blues Award
- 2006: Studio Prize from the Berlin Senate for Culture
- 2008: TOP musician link "Your Music and More"
- 2009: Special prize for young song poets, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Bayerischer Rundfunk
- 2009: Nomination for the International Show Prize
- 2011: Award as the best women's swing band
- 2015: Nomination "Best Swing Band"
- 2018: "Esprit der Weihnacht" awarded as the best Christmas CD
Tours
- Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Morocco
- Italy
- Sweden, u. a. Hällevik Jazzfest
- Beijing, China (Doro Gehr)
- Montreux, Swiss Jazz Festival (Maike Scheel)
- Vienna: Künstlerhausheater and Hofburg
- London: Drill Hall Arts Center (Doro Gehr)
- Basel: Les Trois Rois / Rialto / Lions Club
- Amsterdam: Theater Carré (Silke Fell)
- Beijing: International Pop Music Festival
Web links
- Les Belles du Swing Official website