Gypsies jazz Laguna

Gypsies will once again roam the streets of Laguna Beach as the third annual Djangofest kicks off tonight at the Festival of Arts.

The festival will host a gypsy jazz performance tonight at 8 p.m. as well as shows at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. tomorrow in the Forum Theatre, 650 Laguna Canyon Road. It will feature local musicians as well as gypsy jazz musicians from abroad.

Tonight’s show is $34 and will feature Hot Club Pacific, Andreas Öberg and John Jorgenson. Tomorrow’s matinee is $36 and will feature the Gonzalo Bergara Quartet, and duo Angelo Debarre and Ludovic Beier. Tomorrow night’s performance is $40 and will again feature Öberg, Debarre and Beier.

The festival is named after the famous Belgian-born jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, who lived from 1910 to 1953. Reinhardt grew up in Basque gypsy camps around Paris and is one of the most influential European jazz guitarists.

After his left hand was injured in a fire at the age of 18, Reinhardt had to teach himself to play guitar with only two fingers. This forced him to invent a style of playing that became uniquely his own.

The music spawned from Reinhardt’s style is called gypsy jazz and features acoustic guitar as well as other folk instruments such as jazz violin, accordion and banjo. The music is generally lacking in percussion and rhythm instruments, instead deferring to rhythmic guitar playing.

Nicholas Lehr founded Djangofest Northwest in 2000, with the first festival held in 2001. The popularity of the concerts gave way to Djangofests in San Francisco and, starting in 2005, Laguna Beach. Lehr said the popularity of Djangofest isn’t without reason.

“Django is like a god, an iconic guitar player,” Lehr said.

It was the Davy family that gave Lehr the idea of bringing Djangofest to Laguna Beach. Dee Challis Davy, who is the Djangofest organizer, was in Washington with her family to experience Lehr’s original Djangofest. Both her husband, Stephen, and her son, Tommy, are guitar players and Django Reinhardt fans.

Tommy Davy is studying guitar performance at the California Institute of the Arts and specializing in gypsy jazz. Lehr said he will be onstage at some point in the festival.

Challis Davy approached Lehr with the idea of a Southern California Djangofest and all the pieces fell into place.

Lehr said Laguna Beach is a good choice for the festival because of its small-town character, which he said is similar to the original Djangofest on Washington’s Whidbey Island.

“It seemed like a great place to do it,” Lehr said.

Since 2005, gypsy jazz musicians from around the world have traveled to Laguna Beach to showcase their talent and, according to Challis Davy, fans come from out of state and as far away as Canada and Mexico to experience it.

The festival will partially draw on local gypsy jazz talent. Local artists will include Hot Club Pacific, a gypsy jazz quartet from Monterey Bay named after the famous Hot Club that Django Reinhardt made his name in, and The Gonzalo Bergara Quartet.

The quartet is led by Argentinean musician Gonzalo Bergara who formed his Los Angeles based gypsy jazz ensemble in 2003.

American guitarist John Jorgenson will also perform at the festival. Jorgenson has played with many notable musicians including Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, and Benny Goodman.

The festival will also feature musicians from across Europe that, according to Challis Davy, are some of the most highly regarded gypsy jazz artists in the world.

“Some of the greatest players in their genre are coming here to little Laguna Beach,” Challis Davy said.

Jazz guitarist Andreas Öberg will travel all the way from his native Sweden to play two performances in the festival.

Öberg said he discovered Django Reinhardt music at the age of 22 as he was exploring the influences of his favorite players.

Öberg, who plays many genres of jazz guitar, said he now devotes half of his performance to the gypsy tradition.

“I think it’s a music that is timeless. He was way ahead of his time,” Öberg said.

Also featured in the festival will be two performances by gypsy jazz duo Angelo Debarre and Ludovic Beier. Debarre and Beier have forged a gypsy jazz union of Debarre’s guitar and Beier’s accordion.

Beier works from Paris and, according to Lehr, plays traditional button accordion with a jazz taste.

Debarre, a French artist who was born and raised a gypsy, has been traveling the world playing gypsy jazz since 1985.

Lehr said Debarre is one of the most influential gypsy jazz guitarists today.

“You can actually say he’s one of the heirs to the Django throne,” Lehr said.

Lehr and Challis Davy said the popularity of gypsy jazz is growing in the United States at large and especially in Southern California.

“There’s this explosion of Django geeks all across the country, and they network,” Challis Davy said.

The festival will also offer gypsy jazz workshops on everything from a gypsy jazz introduction to rhythms and picking. Many of the workshops will by the artists.

Challis Davy said guitar players interested in attending workshops should be intermediate players able to read chord charts.

The workshops will be $40 each.

Tickets for the concerts can be purchased at the door or at online at www.ticketleap.com.