We Publish Third Coast Gypsy Jazz 

One of the pieces that stuck out to me was a song called, “Minor Swing” by Django Reinhardt. The song had a really good groove to it and the opening phrase sounded very familiar to me. I quickly realized that a current Pop Rock Alternative band Called Twenty One Pilots uses that same phrase throughout one of their new songs called, “Morphe.” “Minor Swing” was written and performed by Django Reinhardt, and Stéphane Grappelli. Django is known for his great guitar playing, while Stéphane is a popular violinist.

The Song was written and recorded in 1937. Many of their fans liked listening to these two play together especially because of their distinct European sound. It set them apart from others.

For the sake of the Third Coast Gypsy Jazz band, I’ll focus on Django Reinhardt’s addition(s). Django was referred to as a “Gypsy Jazz” artist because both of his parents were European gypsies. This term is most likely the base of the name of the group I saw.

He was a Parisian man born in 1910, who lived until 1953. He lived quite an interesting life. He began playing guitar when he was twelve years old and fell in love with music right away. In 1928 he and his wife were in a tragic fire accident which almost claimed his left leg, and permanently damaged his two outermost fingers on his left hand. After his initial treatments in the hospital, he was moved to a nursing home where he was forced to stay in bed for eighteen weeks.

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Being bedridden did not stop him from his love of playing. He learned to play the guitar with his two fingers that weren’t injured and continued to further his career.

In 1934 he and Stéphane Grappelli got the Quintet of the Hot Club of France together. Django and the group became wildly popular after recording songs such as, “Dinah,” “Tiger Rag,” and, “Oh Lady Be Good.” During World War II the quintet went on tour around England. Eventually, Django decided to travel back to Paris and continue playing more of a solo career. Although, he did tour with Duke Ellington for a little while before he retired. Clearly, Django Reinhardt made his own footprint in jazz music. It was very nice to see that his art is still very much alive, and actually “live.” Third Coast Gypsy Jazz did a wonderful job playing at The Old Goat in Grand Rapids. They entertained their audience and helped me get to learn more about jazz music and a great jazz musician.