Django Comes Alive In New York

  I  

The 4th Annual Django Reinhardt NY Festival hits the Birdland Nov. 18–23.

In memory of the 50th anniversary of the guitarist’s premature death, a group of Django Festival “gypsies” brought the Bossa Nova around the country this summer. Now the international lineup comes back home.

French composer and guitarist Dorado Schmitt will play with his son, guitarist Samson Schmitt, and accordionist Ludovic Beier from Paris.

New additions include German guitarist Joscho Stephan. He will appear in a trio with his father, guitarist Gunter Stephan, and bassist Maximilian Schaaf. This is 20-year-old Stephan’s first trip to the U.S.

Also making his first trip overseas is Alexandre Cavaliere, a 17-year-old violinist from Belgium. Russian violinist Vitali Imereli will “bow” to Django as a special guest this year.

American saxophonists James Carter and Harry Allen, along with clarinetist Ken Peplowski, drummer Grady Tate, bassist Brian Torff and harmonica player Enrico Granafei, have also been listed as special guests throughout the week.

For information about show times or reservations, call (212) 581-3080 or visit www.birdlandjazz.com

For information about various workshops throughout the week, call (212) 744-8836 or e-mail producer Pat Philips at patmusic2@aol.com.



  • Zakir_Hussain_2011_Symphony_Center_copy.jpg

    “Watching people like Max Roach or Elvin Jones and seeing how they utilize the whole drum kit in a very rhythmic and melodic way and how they stretched time — that was a huge inspiration to me,” Hussain said in DownBeat.

  • ART7087_Mike_Stern_by_Sandrine_Lee_72dpi_RGB_PR8391_copy.jpg

    “I love doing ballads,” Mike Stern says. “It’s just a part of me, some part of emotionally how I feel sometimes.”

  • KennedyCenter.jpg

    Queen Latifah extols Harlem and the Apollo Theater at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors.

  • John_and_Gerald_Clayton_by_Paul_Wellman_copy.jpg

    Gerald and John Clayton at the family home in Altadena during a photo shoot for the June 2022 cover of DownBeat. The house was lost during the Los Angeles fires.

  • Jernberg_Photo_Jon_Edergren_2_copy.jpg

    “With jazz I thought it must be OK to be Black, for the first time,” says singer Sofia Jernberg.


On Sale Now
February 2025
Sullivan Fortner
Look Inside
Subscribe
Print | Digital | iPad