Stochelo Rosenberg/Paulus Schafer Quartet plus Karen Street’s L’Espirit Du Jazz at LSO St Luke’s

I remember seeing a documentary called ‘The Django Legacy’ on the telly back in ‘91. I recorded it on VHS and watched it over and over again.

In those ‘pre-internet’ days you found inspiration wherever you could, and this short film was bursting at the seams with it. It kind of followed Gary Potter’s unlikely path into the music but peeled off and featured footage at interviews from all of the big gypsy players of the time, including footage of an impossibly young Jimmy Rosenberg, who can’t have been more than 10 or 11 years old at the time but was already absolutely tearing it up. Mind blowing!

What really stuck with me, though, was footage of Jimmy’s elder cousin Stochelo. Filmed on a campsite in the Netherlands the camera slowly approaches his caravan, as the restful voice of Sasha Distel narrates.

Suddenly we’re inside the caravan and we’re witness to just the most incredible, virtuosic guitar playing from a young, handsome and iconic looking Stochelo.

It was a call to arms for me. I hadn’t previously realised how damn good it was possible to get on the guitar and this was definitely part of my own personal jazz guitar journey.

Fast forward 33 years….Jazz never really took me too far down the gypsy path but I do own a fair few records and fully admit to owning a Gitane guitar…

What’s this? Stochelo is playing in London??

I’m there. 

There was a palpable feeling of excitement from the crowd at LSO St Luke‘s. And why not? Two of the World’s Greatest Guitarists were in the building.

In support was accordionist Karen Street’s L’Espirit Du Jazz, featuring Sam Dunn on guitar, Charlie Pyne on double bass and Katie Patterson on drums. I didn’t envy Sam one bit. That’s a tough gig – being scrutinised by a room full of guitar nuts! But he was unfazed and delivered tasteful, melodic and acrobatic solos over some really challenging forms, that well and truly impressed the jury! Karen was in great form too, as were Katie and Charlie, the latter whose unique unison bass and vocal lines seemed to spiral right up to the rafters.  They played over their allotted 25-minute set time (naughty, naughty) but the audience didn’t mind one bit, vigorously applauding everything they played.

After a very short break, Stochelo and Paulus strolled up nonchalantly to the stage accompanied by (to my absolute surprise and delight) two of our very own – Simon Read on double bass and Tobie Medland on violin. Perhaps it should be mentioned that witnessing mere mortals playing in a professional capacity with the gypsy players is (I hear) a very rare thing indeed.

This was a special night.

They fired up with a stalwart tune from the repertoire ‘Coquette’. 

The younger Schafer was bristling with fire and impossibly fast runs. Stochelo was every bit as deft, maybe even more so but somehow more relaxed with it. Man, these guys make it look so easy! The sheer facility they have is just so impressive.

A breezy and lyrical ‘If I Had You’ was up next which had Stochelo beaming at the younger Paulus as he made the most out of this lovely little tune, which you could easily believe had been written specifically for the genre.

Now fully warmed up, they tore into Django’s ‘Blues en mineur’ (interestingly announced as ‘Minor Blues’ by Stochelo) and the audience watched, mouths agape as they played Reinhardt’s original solo, note-for-note in unison. Unbelievable.
Stochelo was so welcoming on the microphone and made everyone feel at ease. At one point, Paulus asked for the mic and declared how honoured he was to share the stage with “The Mount EVEREST of gypsy jazz guitar”. The crowd’s roar of approval filled the air.

They finished off a strangely short first set with what was introduced as ‘How high the moon’…. but they launched full throttle into “Ornithology’…which is…sort of…the same thing… I guess…!

The second (longer) set explored a more melancholic side. That’s not to say it still wasn’t absolutely burning! After playing an achingly beautiful ‘In a Sentimental Mood’, Stochelo called two pretty originals, separated by a rousing ‘I’ve found a new baby’.

It was really heart warming to see the genuine respect and admiration these legends had for Tobie and Simon, and they were more than happy to give the English musicians as much space as they needed. Simon was totally swinging and the feel was great throughout. He’s “one to watch”, eh?

Of course, special mention must be made of Tobie Medland, who not only dazzled us with his virtuosity but also arranged the entire festival! He truly is an inspiration. Without brilliant people making brilliant things like this happen, they just…….wouldn’t happen.

Before we knew it we were on the home straight which featured (unsurprisingly perhaps) Django’s ‘Seul Ce Soir’ and then (totally surprisingly!) the theme from ‘The Godfather’ which left everyone in the whole place with smiles on their faces.

There was an encore of course, and they knew exactly what the crowd wanted. In fact, a cheer went up in the packed hall as they began to play the intro to ‘Minor Swing’. They must have played it a million times, but it sounded every bit as fresh as it had around the campfires between the caravans back in Holland, all those years ago.

BAND LISTS

Stochelo Rosenberg – Guitar
Paulus Schafer – Guitar 
Tobie Medland – Violin
Simon Read – Double Bass

Karen Street’s L’Espirit Du Jazz
Karen Street – accordion
Sam Dunn – guitar,
Charlie Pyne – double bass, vocals
Katie Patterson – drums.