7th Annual Django Reinhardt NY Festival

7th Annual Django Reinhardt NY Festival will take place at Birdland, NYC November 7 - 12. Starring: The Schmitts. Dorado, Samson and Tchavalo--father, son and cousin-- return. Three true-blue gypsy guitar greats with large personalities from the Strasbourg region in France near Germany. Dorado actually lives on Rue Stephane Grappelli. They perform in the Manouche tradition, each with his own style, all virtuosos of the music of Django--hot, romantic, and joyous.

Joining them will be Parisian accordion whiz Ludovic Beier, who has dazzled us with his virtuososity on the accordion and who also plays the 'accordina, ' a very fascinating instrument. Young Alexandre Cavaliere comes from Belgium and brings an excitement and joy to the ensemble. Brian Torff, who toured with Stephane Grappelli for years, is our bassist and musical director.

The Festival also introduces Kruno, a new young guitar talent from Philadelphia, on Nov. 9th. Added to all that, each night, an American jazz great will join in, including trumpeter Dominick Farinacci on Nov. 7--listen to him play a beautiful version of Django's tune "Tears." Saxophonist James Carter steps in on Nov. 8. We'll hear the rich sound of Joel Frahm's sax on Nov. 9, the "other Benny Goodman"--Ken Peplowski--on Nov. 10, former John Pizzarelli pianist Ray Kennedy on Nov. 11 and Venezuelan harpist Edmar Castaneda on Nov. 12. And there are always surprises.

The Festival is Produced by Pat Philips & Ettore Stratta and carries on the legacy of the music of Django Reinhardt, who first teamed with virtuoso jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli in the 1930s to form the Hot Club Quintette, and so created a special hot swing form of jazz that was romantic, virtuosic and original in style.

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