No Gypsy Jazz players in New Orleans?

AndyW

I think my pal "Leppy Fiddler" has moved to New Orleans,
he plays a mean GJ guitar.

Chiefbigeasy

Hey AndyW,

If your friend has moved here and wants to meet to play, PM me and I'll be happy to get together. I'd also be glad to give him the lay of the land around here as well, if he's new to New Orleans.

wierdOne

There are quite a few gypsy swing players in New Orleans, but you have to ask around... Go find Matt Bell.. He's the guitarist for a band called the Royal Roses... they're pretty amazing (old school new orleans jazz) and play at the Maison on a pretty regular basis... He can point you in the right direction from there.

wierdOne

Also... Chiefbigeasy sounds like you're best bet.... i just read his posts...

reststrokeruss

Russell here - tons of Gypsy Jazz happening in the city now! I'm out of town until the Sept 22 for gigs, but every Sunday at The Dragon's Den we do an all acoustic gypsy gig (jam). Also, washington square park during the days often has guys playing, back bar at Molly's late night night (1am-until) is another popular jam/hang. The "Swinging Gypsies" band plays a lot on Frenchmen and are open to sit ins. The Hot Club of New Orleans plays regularly as well. The summer is a strange time because so many people leave the heat and go on tour, but we would love to meet you and play some tunes for sure. Send me an email Russellwelch@mac.com and I'll suggest some things to check out!

reststrokeruss

I will add that New Orleans is a difficult place for Gypsy Jazz - the music is so close to traditional New Orleans jazz that most guys naturally get into that and stop spending the hours on the gypsy accent. John Rodli (Old Jazz Vipers, Cotton Mouth Kings, Hot Club of NOLA) is my favorite chunker on earth - but just tears through D 500's playing trad, not really interested specifically on GJ. But just in the past year there has been at least 8 or so new strong players that have come to town and are really coming up. Anyway, send a message we can talk.

Chiefbigeasy

Hey Russell,

I knew I would probably hear from you sooner later. Yeah, there is a lot of good music in this town, and some of it is what I would call "near-gypsy.". It's mixed in with a lot of New Orleans current scene music that includes traditional jazz updated with swing and sometimes even klezmer variations. But, what I'm looking for is what you alluded to in your second posting. In truth, the more narrowly focused forms of gypsy jazz – as probably performed by most of the people on this forum – are hard to come by in this town.

Nevertheless, I'm glad you reached out to me. I'm now in contact with another couple of good Gypsy jazz players: one who lives in Gonzalez, La, and one who is returning from working gig in Bucharest, Romania sometime in December. He will be living in Thibodaux, La. They're both on this forum and also contacted me. I'm also working with a local player with a great classical and jazz background who is interested in the music. By January, we may have a pretty good-looking group available to get together.

I'll email you as you suggested. I have checked out your music on YouTube with other bands and some of your own more pure Gypsy Jazz material. Looking forward to getting together.

__Leo__

Hi there, This is Andy's pal Leo.

I'm definitely up for jamming. I play fairly regularly with Russell and a couple of more traditional jazz bands in town. There are often folk playing Django tunes at Molly's back bar on Decatur Street though it changes stylistically depending on who turns up each night. Give me or Russell a shout if you are down that way. It'd be great to meet you and play.

Hope you're keeping well, Andy!

Cheers

Leo