Best resources for Gypsy Jazz style

William Williamson

So I've been on and off listening to Gypsy Jazz for a while now - I learned the intro to Minor Swing and had a good time. It's one of my favourite jazz sub-genres and having just plumped for a steel string acoustic I think it's about time I spend some loving time with it.  


It appears the target audience for many of the materials are aimed at wealthy experts - clinics, courses, and online content all behind relatively costly paywalls. 

I'm happy to pay for some content (although the subscription-payment system of TruFire/etc. does rub me the wrong way) but I'd like to stay away from the PC for a while if possible - practise out in the sunshine with a book or two if at all possible! 

I can read bass and treble clef already, have a decent foundation in classical, modern and jazz music theory, etc.  (the latter really limited by my ability to implement it!)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

BigLicks67

L'Esprit Manouche by Romane and Derek Sebastian is an in depth look at Gypsy Jazz. You'll need some serious chops to play some of the stuff in the book though.

William Williamson

Thanks @BigLicks67  - I have a feeling I'll need to get my chops up first It seems like bebop, there isn't much of a middle ground

Danji

Go to the source itself and transcribe, you won't get a purer idea of the language that way.

Jalapeno

Robin Nolan's books are pretty useful. His songbooks also get you into the simpler chord shapes they use (same as the Freddie Green style comping chords largely).

There will be a Hot Club de Somewhere near you - play with them.  Whereabouts are you ?

William Williamson

South-East London? I'll check Nolan.

viz

Have you ever been to Thursday evenings upstairs at Ronnie's? Always lots of good stuff there.  

Jalapeno

Best Robin Nolan book is The Gig Book, out of print right now, but I think he's getting some more done.  It has the chords and head tabs of >80 Django repetoire tunes - it's a collection of all his tune books - the tune books are the same, chords & head in tab.  He also has a couple of lick books + CD.

Free Playalong tracks - Stephane Wrembel's site is excellent --> here and here

These tracks are also great as they give you many examples of "La Pompe" rhythm style - the guitar is playing the off-beat that would be a drummer's hi-hat.

DjangoBooks has a wealth of stuff ---> here

http://www.hotclub.co.uk seems to have been ressurrected - used to have a good shop too, sadly defunct.

There's a gazillion jazz chord shapes, try and avoid them, and stop playing barre chords too or your wrist will sieze up. The three note triad type chords are the easiest to use, and there's multiple uses of the same shapes (different inversions).  Freedy Greene basic comping style form the Count Basie orchestra is very similar
http://www.freddiegreen.org/technique/cervenka_numbering.html

Enjoy !

Veganic

William Williamson said:

So I've been on and off listening to Gypsy Jazz for a while now - I learned the intro to Minor Swing

What are you calling the intro?

If  you mean the repeating motif up to the 9th chords(well you probably know what I mean) then I would suggest you carry on and learn the rest of Minor Swing - it is great fun.

viz

I caught this guy Mero Thuna from the band ZISA in Basel. He's great! 

octatonic

Danji said:

Go to the source itself and transcribe, you won't get a purer idea of the language that way.

Yup.
Learning to transcribe is an essential skill- it takes time but it is invaluable.
If you can do it then you don't need anyone else to teach you a new style of music.
Otherwise it is like buying an expensive sports car and then paying someone to drive you around Silverstone in it.

JD50

William Williamson said:

South-East London? I'll check Nolan.

http://quecumbar.co.uk/ ; Have you been there?

Evo

A fantastic starting point...

http://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/11834/links-for-rookies-2015


I'll also second Robin Nolan's stuff, his books offer a great way in to the style. I'll also recommend these two books,

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gypsy-Guitar-Secret-Swing/dp/0707006244

Vol 1 starts with some instructional material, then moves on to some "easy" versions of gypsy jazz standards, followed by Angelo Debarre's take on each one to see how a more experienced player would tackle it. Don't get put off by the "easy" description, even simplified these pieces can be quite challenging.

Vol 2 continues the series by offering up some Django pieces in the same way. 

Very good books.

I know you said tha you wanted to stay away from the PC, but if you go the route of the subscription model for gypsy jazz then I thoroughly recommend the Rosenberg Academy. Instructional material from possibly the greatest current gypsy jazzer, Stochelo Rosenberg (check him out if you haven't already)

http://rosenbergacademy.com/

Also worth a mention are Denis Chang's materials, he has a few DVDs out and again, a website with lots available as downloads etc. I believe Levi Clay scoots around here occasionally and has done some work related to this so he might chime in with some better info on Denis' stuff

https://www.dc-musicschool.com/store/


Good luck!!!