Description
Modern DNA analysis has shed light upon an ancient mystery. When a tiny group of refugees in the Indian province of Rajasthan began wandering westward almost a thousand years ago, they became, unbeknownst to themselves, the origin of the Gypsies. While the rest of the world has passed through ten centuries at a pace of 24 hours a day, the Gypsies have in a singular fashion held intact their distinctiveness and foundation – like a nomadic time-bubble, through time and space.
Jimmy appeared with the trio named The Gipsy Kids. Later, after receiving a surly telephone call from The Gypsy Kings, they were obliged to change their name to Sinti.
At the Django Festival in Oslo on January 1993, three super guitarists met for the first time: Jimmy Rosenberg, Angelo Debarre and Biréli Lagrène -a diabolic constellation-! Biréli played immediately following Jimmy and Angelo and he gave a fantastic solo concert. Suddenly he interrupted himself and laughing into the microphone admitted that he was having difficulties concentrating, as Jimmy had made such a strong impression on him. “I did the same things at that age .. but Jimmy does it better!”
Jimmy, Biréli and Angelo have, each in their own fashion, distinguished themselves as three of the most prominent musical innovators within Gypsy Swing and all three appear to violate the laws of nature in terms of what it is physically possible to execute on a guitar. The question was whether it would be possible to talk them into a rendezvous in the studio? The meeting came about in a highly spontaneous fashion, in the course of a week-end before Christmas in the tiny studio Sysmo in Paris. Under the direction of the brilliant guitarist Pascal de Loutchek, we were able to immortalize a jam session of pyrotechnic dimensions. Most of the music was recorded on the first take, with all of its raw energy in place.
Jimmy made his mark as a notable guitarist early. At the age of 13 he had already played with all of the greats, from Jo Privat and Philip Catherine to Stéphane Grappelli himself. At the same time he did his first recording for Hot Club Records, the incredible Jimmy’s Suite -all thanks to the passionate Hans Meelen, who has done so much for the Gypsy Swing music.
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