Gypsy Jazz

In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing

Nonfiction, Entertainment, Music, Music Styles, Jazz & Blues, Jazz, Theory & Criticism, History & Criticism
Cover of the book Gypsy Jazz by Michael Dregni, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Michael Dregni ISBN: 9780190295233
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: April 4, 2008
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Michael Dregni
ISBN: 9780190295233
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: April 4, 2008
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Of all the styles of jazz to emerge in the twentieth century, none is more passionate, more exhilaratingly up-tempo, or more steeped in an outsider tradition than Gypsy Jazz. And there is no one more qualified to write about Gypsy Jazz than Michael Dregni, author of the acclaimed biography, Django. A vagabond music, Gypsy Jazz is played today in French Gypsy bars, Romany encampments, on religious pilgrimages--and increasingly on the world's greatest concert stages. Yet its story has never been told, in part because much of its history is undocumented, either in written form or often even in recorded music. Beginning with Django Reinhardt, whose dazzling Gypsy Jazz became the toast of 1930s Paris in the heady days of Josephine Baker, Picasso, and Hemingway, Dregni follows the music as it courses through caravans on the edge of Paris, where today's young French Gypsies learn Gypsy Jazz as a rite of passage, along the Gypsy pilgrimage route to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer where the Romany play around their campfires, and finally to the new era of international Gypsy stars such as Bireli Lagrene, Boulou Ferre, Dorado Schmitt, and Django's own grandchildren, David Reinhardt and Dallas Baumgartner. Interspersed with Dregni's vivid narrative are the words of the musicians themselves, many of whom have never been interviewed for the American press before, as they describe what the music means to them. Gypsy Jazz also includes a chapter devoted entirely to American Gypsy musicians who remain largely unknown outside their hidden community. Blending travelogue, detective story, and personal narrative, Gypsy Jazz is music history at its best, capturing the history and culture of this elusive music--and the soul that makes it swing.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Of all the styles of jazz to emerge in the twentieth century, none is more passionate, more exhilaratingly up-tempo, or more steeped in an outsider tradition than Gypsy Jazz. And there is no one more qualified to write about Gypsy Jazz than Michael Dregni, author of the acclaimed biography, Django. A vagabond music, Gypsy Jazz is played today in French Gypsy bars, Romany encampments, on religious pilgrimages--and increasingly on the world's greatest concert stages. Yet its story has never been told, in part because much of its history is undocumented, either in written form or often even in recorded music. Beginning with Django Reinhardt, whose dazzling Gypsy Jazz became the toast of 1930s Paris in the heady days of Josephine Baker, Picasso, and Hemingway, Dregni follows the music as it courses through caravans on the edge of Paris, where today's young French Gypsies learn Gypsy Jazz as a rite of passage, along the Gypsy pilgrimage route to Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer where the Romany play around their campfires, and finally to the new era of international Gypsy stars such as Bireli Lagrene, Boulou Ferre, Dorado Schmitt, and Django's own grandchildren, David Reinhardt and Dallas Baumgartner. Interspersed with Dregni's vivid narrative are the words of the musicians themselves, many of whom have never been interviewed for the American press before, as they describe what the music means to them. Gypsy Jazz also includes a chapter devoted entirely to American Gypsy musicians who remain largely unknown outside their hidden community. Blending travelogue, detective story, and personal narrative, Gypsy Jazz is music history at its best, capturing the history and culture of this elusive music--and the soul that makes it swing.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Prescribing under Pressure by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code:A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book If I Give My Soul by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book Values Clarification in Counseling and Psychotherapy by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book Key Thinkers of the Radical Right by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of the Political Economy of International Trade by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book Politics in China by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book The Major Film Theories by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book Mecca of Revolution by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book My Way by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book Viet Nam by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book Medusa by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book Epistemology of Testimony: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book The Enigma of Capital:And the Crises of Capitalism by Michael Dregni
Cover of the book Prescription Drug Diversion and Pain by Michael Dregni
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy