SwingDJs

That kid from Clearwater is so overrated. Unfortunately, most Django-style players are ametuers, so the standards are really not very high. If you ask around the Gypsy-jazz community, he's really not special - at all. He's more of novelty, if anything.
In the jazz communtiy, it takes a lot more to be considered a new "Lester" or something like that, than it does to be considered a new "django." Besides, there are about a thousand Gypsy kids in Europe who would make your head spin. Real jazz musicians have been working for years and have encylopedic knowledge of their music. Ripping off a bunch of Django licks is no big deal.

And?

Kalman

Campus Five wrote:That kid from Clearwater is so overrated. Unfortunately, most Django-style players are ametuers, so the standards are really not very high. If you ask around the Gypsy-jazz community, he's really not special - at all. He's more of novelty, if anything.
In the jazz communtiy, it takes a lot more to be considered a new "Lester" or something like that, than it does to be considered a new "django." Besides, there are about a thousand Gypsy kids in Europe who would make your head spin. Real jazz musicians have been working for years and have encylopedic knowledge of their music. Ripping off a bunch of Django licks is no big deal.

I hope that is not jealosy rearing its ugly head. :p

in any event, I wasnt the only one who thought that he was awesome. And yes, I have listened to a fair amount of Django/Django-esk music to know the difference

Kyle wrote: dude, you cannot bring barbara into that statement, she plays a completely different sound, and should/would never be brought into a discussion of neo-swing music.

Never meant to imply that Barbara was neo-swing ... just trying to make the point that the right feel re: the production of the album can have a tremendous impact on it's playability.

A better example would be Jennie Lobel and the Swing Kings, which came about in the "neo" area, but is still a band that I happily spin ...

Trust me, I did some checking around with some other real Gypsy guys, and he's purely a novelty. I'm not trying to be mean, when you see so much praise lauded on somebody who isn't that great, and while most swing people don't even know or care about some of the really good gypsy stuff around. I'll post a list of the better american gypsy bands in a bit, so you'll see what I mean.

Moreover, Django-stuff doesn't get the scrutiny that other jazz does. Most of it is the same old songs, with people dropping Django-quotes in, and that's about all the substance. Like that Riff-Raff band that played memories a while ago - nice guys, but a lot of people thought was really, really good, while "mediocre" would have been way too generous. Django-stuff is very novel, compared to most swing stuff. I should know: when I started learning it, I had plenty of people think I was really good - hell, we even played a couple songs at Lindy Groove. We sucked pretty bad, and yet everybody loved it.

The kid's alright, but just don't make him out to be some amazing prodigy. Anybody can quote Django, it takes a lot more to make your own music.

(By the way, the only reason I bothered with this is because I kept having people say, "wow, isn't he the most amazing thing in this world? Isn't he the best? He's soooooooo good. We should worship him. Maybe we shold sacrifice a coupe of goats.etc. " I just got sick of holding my tongue. He's good, but not all that noteworthy.)

from what i heard from the peeps in vegas, he Headlined the Django festival after playing "his style" for only a year. to me, that would make him a prodigy

I don't see anything online about a Sam or Samuel Miltich headling any Django Festival. Despite what the Vegas peeps may have said, it looks as though he's played at one or two, but I see no indications of "headlining."

Birelli Lagrene... he headlines Django events.
Jimmy Rosenberg... he headlines Django events.
Sam Miltich plays rhythm in the shadows and is in tiny letters on the playbill.

I heard him at Vegas. He got the job done, but he was no prodigy.

Like I said, I wasn't bad mouthing the guy. He's just not the end-all, be-all of Gypsy Jazz.

He was great, pretty damned good I thought.

The fact that he's so young and so accomplished is actually what I think gets people excited. I've definitely heard better players, and what Jonathan says is pretty true, learning "Django" Vocabulary probably isn't all that hard if you are a good guitar player (though, that in itself is impressive to me... as I play guitar, but couldn't even begin to play the stuff you guys do).

Also, there was something quite magical about the last hour of that performance at Vegas. It was amazing, and it's that impression that a lot of us left with. Sometimes the energy of the band and performance is what it's about, and they certainly had it that night.

I was a bit disappointed in the CD that I bought, as it wasn't nearly as good as the performance... but I've grown to expect that.

For Music in that style, I'd recommend the Hot Club of San Francisco's CD's... as they are quite good. Pearl Django is pretty good too, but I prefer HCSF.

Campus Five wrote:I'll post a list of the better american gypsy bands in a bit, so you'll see what I mean.

I wanna see this list.