Bireli Lagrene at DFNW

Casey Burns

Best. Concert. Ever!!!! At least for DjangoFest.

adrian

What was the set list? Gypsy jazz (as opposed to his fusion/other stuff)? Tell us more!

Bob Holo

Acoustic - straight up old school. Stuff from the standards repertoire, stuff from Vienne, New Morning, Gypsy Project. Bireli, Franck, Diego, & Mathieu taking names and kicking a**.

Missed you buddy - fun times. Strong lineup from Wednesday through Sunday. One of the most solid Djangofests I've attended.

Just came back from Mo's. Time for sleep and then catch the morning ferry and back to reality for 361 days.

Oh yeah - and a face-melting encore that started solo... ala "To Bi or not To Bi" that transitioned into "Isn't she Lovely"

Stringswinger

Bob, Did Bireli get a crazy long standing ovation before he even played a note? (I still remember Stochelo and crew looking pretty amazed as that happened for them.)

My gigging schedule has been pretty booked the last few years in September with fat corporate gigs and weddings, so no DFNW for me. When my good fortune dies down (gotta make hay while the sun shines), I'll be back.

Cheers,

Marc

MichaelHorowitz

A couple of my observations:

-Bireli did a lot of unaccompanied solo playing, improvising intros, endings, extended cadenzas quoting everything from AC/DC to Bach to Django to Weather Report. A good quarter of the show was just him.

-The duet with saxophonist Frank Wolf was mind blowing! I asked Frank about it later and he said they hadn't played the duet in a long time and he had no idea they were going to do it until Bireli spontaneously launched into it.

-Cherokee was so crazy fast Mathieu Chatelain's arm nearly fell off....but he held it steady which is a testament to how good of an accompanist he is.

-But, despite all this amazing playing even Bireli still has a lot to learn so I gave him a copy of Unaccompanied Django. I'll test him on it next time I see him

MichaelHorowitz

And to answer Adrian's question, a lot of the repertoire was from the Move/Just the Way You Are CDs. After You've Gone, Troublant Bolero, Just the Way You Are, Place du Tertre

Bob Holo

Stringswinger wrote: »

Bob, Did Bireli get a crazy long standing ovation before he even played a note? (I still remember Stochelo and crew looking pretty amazed as that happened for them.)

I don't remember, but then again, I don't remember a pre-concert standing ovation for the Rosenbergs either, so the fault is likely with my memory. I do remember that he had to pantomime that he needed to go get some coffee and rest his arms just to get off the stage at intermission because the applause wouldn't let up. So I'm guessing that he felt the love.

As Mathieu went by on the way backstage he gave me a big warm smile and as he toweled himself off with his left hand, gave the rock-n-roll salute with his right. As he was walking into the green room I could see the sweat dripping off his hair onto his shoulders like he'd just stepped out of the shower. So - I think the audience appreciated the show & they rose to the occasion. And again - man - solid solid solid lineup. Nick has a few ideas for next year's lineup, but it's too soon to know anything. But yeah, heck of a festival. Really. OK - off to the ferry dock.

MaxwellGarces

Is there no footage? Can't believe no vids have gone up yet!!

Casey Burns

They were pretty strict about that in the concert and people respected that. I didn't see a single camera phone being used. Recording was allowed during the masterclass on Sunday. Hopefully some of that will make it up onto YouTube.

Phil

From the Sunday workshop, enjoy...

fabulous

Great.
Thanks Phil.