3rd Annual New Mexico Django Fest-Oct. 23-26

Duozona

3rd Annual New Mexico Django Fest
Albuquerque, NM
October 23rd-26th, 2008

Featuring:
Stephane Wrembel presents: The Django Experiment

Swing from Paris
Le Chat Lunatique
Hot Club of Phoenix
Mango fan Django
Hot Club of Santa Fe
Carute Roma

Special Guests:
Zoltan Orkestar
Sweet and Lowdown
The Moore Twins

for more info, go to:
http://www.myspace.com/newmexicodjangofest

In 2006, the first New Mexico Django Fest began as a two day event in Santa Fe. It featured The Hot Club of San Francisco, the Djangomatics from Seattle and New Mexico's Le Chat Lunatique. After the success of the first festival, Le Chat Lunatique's Guitarist John Sandlin took over as festival organizer and produced the 2nd Annual New Mexico Django Fest last year in Albuquerque. The three day event drew standing room only audiences to its venues that featured headliner Howard Alden, regional bands Mango fan Django (Colorado Springs), Hot Club of Phoenix, Hot Club of Santa Fe, and local acts Felix y Los Gatos and Le Chat Lunatique.

This year, the 3rd Annual New Mexico Django Fest will kick off with an Opening Night Soiree at the Outpost Performance Space on Thursday, October 23 featuring Le Chat Lunatique and special guests. Performers for this year's four day festival include headliner Stephane Wrembel and the Django Experiment, as well as Mango fan Django, Hot Club of Phoenix, Hot Club of Santa Fe, Zoltan Orkestar, Swing from Paris (United Kingdom) and more! Venues include: The Outpost Performance Space, One Up Elevated Lounge, Seasons Rotisserie Grill, the Historic El Rey Theatre and Old Town Plaza.

As an added bonus, the festival will be running in conjunction with The Albuquerque Lindy Exchange, a swing dance festival featuring workshops, lessons, performances and open dances

Phydeaux3

We're really looking forward to playing, jamming, chilling and meeting everyone at Albuquerque later this month.

Check www.swingfromparis.com for pics and sounds.

See you all soon

Andy, Brett, Fenner & John
Swing from Paris

Duozona

Andy,

We are all excited you will make the long trip overseas for the festival. You will love Albuquerque and the crowds at the concerts. Love your sounds on your website, look forward to hearing and meeting you all!

-Chuck

<a href="http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb144/duozona/?action=view&current=django_fest_poster-final-lg-2.jpg&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb144/duozona/django_fest_poster-final-lg-2.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="3rd Annual Djangofest New Mexico"></a>

Duozona

Schedule

Ando

Wow, that is a great poster!

Duozona

Schedule

Thursday, October 23rd
Outpost Performance Space
7:30-9:30 Le Chat Lunatique

One Up Elevated Lounge
10:00-10:15
11:00-11:45 Sweet and Lowdown
12:00-close Jam

Friday, October 24th
Season’s Rotisserie & Grill
6:30-7:00 The Moore Twins
7:15-8:15 Hot Club of Santa Fe
8:30-9:30 Swing from Paris

One Up Elevated Lounge
10:00-10:45 Mango fan Django
11:00-11:45 Hot Club of Phoenix
12:00-close Zoltan Orkestar

Saturday, October 25th
Season’s Rotisserie & Grill
12:00-3:00 Workshop with Stephane Wrembel

Location TBA
4:00-6:30 Music Lecture “The History of Gypsy Jazz” with Stephane Wrembel

El Rey Theater
Doors open at 7:00
7:30-8:15 Hot Club of Phoenix
8:30-9:45 Stephane Wrembel presents: The Django Experiment featuring Simon Planting on Bass
10:00-10:45 Swing Dance Competition featuring Jazz a la Carte
11:00-11:45 Mango fan Django
12:00-close Swing from Paris
Intermission music provided by the Hot Club of Santa Fe

Sunday, October 26th
Old Town Plaza
1:00-4:00 Farewell Jam Lunch
Free to all, bring an instrument!

Admission
Festival Pass (with pre-sale registration)
-includes admission to all events, except the Outpost Performance Space concert; excludes Stephane Wrembel's workshop and Stephane Wrembel's music lecture $30

Festival Pass (at the door)
-includes admission to all events, except the Outpost Performance Space concert; excludes Stephane Wrembel’s workshop and Stephane Wrembel’s music lecture $40

Workshop with Stephane Wrembel $30
Music Lecture with Stephane Wrembel $15

Outpost Performance Space concert
General Admission $17
Students/Members $12
One Up Elevated Lounge $10
Season's Rotisserie & Grill $10
El Rey Theater $15

Pre-sale festival passes, workshop passes, and lecture passes can be reserved by emailing <!-- e --><a href="mailto:nmdjangofest@gmail.com">nmdjangofest@gmail.com</a><!-- e --> . Please include your name, address, phone number, and how many festival passes, workshop passes, or lecture passes will be needed.

Reservations can also be made by phone or in person at Encore Music (505) 888-0722, 5314 Menaul Blvd NE.

Outpost Performance Space show ONLY: Festival passes will not be accepted at this event. Tickets for this show may only be purchased by contacting the Outpost by phone at (505) 268-0044 or in person at 210 Yale Blvd SE. Please visit the Outpost at http://www.outpostspace.org for more information.

Seating is limited (especially at Season's), thus we strongly recommend arriving early to ensure a spot. No venue will be accepting seating reservations. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE.

Duozona

If you are coming in form out of town next weekend for the festival, the Hotel Blue will be offering discounts to festival attendees, just mention the festival when you reserve your room. They have great Tempur-pedic® beds, are newly renovated, and only a quick walk to the El Rey Theatre for the saturday evening concert with Stephane Wrembel's Django Experiment with Simon Planting.

Also, don't forget Stephane will be giving a 3-hour workshop that afternoon (how can you beat $30) as well as a lecture on the history of gypsy jazz later that afternoon.

Swing from Paris are flying in from the U.K. (www.swingfromparis.com) and groups from all around the southwest will also be performing: Le Chat Lunatique, Mango fan Django, Hot Club of Santa Fe, Zoltan Orkestar, Sweet and Lowdown, the Moore Twins, and ourselves.

Hope to see some of you there!

-Chuck

Duozona

Article about Stephane Wrembel and this year's festival:

http://www.alibi.com/?story=25041&scn=music&fullstory=y

Starts Tomorrow!

CalebFSU

That poster is bad ass!!

Phydeaux3

A HUGE thank you to John Sandlin, Muni Kulasinghe and Fernando Garavito of Le Chat Lunatique for organising and hosting the 3rd Annual New Mexico Djangofest and congratulations to Jared and his wife on the birth of their new baby.

It was a pleasure to meet you and jam with Eddy, Stefan and Don from Mango Fan Django, Chuck, Ryan and Armand of the Hotclub of Phoenix, Pat and Bob of The Hotclub of Santa Fe, The Moore Twins (watch out for these guys…). All of Le Chat’s friends, Lila, Russ, Taylor, Elizabeth, Hareen, Jonny Mac, Theresa (Chuck’s Wife Who is patiently waiting for him to take her to England!!) and of course meeting up with Stephane Wrembel.….

We had a fantastic time.

The festival started at The Outpost Performance Space with Le Chat kicking off the events and being joined by Stephane Wrembel. Outpost Productions has been a non-profit arts organization since 1988. Since 1990, it has made its home at the Outpost Performance Space, which is a unique and intimate, non-smoking, non-alcohol, and storefront alternative performance venue. www.outpostspace.org

The after show party was held at the One Up Elevated Lounge on Central Avenue. This has a staged area large bar and plenty of seating. A great venue to hold live music. The bar was extensive enough to please us visiting Brits!!!!
When we arrived Caruta Roma were already playing and they were followed by Sweet and Lowdown and the lovely vocals of Elizabeth.
Having travelled over 20 hours, we couldn’t resist getting up to play and were joined by Stephane in a blistering and furious version of Minor Swing (Oh Yeah Brother!)
The party moved on to the excellent Anodyne bar.

We (and a lot of the bands) stayed at The Hotel Blue on the corner of Central Avenue and surely next to a unique phenomenon in the States; a roundabout.
Do not believe the reviews on the internet about this Hotel. The staff are courteous. The hotel is clean and light and the rooms large and comfortable. Free internet access and a great breakfast with fruit juices, coffee and tea available all day and night.

The Friday night saw the Festival proper start. This was held at Season’s Rotisserie and Grill in the Old Town of Albuquerque. www.seasonsabq.com It has fantastic food and a marvellous service.
The Moore Twins started the night. These guys take lessons from John Sandlin and he should be rightly proud of them. They played more ‘modern’ tunes (Isn’t She Lovely, Girl from Ipanema) but as they are twin brothers they have a unique empathy when playing. They will only get better and we’d all better watch out.
The Hotclub of Santa Fe then took stage with their infectious swing. A mixture of western swing and hotclub. Incredible playing by the band choosing more traditional hotclub tunes. Their swing was so good that audience members got up to dance with the excellent Lindy Hoppers who held their competition the following night.
We then played our set and we were warmly appreciated by the audience.

We then all moved onto the One Up Elevated Lounge where the Hotclub of Phoenix were playing. www.hotclubofphoenix.com
This trio of musicians of Chuck on Lead Guitar, Ryan on rhythm and Armand on Bass play with energy, enthusiasm and finesse. They have a true spirit of Samois in their playing. Chuck’s playing is reminiscent of the attacking play of the likes of Moreno … coupled with Ryan’s steady rhythm and Armand’s driving bass make HCofP a fantastic band to watch and listen to.
The next band was Zoltan Orkestar. All I can say is Wow!! They are so different to what I am used to listening to it was a wonder to hear. At the same time they were also familiar because of the Eastern European influences they incorporate in the music.

The Saturday morning started with a jam at breakfast. This was a relaxed morning of eating and jamming. It soon became hot with not only the green chillis in the burritos but also with Stephane’s fierce tempo on All of Me. I’ll never see this song in the same light again. Stephane had a huge grin on his face when he was playing. I think Eddy videoed this. Johnny and Muni treated us with a composition of their own and we played various usual jam tunes including Artillery Lourdes which I’ve never played before.

We then moved on the Season’s again for Stephane’s workshop in the afternoon. Stephane’s approach to the mystery of this genre of music was broken down in simple and easily understandable modules. He started with rhythm utilising a machine that created an atmosphere conducive to practising. It played metronomic beats with the sound of a sitar. I can’t remember what it was called maybe Eddy can help me here. He started at the very basics of rhythm and gradually introduced more ‘technical’ rhythmic pulses to demonstrate how rhythm can be broken down.
He then moved on to lead playing and to me by far the most understandable method of approaching improvisation. I was honoured when he asked me to play rhythm in order for him to demonstrate his skills (thank you Brother).

The Saturday night saw all the featured bands play at the Historic El Rey Theater on Central Avenue (which is also Route 66!!) www.elreytheater.com
This is a great theatre and has been in business since 1941 and has hosted the likes of Buddy Guy, Gatemouth Brown, Etta James, Albert Collins, Taj Mahal etc... and the main reason why I wanted to play on this stage; Ella Fitzgerald.
The Hotclub of Phoenix started the night followed by Stephane Wrembel’s Django Experiment with Simon Planting on Bass. What an incredible set. Totally improvisational, incorporating all his influences of swing, blues, rock, waltz, funk into a very interesting and unique set. I can only compare this to how Boulou and Elios experiment with their music.
A fantastic treat was the Guys and Gals who brought their Lindy Hop competition to town. They were backed by an amaxzing 7 piece jazz band and the highlight for me (apart from the dancers) was their version of Moten Swing.

Next were the amazing Mango Fan Django. Eddy, Stefan and Don were joined on stage by Simon Planting on Bass and Fernando Garavito from Le Chat on Drums. Jive, Swing, Jump, Blues, Rock & Roll it was all there. Eddy is not only a fantastic musician (as are the rest of the guys) but tells the best Gypsy Jazz stories. They finished their set early so we could play. Thank you for that guys.

By 01.30 we still hadn't had enough of playing so we piled back to the hotel for a jam session. HCofP, Swing from Paris. Mango Fan Django and some unknown guy who just sat and listened in. One of the highlights was Andy (SfP) and Chuck trading fours to the point that they were playing the same licks. Incredible.
My favourite part was that Chuck had a 6 hour journey ahead of him the following morning, he kept starting to pack his guitar away but when we started a new tune he couldn’t tear himself away from the jam and got it out again. In the end he did go to bed and left his guitar with us but kept on texting Ryan asking when he could bring it up as he couldn’t sleep knowing it was down with us!!!!

We finished at about 04.30 that morning. A few hours sleep and….
Sunday was a lazy morning with breakfast and then off to the Old Town Gazebo (we call it a bandstand) for the end of festival jam. We were joined by local musicians who played a variety of instruments.
There was a good crowd of people listening in and passers-by stopping and listening.
Johnny invited us to play a set to round the festival off and again we were warmly appreciated.

The 3rd Annual New Mexico Djangofest was an incredible experience. We have met and are now friends with a whole bunch of amazing people and I’d like to personally thank all of them for greeting us with warmth, friendliness and hospitality.

On a serious note, I would like all those who read this message and are well known and established in this genre of music, to give John Sandlin a call. He has professionally and efficiently organised a fantastic event of which I am sure you would be proud to be linked with and participate in. You can contact him via www.lechatlunatique.com Please call him.

I hope to meet you all next year or over this side of the pond.

Brett Lewis
Swing from Paris