"Le Jazz Hot: The Music of Django Reinhardt"
Django Reinhardt Festival featuring Dorado Schmitt
Sunday, November 5 • 7pm
$56
$36
$30
$25
"none came closer to matching (Belgian Gypsy virtuoso
Django) Reinhardt's phenomenal technique and palpable charisma
than Dorado Schmitt...." — Chicago Tribune
Program Notes
Just a few bars of Le Jazz Hot are capable of evoking
an entire era: Paris, between the wars, American jazz musicians
pacing the streets, seeking out a guitarist whose virtuosity
had the town abuzz. This new strain of music, familiarly known
as “gypsy jazz,” was the creation of Django Reinhardt,
a Manouche gypsy whose name has become synonymous with the infectious,
toe-tapping swing, infused with folk melodies and the popular
French musette sounds of the day. Guitar and violin maestro Dorado
Schmitt carries on the Reinhardt legacy as an instrumentalist,
composer, and fellow Manouche. Since 2000, he has been a featured
player at the Django Reinhardt Festival at Birdland in New York,
the first stateside festival to celebrate the guitar legend’s
legacy.
As a child in France, Schmitt would listen to Reinhardt’s
music, patiently trying to puzzle out the master’s blazing
guitar work. “Because the music of Django is very energetic.
You have to have a lot of physical strength,” Schmidt told Fiddler Magazine.
Like Reinhardt, whose hand was partially paralyzed in a caravan
fire, Schmitt suffered a huge setback to his musical career when
an automobile accident left him in a coma. Drawing on the same
ingenuity and tenacity displayed by his idol, he relearned the
instrument, patiently regaining his virtuosic touch. Dorado’s
son Samson, who joins the band tonight on swing guitar, continues
the proud family tradition of le jazz hot.
Personnel:
- Dorado Schmitt, guitar
- Samson Schmitt, guitar
- Ludovic Beier, accordian
- Brian Torff, bass
- Alexandre Cavaliere, violin
