Django Festival Allstars

Pioneering Romani jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt lamented that he might be neglected by history, but today the ebulliently swinging “jazz manouche” sound he created with French violinist Stéphane Grappelli is more pervasive than ever. For this very special night, the leading purveyors of the style, the Django Festival Allstars, return to the Miner stage for a magical evening of hot jazz. 

Featuring the guitar mastery of Samson Schmitt of the Schmitt clan, the first family of jazz manouche, the Django Festival All-Stars also includes accordionist and keyboardist Ludovic Beier, violinist Pierre Blanchard, and rhythm guitarist Francko Mehrstein — all of whom gained fame as part of the original band led by family patriarch Dorado Schmitt — joined by bassist Antonio Licusati. This assemblage of masters in the Roma jazz style are regular performers at the annual Django Reinhart Festival in Samois-sur-Seine, France and New York’s celebration at Birdland, which celebrates over a quarter century of music. 

The group performs in support of their new Motéma Music release, Evolution, a hard-swinging collection of original compositions written and arranged by the members of the band. DownBeat magazine hailed the release as “(jazz manouche) for the 21st Century!”