Nuevo-Gypsy Who and What?

Spalo

I've heard a a lot of talk on the site about the "Nuevo-Gypsy" sound and players.

Can anyone fill me in - Is it a style? Is it a sound? Who are the players? What is the sound?

Cheers,

SP

MichaelHorowitz

Hi...I think I might have coined that term. I didn't mean anything specific other then a more modern approach to Gypsy style playing, repertoire, and tone. Many contemporary players have incorporated elements of bebop and Latin music which is part of the Nuevo-Gypsy sound. Tone wise, many builders have gotten away from the ultra bright, often harsh sound of the traditional Selmers. Favino has been doing that since the late 80s...and most other Luthiers have followed suite.

Anyway, maybe we should define players, luthiers, and repertoire which is Neuvo Gypsy. Anyone up for the task?

Josh Hegg

Yorgui Loeffler = "Nuevo-Gypsy"
Not only for note choice but tone as well.

Cuimean

From what I've heard, Dino Mehrstein might fit this category.

http://dinomehrstein.free.fr/

I don't personally care for his music, but I appreciate the fact that he's firmly rooted in tradition while exploring other musical areas that interest him.

Another guy exploring similar ground in a different way is Harold Berghuis.

http://www.haroldberghuis.nl/cd.htm

I dig Berghuis's stuff. Check out "Blues voor mijn vader"; it's like Django meets Horace Silver.

MichaelHorowitz

I have to mention Philippe Nedjar...he's probably more [i]Straight Ahead Gypsy[/i] then [i]Neuvo Gypsy[/i]. Either way, he's a guy who has branched out by melding the straight ahead bebop archtop tradition with a firm grasp of Gypsy jazz. I'm not a big Stimer fan, but I'll have to say Nedjar gets a great sound with a JP Favino and a Stimer.

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scot

I think what is being described as nuevo is maybe just guitarists who are not adhering to the strict Djangocentric style and repertoire. That's nothing new - there have always been people like Henri Crolla, Koen de Kauter, Juanito, Francis Moerman, Ninine and Mondine Garcia, Maurice Ferre and Patrick Saussois, who all play(ed) music strongly influenced by Django that took few or no no tunes from the standard repertoire and didn't sound anything at all like what is usually thought of around here as "gypsy jazz". Not to mention two generations of the Ferret family.

If we must sub-categorize, it might make more sense to start with "sinti" and "non-sinti", because looking over a period of time at the big picture, that's where the biggest divide seems to be.

That's my opinion of course, but the person who'll take the time to track down obscurities like the first "P'tits Belges" CD by De Kauter, any "Cordacor" CD - it's music influenced by Django but sounds nothing at all like Fapy or the Rosenbergs. My point is that it's not a new idea.

Cuimean

Scott, you're absolutely correct. I interpreted Michael's post as using the term "nuevo gypsy" to define a more specific subset of the players who aren't strict Django interpreters. There seems to be a trend towards more George Benson-like playing and Latin rhythms (mostly bossa and rumba) among some of today's players, and I think they're the ones who can be thought of as belonging to this new category. Michael, am I way off base here?

MichaelHorowitz

I'm not sure what I meant, other then a generally more modern approach to this style. The 2nd Gen players that Scot mentions are also important to remember. It's funny, because one of the biggest criticisms you hear about Gypsy jazz is that everybody just copies Django over and over. But if you look around, there's so many great players who did really different things with the genre. Problem is, hardly anyone bothers to listen to it. It's a vicious cycle, most of the audiences actually want to hear mostly trad. Django stuff, so the musicians have to keep playing the same stuff over and over.