Manouche Jazz

Gypsy jazz, aka Gypsy swing and jazz manouche (which means literally "traveler jazz") is a Paris-based style of music that memorably blends traditional Roma (gypsy) forms (which are already a hodgepodge of various cultures) with elements of American jazz and swing. With its chugging rhythms, sweeping melodies and inventive improvised stretches, this enormously popular and profoundly influential instrumental tradition is as nearly synonymous with the French capitol as accordion-led bal musette, to which it also owes a considerable debt.

Jazz manouche began as the brainchild of a group of Gypsy guitarists, including the Ferré brothers, who were working in and around Paris during the late 1920s and '30s. Many of them were employed by Auverge-style bal musette ensembles that supplied music for public dances. The young Belgian-born guitarist Jean Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt (1910–'53) soon became a major player on the scene, although injuries sustained in a fire at 18 had made it necessary for him to invent a whole new way to use his left (chording) hand. After he met and began collaborating with Paris-born violinist Stéphane Grappelli (1908–'97), the two founded a band called the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, which achieved international fame and spawned innumerable musical descendants around the world.

Most classic jazz manouche groups consist of a lead guitar, violin, two rhythm guitars and bass. The rhythm guitar supplies a distinct percussive rhythm called la pompe, which, in conjunction with strongly syncopated bass lines, makes a percussion section or trap set redundant. Extended improvised solos are generally performed on guitar and/or violin but clarinet and accordion are also gaining adherents. But Reinhardt's dusky, chromatic sound, with its melancholy undertones, further buttressed by the vigorous swing articulation typical of the period, gave even light-weight songs grace, heft and dignity. His improvisations, characterized by ornamented arpeggios and firmly anchored by precise rhythmic structures, were startlingly fleet and endlessly original.

Gypsy jazz is still thriving today, with legions of avid fans and practitioners of all nationalities. American devotees include John Jorgenson, Raul Reynoso, Paul Mehling and Frank Vignola. U.K.-based player Martin Taylor certainly knows his stuff, having toured for 10 years with Grappelli, and his countrymen Gary Potter, Ian Cruickshank and Andy Mackenzie are also fine players. Jon Larsen's Hot Club of Norway is an exemplary ensemble, as is the Amsterdam-based Robin Nolan Trio.

But the highest caliber of exponents tends to be located closer to the source. Until the present time, Gypsy jazz, like other Roma styles, was passed down to succeeding generations almost exclusively via a well-established oral tradition. Those who had the most to hand down usually could not read music, so aspiring players spent weeks in their company, mastering instrumental techniques and memorizing the repertoire. But these days, more and more of the younger players are opting for formal academic training. Latin rhythms like samba, bossa nova and tango have begun to seep in, but this is not much of a stretch as similar beats from the rumba flamenca made famous by the Gipsy Kings has long since been incorporated.

Biréli Lagrène, Angelo Debarre, Raphael Fays and Stochelo Rosenberg are among today's top guitar soloists. Another noted virtuoso, Romane, is a composer in his own right as well as a music historian, teacher and author. He is not only one of Reinhardt's most idiomatic modern interpreters but tours widely and has even brought jazz manouche to Nashville's prestigious Chet Atkins Invitational. —Christina Roden