Listening Recommendations?

MartinG

Thanks a lot Matteo and richter4208 !!

By the way, we now have a new song out : La nostalgique, a waltz by Samy Zouari ! The video was taken at the top of Montmartre (Sacré Coeur) in Paris.

richter4208

Dang that sounds awesome too!

PapsPier

Yes really nice job on your compositions! Your CD wont be boring (even if all the compos had been like the first one you shared, I would have been happy to listen to it over and over but with such a range of different compositions, there will be a lot to listen!)

And I am a big fan of your heavy bass mix

spatzo

I’m often surprised to note the way Selmer like guitars in the GJ music are recorded (and also played) today. For me it’s just like looking to a 20M pixels color photo compared to the old black & white photos. Something is missing, above all it’s way too much staccato, high pitched and vibrato is mainly the only standart shade authorized. That’s not enough when we are used to listen to Django. Notes are pushed rather than shaped, bass frequencies are cancelled and fingers have no time or envy to dig the notes. They roughly jump to licks, no matter how and why...
A friend of mine told me most gypsies today do not listen any longer to Django because it’s not « well recorded », better Stochelo and others.

But a single note from Django explains the difference and the true gap becomes evident. An exemple among thousands could be the 1949 recording of « Vous qui passez sans me voir ». Listen how many colors you have in the first chords, listen to the string ends slightly ringing behind the harmonics. The guitar is fully present. The melody begins : just one note and Aurelio de Carolis miss the start for 100msec. Late and not loud enough dude... From note two to the end of the melody Django shows how many nuances you need to master to build a melody and how much fun there is doing so. Every mouvement has a sense and each noise is music. Django paints with colors for ears. GJ music has killed that approach.

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ChrisMartin

Spatzo - thanks for spelling that out.
I agree totally.
Elsewhere on here I have been critical of threads that focus on technique and seem to get a lot of enthusiastic response, yet I read very little about how others think or feel the music.

Django did what he did his own way and invented a new genre at the same time.
There have been countless followers (disciples even) and down the generations the so-called 'technique' has become a seriously contested athletic exercise. GJ soloing as an Olympic sport next? If so there are probably a few wannabe medal contenders reading this, but where is the music?

Spatzo's comment about gypsies preferring to listen to Stochelo rather than Django would explain some of the change too.

This all reminds me of the old 'Can White Men Sing The Blues' argument from the '60s and '70s and look where that has led us. Joe Bonamassa making a fortune recycling the more boring (but faster) licks of Eric Clapton who himself was recycling BB, Lowell, T-Bone and Albert, yet who still listens to Robert Johnson? Exactly, old Robert was just not 'flash' enough for today's ears, yet the soul of the originals has long been drowned out by the copyists trying to outdo each other.

OK, Rant over for today.

vanmalmsteen

vanmalmsteen

Boulou Ferre has always done his own thing. True artist.

MartinG

Hi again !

Just to say that our 15 songs album "Grabuge" is available on all streaming platforms ! 15 compositions, some waltzes, boléros, swing tunes, and 3 guitar solos. Samy Zouari and I (Martin Gioani) for guitar and compositions, and Garry Nayah on upright bass.

You can easily fiind us by searching "Paris Music Tales", but here are the links :

Website → https://www.paris-music-tales.com
Bandcamp → https://bit.ly/2DFo3S4
Spotify → https://spoti.fi/2y2xS6i
Deezer → https://bit.ly/2zDv29S
iTunes → https://apple.co/2DDjRlx
Google Play → https://bit.ly/2zE62zB
Amazon Music → https://amzn.to/2xUdSmg

We really hope you'll enjoy our music. Please share it if you like it ! :-)

AndrewUlle

Here's a really fun band on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4H7HVMIDj7ciLu2sqOlwSj?si=vc4nqPXzTIytiBQaXBmZbw

geese_com

I never heard of Ultrafaux until they came to the 2018 Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest, but now I am obsessed with them.






You can also listen to some of their albums on their website:

https://ultrafaux.net/