First time you discovered this music...

Ewan · June 2009

Hi Rimm - you know Ian Date? he did a CD with Robin Nolan - an Australian - lives in Cork. great player.
Ewan

rimm · June 2009

Saw him in Cork about 3 years ago with his brother-lovely guy and great player-I must get the Robin nolan cd he was on-I like the way he takes big risks on the guitar and it always sounds great.

Buco · August 2009

I come from Sarajevo, moved to Chicago in '95. The first time I ever heard about gypsy jazz was on one of the TV game shows in old Yugoslavia: "Kviskoteka" (Quizcoteque). Well on the show they had this "secret guest" segment where contestants had to recognize the real person out of three by asking "educated" questions and guess which two are faking. One night the "secret guest" was a band leader of gypsy jazz group and afterwords him and his band played on the show and talked a little about life and music of Django. I was immediately bitten by the bug even though I had just started with the guitar and was only in my teens then (this was sometimes in '80s). I remember this guy saying how Django basically played with two fingers and despite that emerged through as one of best guitar players and jazz instrumentalist that has ever lived. I was awestruck thinking to my self how is this possible? And the music was like a drug. Back then around those parts the sources for this type of music were limited so I never got much more then that initial taste of this beautiful, upbeat and virtuosic music. I never stopped thinking about it though and I compiled a small collection of GJ music since I've been in states but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I decided to take a move towards learning this style. There is a non-profit local music school in Chicago ("Old Town School of Folk Music") that offers a group class with Alfonso Ponticelli. I took a couple of sessions there and...

Thanks for letting me share, I enjoy reading other stories.

stubla · August 2009

Got into the music in 1976 after my fave guitarist of the time Steve Howe name checked Django in a guitar mag interview--then reading an article in Guitar magazine about Samois 1978 by Ian Cruikshank(where i first heard about Boulou Ferre); seeing Raphsel Fays in Manchester in 1981 with Louis Fays and Ian Cruikshank on rhythm.BTW Fays was over in UK to see his english daughter.i was also lucky enough to see Bireli at the 100 club in London in Oct 1984--still some of the greatest gigs i've ever seen--Bireli playing with Dis Dizley and the late great Jonny Van Derrick on violin
Stu

Jazzaferri · August 2009

When I was little my best friend's dad, a great guitar player by name of Joe Arseneau, would be practicing while we played on the carpet. He had a CBC radio show pre WW2 and after serving came back and was never really to settle back into his musical career as he was prior to going overseas.

He played lots of the GJ standards, the first one I remember from that time (and it's a dim memory as I was only maybe 6) was Dark Eyes. I have a demo recording of him from the 60's playing it.

It was Joe who guided my early musical education. I still get together with his son Rob from time to time who is a superb musician. Plays trumpet, guitar, mouth harp, sings and writes songs.

Mundo · August 2009

I got to hang out with my guitar idol Jeff Beck. More than once and every time it was pretty surreal! Plus my mouth didn't for at least the first hour.

The first time I did the heavy hang we (girlfriends, band, managers etc.) ended up in his Hard Rock Hotel LV suite, watching the first Austin Powers movie. (I mentioned surreal right?). He talked about getting a one of a kind Django bootleg to Jennifer Batten (my teacher).... When I asked him about our favorite gypsy Jeff told me Django was his favorite guitarist .

That was good enough for me! (While I was aware of him from a jazz history timeline I had never checked his music out.) I got some
transcriptions of Nuages and Limehouse blues and got my ass kicked! I remember after having the solos in hand (on an electric) being told he played them with two fingers! I didn't believe it, but a google search confirmed it. It probably was a year later that I learned from Mr. Horowitz how to correctly say Nuages!

Aloha- Mundo- Hot Club of Las Vegas

billyshakes · June 2020

Saw this post pop up along the sidebar. I think it needs a little resurrecting. Neat idea. Here's my story.

I was living on Whidbey Island in the early 2000s. A guy named Dave ran a music store there and he was playing Pearl Django's "Avalon." This store mostly catered to a punk/independent crowd but it was eclectic and Dave liked Django stuff. I started tapping my foot. Probably to the song Avalon or Troublant Bolero. I asked him what it was and he showed me. Gave me 2 of Robin Nolan's books to check out/borrow (Vol 1 &2). I learned Djangology and came back the next week around closing time to return the books. He flipped the sign, pulled a couple guitars down from the wall, and we jammed for a few hours just because we were having fun.

Like @Phil, I went down to the Hop Vine shortly thereafter for a chance to see Pearl Django live. Got there early on a week night and sat at a bench along the wall near the front window. A nice older guy in a suit walking with a cane came over and sat down beside me after he entered. Asked if I was there to see the band. Told him it was my first time and I was very excited. He reached his hand out and introduced himself as Dudley Hill. We became friends talking over shared experiences and I appreciated the man for his kind character as much as I did for his excellent playing. Of course, the cane was because he was already fighting the cancer that ultimately took his life. Man, that guy could swing though in a true archtop, swing style. The world needs more people like Dudley in it.

h24015 · June 2020

My brother-in-law had the "Young Django" CD with Grapelli and Coryell. Then I had a chance to see HCSF at a local venue. I'd never heard of the opening act (guitarist). I've seen all the great rock guitarists in my lifetime. I'd never heard anything like this guy and I was completely hooked. Opening act? John Jorgenson.

Passacaglia · June 2020

I was an LA actor and was, unusually for LA, really tight with the community of misfits that we were renting a home on the East Side, run down affair. Our landlord lived through a jungle path in the back, a sort of hovel lost to old Hollywood that was actually pretty cool.

Every Wednesday night I and the band of misfits would head to a rustic and relatively cheap Italian joint for dinner. Our LL had a regular gig there playing violin with his friend, on acoustic guitar. You see where this was going. Good but lowbrow Italian red, a patio out back with a tarp overhead and hanging, warm yellow lights, and these two playing Django's music unplugged. I fell for it immediately and had no idea at the time the first thing about Django, his culture, his music. That was beginning in the mid-late 80's.