GJ in the WSJ

thickpick

Today's Wall Street Journal has a listing for a Fishtank Ensemble concert that says...

Traditionally, there have been two basic flavors of gypsy jazz: brass bands, like the celebrated Fanfare Ciocărlia (of Romania), and string ensembles, many of whom use Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club of France as a starting point. Fishtank Ensemble combines violins, bass, guitars, and a captivating frontwoman (Ursula Knudson) who sings and plays a musical saw—among other things. (She's the star of their rather elaborately produced video "Woman in Sin.") The Fishtankers draw on traditions from all over the musical map of the world, as the title of their 2007 album "Samurai Over Serbia" indicates: manouch swing from Paris, Turkish marches from Istanbul, flamenco wails from the Iberian Peninsula. Remarkably, the group is based in Los Angeles, possibly proving, despite all evidence to the contrary, that California is actually part of the natural world.

Putting aside the obnoxious swipe at California, how accurate is that first sentence? Is there a "brass band" flavor of GJ? How is it different from Hot Club-style jazz (instrumentation aside)?

The concert is Sunday at Joe's Pub, BTW.

dennis

well , there is the Gypsy Jazz that is the style of music we all know of, and then there is gypsy or roma jazz... jazz played by eastern european roma who sometimes mix it with their traditional music. Sometimes it's not even jazz, it's some sort of world music fusion...

This kind of stuff is super cheesy and actually really popular in eastern european gypsy communities

Scoredog

Not fond of the cat

Like the violinist

hate drum machine

Bob Holo

I think Dennis is on the mark with "world music fusion".

Romanian Brass Bands are to Gypsy Jazz what Disco is to Rock & Roll... a "glammed up" cousin.

There was a lot of snark in that writeup - maybe he was just trying to be edgy.

kevingcox

Fanfare Ciocarlia is great but they do borderline on the cheesy dance vibe from time to time. I personally don't think of them as gypsy jazz but I can hear a link. To my ears are in the same genre as Bratsch or Bescho Drom.

I tried to like that Montreal Gypsy Orchestra because I read good things about the violin player but I just can't get over the cheesy production, tunes, and their videos that look like their children's elementary school projects. They have one that is at a poker game or something and it is just on that point of almost being so bad it is good but not quite.

Al Watsky

Fanfare Ciocarlia and MGO stand a chance in the larger market exactly for the reason that some folks might think they are cheesy .
My favorite music is world music fusion, some is more glitzy some more folky. I like it all.
I've spent plenty of time standing on stages playing with sequencers and I'm good at it. Not everyone is. Its just another skill. Some people program better than others. Its a skill.
For a few years a band I was in was tour managed by the same people that handled Fanfare, I've seen their show, they drive people nuts and totally control the party. Their audience loves them. They rule their world .
In my years in the Classical Guitar world we often referred to the "guitar ghetto" , I love guitars and will make the necessary sacrifices to live in a guitar world but one thing I have learned is that the world of the "guitar fan" is often a tiny segmented land with little air and less light.
There is a lot of Rom music and plenty of people to play it, not all of them want to swing , in fact many of them think swing is cheesy and old fashioned. Thats not my opinion but it could be supported by the same arguments that label funk disco or EDM or house or drum and bass as cheesy.
One mans meat is another mans poison.