Gypsy Jazz/Django style

[robailey]

Ok, So my musical journey has taken me to Fingerstyle blues and Jazz standards and I've been dabbling in percussive for the last two years. And now, I'm really moved by Gypsy Jazz. I'm looking for a course I can go through in 3 months or so that would give me 3-4 good gypsy standards and would be fairly systematic in terms of giving me some "hook" for the theory. Any recommendations?

[delb0y]

It's a great style and there are scores of wonderful players. These days there are loads of great books, DVDs, and online courses. Get yourself over to djangobooks.com and check out the forum. You'll uncover all the direction you need there, I'm sure.

Kind regards
Derek

[JonPR]

It all begins with Django, of course, and transcribing a few original Hot Club tracks would be my recommendation.
Get the melodies under your fingers to begin with - most are pretty simple, and the chords are too. Django's solos are pretty fiendish of course, but they all spring from that simple foundation.

I certainly see no point in learning from any Django copyists or interpreters, however good they are. Gypsy jazz is unique as a style in that it all springs from one original artist (the first European gypsy to play jazz). The fact that his recordings are available means you need nothing else, except transcriptions of them. They are the Bible - accept no substitute . (Why copy a copyist when you can copy the original? Make your own interpretation.)

The only film of the Hot Club:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fc3hffDNr8
Django's section begins at 2:25- and his solo is at 4:38.

BTW, there is no need to limit yourself to 2 fingers .

[blue]

I can't help you with the Django stuff, but looking at your general interest you may be interested in the Ragtime & Early Jazz - 1900-1935 (Jazz Bible Fake Book Series) by Hal Leonard press.

I believe it's out of print, but I found it used a couple years ago for $5. Just a hoot. A quick google search shows them for $21 as the lowest price available on amazon used.

[vbakh]

You might want to look at the Michael Horowitz's djangobooks.com web site and and forum. It's a great resource for the fans of Gypsy Jazz.

Regards,
Vlad

[toddkreuz]

I agree, start with Django transcriptions.

This style is great cross training for guitarists of any style.

[pete1960]

Try Jamey Aebersold Django playalong book/cd
Stan Ayeroff's book of Django transcriptions is excellent too. Good luck and have fun