Of all the styles of jazz to emerge in the twentieth century, none is more passionate, more exhilaratingly up-tempo, or more steeped in an outsider tradition than Gypsy Jazz. And there is no one more qualified to write about Gypsy Jazz than Michael Dregni, author of the acclaimed biography, Django. A vagabond music, Gypsy Jazz is played today in French Gypsy bars, Romany encampments, on religious pilgrimages--and increasingly on the world's greatest concert stages. Yet its story has never been told, in part because much of its history is undocumented, either in written form or often even in recorded music. Beginning with Django Reinhardt, whose dazzling Gypsy Jazz became the toast of 1930s Paris in the heady days of Josephine Baker, Picasso, and Hemingway, Dregni follows the music as it courses through caravans on the edge of Paris, where today's young French Gypsies learn Gypsy Jazz as a rite of passage, along the Gypsy pilgrimage route to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer where the Romany play around their campfires, and finally to the new era of international Gypsy stars such as Bireli Lagrene, Boulou Ferre, Dorado Schmitt, and Django's own grandchildren, David Reinhardt and Dallas Baumgartner. Interspersed with Dregni's vivid narrative are the words of the musicians themselves, many of whom have never been interviewed for the American press before, as they describe what the music means to them. Gypsy Jazz also includes a chapter devoted entirely to American Gypsy musicians who remain largely unknown outside their hidden community. Blending travelogue, detective story, and personal narrative, Gypsy Jazz is music history at its best, capturing the history and culture of this elusive music--and the soul that makes it swing.

Learn to improvise in the Gypsy Jazz violin style even if you have never improvised before. the style is closely associated with French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, who played with Gypsy jazz guitar player Django Reinhardt. Each lesson in the book covers specific key aspects of the Gypsy jazz violin style. the techniques are presented sequentially and the underlying music theory is introduced on a "need to know" basis.Getting Into Gypsy Jazz Violin includes charts of classic swing tunes such as Avalon, the Sheik of Araby & After You've Gone and includes a CD featuring authentic accompaniment tracks and model violin performances. Because the Gypsy jazz violin style maintains common elements of traditional classical violin techniques such as vibrato and shifting, the book is a perfect vehicle for the classical violinist to learn to improvise without having to change their general approach to the instrument.•

In the tradition of Django Reinhardt, Biréli Lagrène is one of most highly regarded Gypsy jazz, bebop, and fusion guitarists of recent decades. Once regarded as a child prodigy, he has performed with such legendary players as Benny Goodman, Stéphan Grappelli, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucía, John McLaughlin and countless others. Given that roster, one might assume that Lagrène is quite advanced in years, but this is not the case; the fact is, he was drawn to the guitar as a child of four, and after auditioning at the intermission, was invited onstage with Grapelli for the second half- when he was only ten years old. While Lagrène is primarily an ear player, he has collaborated with TAGA Publishing to produce an exceptional book filled with insightful tips on playing the Gypsy jazz style. Biréli Lagrène: Gypsy Jazz Guitar Artistry introduces the intermediate jazz guitarist to the essential rhythms used in Gypsy jazz accompaniment, as well as to the vocabulary needed to improvise in the Gypsy jazz style. Not for the faint of heart, the book includes online audio recordings of 33 rhythm exercises and licks to incorporate the right feel or panache in your own Gypsy jazz performance style. The musical examples are written in either chord symbols or standard notation and tablature. Includes access to online audio.

This book focuses on the key elements of the Django Reinhardt Gypsy jazz or jazz Manouche guitar style. the information revealed here was gleaned from years of experience jamming with French Gypsies and studying with masters of the style. A native of France, Stephane Wrembel acquired his skills entirely by ear and has taught scores of musicians worldwide using the method that appears here in text and notation for the first time. Written in English, German and French with all musical examples in standard notation and tablature, Wrembel conveys his knowledge in a logical step by step manner, exposing the reader to the authentic Manouche style as it continues to evolve in France and Holland. Medium to advanced in difficulty, this method is designed for the guitarist who is already familiar with jazz harmony and note locations on the fretboard.

Django Reinhardt was perhaps the greatest guitarist to ever live. A Gypsy who made his jazz guitar speak with a human voice, he was dashing, charismatic, childish . . . and doomed to die young after creating a legacy of Gypsy Jazz that remains vibrant today. Gypsy Jazz is a music both joyous and sad, timeless and modern. It was born from a marriage of Louis Armstrong s trumpet with the anguished sound of Romany violin and the fire of flamenco guitar. Created amidst the glamour of Jazz Age Paris and reaching a peak during the horrors of World War II, Gypsy Jazz gave a voice to a dispossessed people. Today, Gypsy Jazz is more popular than ever. It has a legacy as strong as the Cuban sounds of the Buena Vista Social Club, the blues of B. B. King, or the R&B of Ray Charles. "Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz" is a stylish collection of more than two hundred illustrations telling Django s story and the history of Gypsy jazz. Running through the Paris Jazz Age of the 1920s to the current worldwide renaissance of Gypsy jazz bands (including Django s grandsons, who are playing today), the images include rare archival photographs, modern images, posters, programs, tickets, guitars, memorabilia, paintings, and more. "

Do you want to sound more like the French maestro Stephan Grappelli? Here is the answer. I've selected around 250 classic Grappelli licks for you to learn. Using Simple chord theory and tips for timing and style. You can start these songs instantly. The online audio recording contains samples, solos and backing tracks to practice your new-found skills on. Includes access to online audio

The History of Jazz is a story rich with innovation, experimentation, controversy and emotion, this coffee table book concept provides an ideal setting to share the cultural history of the people and places that helped shape the development and progression of the history of jazz. And is presented in an eclectic format to preserve the works of the original authors of this subject matter. The Jazz Sippers Group presents these collective writings through interpretive techniques designed to educate and entertain, and seeks to preserve information and resources associated with the origins of the history of jazz. The musicians are the men and women who, made and still make the music, the leaders as well as the sidemen, and side women who have and continue to make jazz a popular music.

The acoustic guitar is the instrument of the people and Play Acoustic tells the people how to play it. This detailed and beautifully illustrated book explores the history of the acoustic guitar, from the jazz age to the folk revolutions of the early 1960s and late 1990s to the current rebirth of bluegrass and the singer-songwriter boom of the past decade. Skilled professional musicians and experienced tutors coach the reader through 11 styles, using exercises suitable to novice players new to each style and working up to full pieces and advanced techniques. Entire chapters are devoted to folk, rock and pop, blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, and more, with detailed guidance through both musical notation and tablature, diagrams, and explanatory text. Accompanying audio also offers listening examples of the most crucial of these exercises, to help players master each style.

New Jazz Conceptions: History, Theory, Practice is an edited collection that captures the cutting edge of British jazz studies in the early twenty-first century, highlighting the developing methodologies and growing interdisciplinary nature of the field. In particular, the collection breaks down barriers previously maintained between jazz historians, theorists and practitioners with an emphasis on interrogating binaries of national/local and professional/amateur. Each of these essays questions popular narratives of jazz, casting fresh light on the cultural processes and economic circumstances which create the music. Subjects covered include Duke Ellington’s relationship with the BBC, the impact of social media on jazz, a new view of the ban on visiting jazz musicians in interwar Britain, a study of Dave Brubeck as a transitional figure in the pages of Melody Maker and BBC2’s Jazz 625, the issue of ‘liveness’ in Columbia’s Ellington at Newport album, a musician and promoter's views of the relationship with audiences, a reflection on Philip Larkin, Kingsley Amis and Eric Hobsbawm as jazz critics, a musician’s perspective on the oral and generational tradition of jazz in a British context, and a meditation on Alan Lomax’s Mr. Jelly Roll, and what it tells us about cultural memory and historical narratives of jazz.

Global Jazz: A Research and Information Guide is an annotated bibliography that explores the global impact of jazz, detailing the evolution of the African American musical tradition as it has been absorbed, transformed, and expanded across the world’s historical, political, and social landscapes. With more than 1,300 annotated entries, this vast compilation covers a broad range of subjects, people, and geographic regions as they relate to interdisciplinary research in jazz studies. The result is a vivid demonstration of how cultures from every corner of the globe have situated jazz—often regarded as America’s classical music—within and beyond their own musical traditions, creating new artistic forms in the process. Global Jazz: A Research and Information Guide presents jazz as a common musical language in a global landscape of diverse artistic expression.