Django d’Or Festival - Various Venues, Paris, France 21/01/2009

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Django d’Or Festival - Various Venues, Paris, France 21/01/2009

Tuesday, 24 February 2009 09:57

Celebrating Django d’Or astounded Parisian audiences at jazz clubs including Duc des Lombards, Baiser Salé and Sunset Sunside on January 21. Reviving the music of Django Reinhardt, this event was chiefly driven by the quest for new jazz musicians.

At the Duc des Lombards, the audiences listened to Rhoda Scott, the world’s most prodigious female jazz organist performing with her Lady Quartet. Sunset Sunside presented Christian Escoudé with his Trio Gitan and Megaoctet featuring Andy Emler and Médéric Collignon. At the Baiser Salé, the public appreciated Patrice Caratini’s Latinidad Quintet.

The Lady Quartet and the Trio Gitan were the stars of the show attracting enthusiastic crowds. Escoudé’s band faithful to Django Reinhardt’s tradition electrified the public with arresting manouche jazz pieces. The success of Scott’s Lady Quartet, on the other hand, lay in the band’s suave, tranquil and reassuring compositions.

The Lady Quartet consists of Rhoda Scott singing and operating the Hammond organ, Julie Saury on drums as well as Lisa Cat-Berro and Sophie Alour on the saxophones. The track ‘I’m Just Your Fool’ blends together Scott’s buoyant vocal improvisations and a masterful saxophone solo from Alour.

The Trio Gitan features the guitarists Christian Escoudé, Jean-Baptiste Laya and David Reinhardt. This remarkable trio astonished the audiences with its virtuoso guitar compositions. For example, the listeners were immersed into this whirlwind of guitar melodies emanating like streams from a river. Thus, the band manipulated diverse melodies, pitches, rhythms and speeds.

These exquisite pieces fuse together intense passion and melancholy. Anticipation, intrigue and surprise are essential to this manouche jazz. The final composition embodied a dynamic battle between various guitar segments with the central guitar leading and the side guitar taking over.

Cohesive and well-organised, this event provide an excellent insight into the soundscape of Django Reinhardt.

Review: Katya Kan

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