World Music: Bireli Lagrène and Friends, "Les Yeux Noirs"
(France/Netherlands) The legacy of the great Gypsy Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt lives on in the Rom (Gypsy) communities of Western Europe. At any given time, groups of guitar playing firebrands of all ages can be found, pounding out some standard tune, and trading lightning fast solos. Biréli Lagrène is one of the most famous, having been a child prodigy, and in this performance from the Jazz a Vienne Festival, he has put together some of the luminaries of the genre. No less than five guitars are on stage - including Stochelo Rosenberg and Angelo Debarre, (themselves as having started out as prodigies) and the precision and technique of the ensemble is formidable from the unison intro and outro, to the inspired solos.
(France/Netherlands) The legacy of the great Gypsy Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt lives on in the Rom (Gypsy) communities of Western Europe. At any given time, groups of guitar playing firebrands of all ages can be found, pounding out some standard tune, and trading lightning fast solos. Biréli Lagrène is one of the most famous, having been a child prodigy, and in this performance from the Jazz a Vienne Festival, he has put together some of the luminaries of the genre. No less than five guitars are on stage - including Stochelo Rosenberg and Angelo Debarre, (themselves as having started out as prodigies) and the precision and technique of the ensemble is formidable from the unison intro and outro, to the inspired solos.
