DJANGO REINHARDT NY FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 15 YEARS! TWO FESTIVALS, TWO MAJOR TOURS

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AIR FRANCE presents
The DJANGO REINHARDT NY FESTIVAL
'Celebrating its 15th Anniversary'
featuring
Aug. 5-10 at Birdland
SAMSON SCHMITT, LUDOVIC BEIER, PIERRE BLANCHARD
Special Guests: Olli Soikkelii /Guitar from Finland
Peter Beets/Piano from Holland and more...
US Jazz Guests:
Joel Frahm, Anat Cohen, Jane Monheit, Edmar Castaneda , Chris Washburne
Nov. 4-9 at Birdland
Dorado Schmitt and "3 sons" AMATI, SAMSON, & BRONSON
. AND MORE..... "From France"!
Plus two major cross-country tours...includes Newport Jazz Festival
HOT HOT JAZZ !

"THE BEST JAZZ SHOW IN TOWN", ...........
Imagine a stage filled with contemporary Django Reinhardt descendants and you'll get a sense that the collective talent pool on the bandstand is larger than the Arc deTriomphe!"
The Wall Street Journal

This summer, August 5-10, The Allstars will be headed by Samson Schmitt, out on his own, a star in his own right . For years, he grew up on the Birdland stage, playing side by side with his legendary father gypsy king Dorado Schmitt

Also featured at will be virtuoso violinist Pierre Blanchard "who captures the true romantic fire of Grappelli" and Ludovic Beier on Accordion and Accordina who "was breathtaking and beautiful", says Will Friedwald of the Wall Street Journal. On rhythm guitar this summer is DouDou Cuillerier who also brings the audience to its feet with his scat singing. Of the Special Guest jazz pianist Peter Beets, Downbeat says "Straight ahead excellence ! Olli Soikkelii is one of the new young guitar greats. Brian Torff holds it all together on bass. Each night there is a top US jazz great: Aug. 5: Joel Frahm, 6 & 7: Anat Cohen, 8: Jane Monheit 9: Edmar Castaneda and 10: Chris Washburne

Dorado Schmitt will be back in November with all '3' sons, Amati, Samson, and Bronson. Pierre Blanchard and Ludovic Beier return with Francko Mehrstein on Rhythm Guitar and Xavier Nikq on Bass. Guests TBA

The Festival, started in 2000, finding there was huge interest in Django's style of HOT JAZZ. It has gone on to be a highly anticipated event twice a year, now in its 15th year, accompanied by major tours - see all info below. . The AllStar bands emerged out of the Festival which is Produced by Pat Philips & Ettore Stratta.

Django's inspiration was Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington--sheer virtuosity with exuberant showmanship leaving a crowd breathless as it is with The Django Festival AllStars. Leonardo DiCaprio has become one of their biggest fans as is George Benson, ..every great jazz guitarist was inspired by Django, Keith Richards B.B.King, to name a few.

The Django Festival AllStars carry on the legacy of the brilliant gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt who was part of one of the most famous musical partnerships in European history with virtuoso Jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, together they formed the Hot Club Quintette of France.

The AllStars, mostly from France, bring the audience to their feet with lightning-fast guitar fingerwork on standards such as "Minor Swing" and also put the crowd in a romantic mood with gorgeous melodies, hit songs of the past such as Django's "Nuages". The program includes many new original compositions that take the music beyond.

Django's inspiration was Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington--sheer virtuosity with exuberant showmanship leaving a crowd breathless as it is with The Django Festival Allstars. Leonardo DiCaprio has become one of the biggest fans as is George Benson, Woody Allen...every great jazz guitarist was inspired by Django, Keith Richards B.B.King, to name a few.

"Expect Buoyant rhythm, blinding technique, solid entertainment" says Nate Chinen of the NY Times. DJANGO held it all together like a magnet, as does his descendants, The Django Festival AllStars!

Come to Birdland and celebrate. The Django Reinhardt NY Festival is about 'joy'! We can always use a dose of that!

Summer tour:
July 24,25: Aspen Colorado Jazz Festival
July 26: Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix
29: Katherine Hepburn
Cultural Arts Center, Old Saybrook, Conn.
30: Summer Concerts on The Hudson Weehawken, NJ
Aug 1: Belleayre Music Festival Belleayre, New York
2: Regatta Bar, Charles Hotel, Boston, Mass.
3: NEWPORTJAZZ FESTIVAL'S '60th Anniversary', Newport, R.I.
5 - 10: BIRDLAND NYC
Fall tour: Oct. 24: Chicago Symphony Center, 26: Howard Theatre, Wash. DC, 31: Tilles Center for Performing Arts, Nov. 1: Paramount Theatre, Hudson Valley NY, 4-9: BIRDLAND-NYC, 11 &12: Vibrato - LA, 13 - 16: San San Francisco Jazz Festival's new Performing Arts Center - Minor Auditorium, 17: Kuumbwa Jazz Institute, Santa Cruz-Calif.
The Django Festival is about talent and joy!

Many thanks to the Sponsors: AIR FRANCE, VERIZON,
RD WRIGHT, INC, JOHN PEARSE STRINGS,
John & Joan D'Addario Foundation
KREMONA GUITARS "Celebrating 90 years in the lutherie arts"

BIRDLAND, 315 w. 44th street , nyc
212 581 3080 www.birdlandjazz.com

Buco

Love watching the 2005 DVD.
I'll do my best to visit NYC and see the AllStars live, it would be a blast.