This just in from Jon Larsen, over at Hot Club Records
In connection with the DJANGO 100 years-celebration, we have three fantastic, new releases from Hot Club Records.
The music is available as downloads from iTunes - with complete cover/artwork for free! - and on CD, ask your local record shop:
OPUS4 - The Best Of Opus4 (HCRCD 222) - Vocal gypsy swing!
The Russian cabarets in Paris are the melting pots where the traditional Russian folklore music joined forces with the gypsy music. This is where the jazz manouche originally came from, where Django Reinhardt and Matelo Ferré started out, and where music history took an unexpected turn - the birth of the European jazz.
It was also here, in the the mid 60-ies, Serge Camps started out, initially on the bass balalaïka together with the guitar player Marc de Loutchek, and his Balalaïka Ensemble. They were engaged by Yul Brynner, and later with Ivan Rebroff, and toured the entire world. At the same time Serge Camps played and recorded with some of the greatest gypsy stars of all times, Aliocha Dimitrievitch, and others.
Soon after, Serge Camps himself started the legendary cabaret La Roue Fleurie in Paris, and the rest is history. This was the first manifestation of the renaissance of the Django music, which since then has spread all over the world. It was here, at La Roue Fleurie, the new generation of guitar players - Raphaël Faÿs and Angelo Debarre - took the Django inspired music to the next level. In 1985 this small Montmartre café became the meeting place for gypsy jazz musicians after hours, and the jamsessions could last until sunrise. Here you could listen to Boulou Ferré, Marc Fosset, Patrick Saussois, and others. Here the Russian music and the gypsy folklore, and jazz, melted together with bossa nova, fado, greek music, classical and contemporary music, South American, and popular music, and spiced the Django music into the modern hodgepodge of jazz manouche we know today.
Opus4 are the keepers of this flame, and their authentic French-Russian accoustic gypsy fusion is truly one of a kind.
JON LARSEN - A Portrait Of Jon Larsen (HCRCD 224)
The best recordings by guitar virtuoso Jon Larsen, one of the original pioneers from the renaissance of the Django Reinhardt music. Here together with Jimmy Rosenberg (13 years old), Babik Reinhardt, Ulf Wakenius, Biel Ballester, Hot Club de Norvege, Vertavo String Quartet, and musicians from Frank Zappa's band: Tommy Mars, Bruce Fowler, Jimmy Carl Black, and others! An amazing compilation by one of the most original guitar player/composers of our time.
DENIS CHANG - Deeper Than You Think (HCRCD 203)
A marvellous new recording with the Canadian master of Django guitar, Denis Chang. More info on his splendid homepage.
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