Django Donegal, a scintillating weekend of gypsy jazz music at the Regional Cultural Centre (RCC) in Letterkenny got off to a delightful start Friday with a birthday rendition from both audience and musicians for superb young guitarist, Hugo Guezbar.
And the celebratory mood continued throughout the fast-flowing, uptempo 90-minute concert that followed, one characterised by driving, percussive strum patterns granting the music a propulsive, swinging feel, delivered through the well-honed talents of Giacomo Smith, Mathieu Chatelien, William Brunard and Hugo.
For those not familiar with gypsy jazz, it’s a style of acoustic jazz that merges 1930s American swing with traditional European Romani folk music and was created in Paris during the 1930s by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli. It’s rooted heavily in the musical traditions of the Manouche (French Romani people).
Highlights of yesterday evening’s concert were plentiful, incorporating a blend of original compositions and classic jazz standards. Several tunes from Giacomo’s recent album ‘Manouche’ were delivered with sheer poise and aplomb, including ‘After You’ve Gone,’ written in 1918 by Turner Layton, a syncopated melody; ‘Begin the Beguine’ a Tin Pan Alley tune by Cole Porter; and Gershwin’s ‘Embraceable You’ composed in 1928, finished off in a flourish of riffs and ripples by Smith masterfully on clarinet. Another tune from the album was ‘Indifference,’ a Manouche standard originally written by Joseph Colombo and Tony Murena, recorded in 1942.
The accomplished foursome also enlivened the auditorium with their rendering of ‘Mister Tom, a swinging, blues-inflected tune composed by Smith, who entertained the audience with an anecdotal story about how the tune was named after a chocolate bar. Paying tribute to Django Reinhardt, the group also performed the joyful ‘Festival 48,’ an arrangement by Smith of a Reinhardt original.
What can best be described as ‘musical conversations’ were a memorable aspect of the evening as illustrated in the group’s interpretation of George Benson’s ‘Clockwise’ from his 1967 album The George Benson Cookbook. Fast and fiery, Smith’s clarinet and Guezbar’s guitar interlinked to create a seamless harmony, illustrating their impressive prowess on their respective instruments.
Born in Montpellier, Guezbar’s finger-shifting was mesmerising, almost dancing pirouette-like along the guitar strings at a blistering pace, creating fast, intricate, highly technical soloing with rapid runs, arpeggios, and chromatic flourishes. Trained classically on clarinet at Boston and McGill Universities, Smith, dressed in trademark black suit and red glasses, entertained the audience in his inimitable style – clear, fluid and playful, leaving listeners lingering at every phrase. The virtuosity on rhythm guitar and double bass by Chatelien and Brunard provided the perfect tonal support, the former with a style described as ‘la pompe’ — percussive strum pattern that substitutes for drums in any ensemble and the latter offering sensual, velvety sonorities in the mid-low register, fast and articulate for other moods.
Congratulations are due to Donough Cleary, founder and organiser of Donegal’s gypsy jazz festival, originally called Django sur Lennon and once hosted in the nearby town of Ramelton and later rebranded as Django Donegal/ Gypsy Jazz Festival, as well as Jeremy Howard, director of the Regional Cultural Centre, and his team for hosting such a thoroughly enjoyable and heart-warming international concert.
Rather than the cost of a ticket to Paris, why not pop along to the RCC this evening (Saturday 8pm) and enjoy a second lively concert featuring The Rocky Gresset Trio with special guest Alexandre Cavaliere.
