Proliferation of Gypsy Jazz?

Buco · June 2011

What do you think? Lately I've been noticing frequent jingles for shows and commercials on TV and radio using gypsy jazz theme.
I haven's started taking notes (which I will and post here) or anything but my ear definitely catches familiar swing pompe and rest stroke guitar notes backed up with an upright bass.
Did anyone notice this? Is this a new thing or it's been there before but my ear just wasn't attuned to it?
If it's a new thing then what made change?
Everyone here knows that gypsy jazz scene is having a musical resurgence but we are still a small group even in a music world.
I mean I have to explain "what's that cool looking acoustic?" to just about anyone outside of gypsy jazz camp whenever I take out my selmer copy.
And here is mainstream media taking interest?

Michael Bauer · June 2011

Stephane Wrembel told me he has been doing a fair number of commercials over the past year or two, and Woody Allen has used his music in two straight films now. I've heard GJ-like music on the Food Channel as well. I've been noticing it for a couple of years, but it has become more pervasive in the past year.

Some guy at Old Town School of Music in Chicago recently asked me if my '51 Selmer was "some sort of cult guitar" (I kid you not!). It's those moments that remind me just how outside the mainstream this music really is.

redblues · June 2011

Renault recently brought out an advert in the UK, tagline something like wouldn't it be cool to be french....lol. The theme music was Montage St. Genevieve which made it cool

BT recently had an advert (phone underwater) with Le Yeux Noir playing in the background

Madison Ave and Fleet St. have our number, they think we are cool.....the fools

KarenAnn · June 2011

I have heard quite a bit of GJ in the back ground of commercials lately. And musette too. Everything from insurance to McDonalds. When I told my friends I was going to learn to play guitar and to play GJ, they had no idea why I would want to do so. So every time I hear it on TV, I point it out to them. There it is again! I told them it is a future trend :-)

MichaelHorowitz · June 2011

If you search through the older posts you'll see that someone brings this up every year or so....swing and the Gypsy version of it are consistently used by advertisers to achieve a whimsical, witty, and intelligent atmosphere for adds. They must teach them this in advertising school or something, it's such a stereotype! Anyway, this has been going on for at least a decade. I wouldn't say it's a recent phenomenon.

One of my favorite cinematic Django references is in the Matrix....every time Nemo visits the oracle and original Django recording is playing in the background (I heard both Minor Swing and Nuages).

Concerning the the growth of this style, I'd say the big "boom" happened in the late 90s early 2000s. During that period you saw a huge growth in professional artists, festivals, and merchandise (guitars, instruction materials, etc). I'd say it leveled off by 2005 and been growing at just a trickle since then, maybe not at all. Not much has changed since then and many manufacturers, festivals, and players have actually left the genre since then so I think we've reached a plateau.

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KarenAnn · June 2011

Oh well, better late than never.

PS- I am really enjoying the Dupont

Buco · June 2011

Woody Allen sure played a hand in putting GJ on the map, after I saw "sweet and lowdown" it definitely reignited my interest. I already had some Django CDs by then and had a bug for GJ dating a while back but just watching the movie made me wanna start actually playing it.

Wow, cult guitar. The word is out! Whole world knows we all sacrifice "piglo" (or how do they call it?) before practice.

A lot of examples even on different continents, nice!
According to Michael it's my ear that's been picking it up more, interesting as well.
I've been wondering what is the school of thought in marketing circles that makes them reach for the theme? Michael put it in a better perspective, I guess it makes ads sound "fresh" also?
I totally forgot the Matrix bit, awesome!

lildesyl · September 2011

Michael Horowitz wrote:

One of my favorite cinematic Django references is in the Matrix....every time Nemo visits the oracle and original Django recording is playing in the background (I heard both Minor Swing and Nuages).
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Nemo? I believe you're confusing Keanu Reeves with a goldfish...... which, in fairness, is easily done