New York’s Birdland will host the Fifth Annual Django Reinhardt NY Festival from Nov. 9 – 14, with artists from France, Holland and the U.S. taking the stage to pay tribute to the master gypsy jazz guitarist.
French guitarist Dorado Schmitt, who played at Lincoln Center’s Spirit of Django concert in July, returns to New York to headline the fest at Birdland and will play with rhythm guitarist Mayo Hubert, also from France, and American bassist Brian Torff, who serves as the festivals’ musical director. In addition, the Basily Gypsy Band, a three guitar plus violin group, will come from Holland for its first American performance, aided by Dutch pianist Peter Beets and guitarist Martin Limberger. Beets and Limberger will also perform with Dorado and Co.
A number of American guest musicians will show up over the course of the festival. Here’s a schedule of their appearances:
Tues. Nov. 9: Harry Allen Wed. Nov. 10: Paquito D’Rivera
Thurs. Nov. 11: James Carter Fri. Nov. 12: Gil Goldstein Sat. Nov. 13: Joel Frahm Sun. Nov. 14: Dave Samuels
Sets will take place at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. The cover charge is $30 on Tues, Wed. and Thurs; $35 on Fri. and Sat., with a $10 drink minimum each night. Birdland is at 315 W. 44th Street in Manhattan. For more info on the club, visit www.birdlandjazz.com.
There will be a workshop on Sat. Nov. 13th at 3:00 at Birdland with Dorado Schmitt and others. Call 212-744-8836 for information.
Related Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Kurt Elling: Man in the Air
Nate Chinen makes the argument that Kurt Elling is the most influential jazz vocalist of our time
Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro