Just got back from a 3.5-week tour across the U.S. with Tim Kliphuis and it was quite the run. One of the final concerts brought us to Baltimore—in my opinion one of the most underrated cities in the country. The people are authentic, hospitable, and genuinely care about each other. A pretty great way to wrap up the tour. Big thanks to Michael Joseph Harris for bringing us out. While touring I wasn’t able to post as many lessons as I’d like, but now that I’m back I’ll be adding more content here soon—some new material on rhythm, phrasing, and a few tunes we were playing on the road. In the meantime, keep working on the lessons already here, and feel free to post videos of your progress. I love seeing what everyone is working on. Next up we’ll be in Atlanta (GA), Athens (GA), and Carrboro (NC) from March 18–22. I’d love to see some of you there! I’ll also be doing workshops in Carrboro on March 21. I’m also thinking of doing a free lesson on the tune “Swing Gitane.” Let me know in the poll below if that’s a tune you’d like to learn!

The classic tune by Nirvana, reimagined in the Django style I grew up listening to Nirvana, and I’ve always felt that strong melodies can move freely between genres. When you strip a song down to its core, it’s not so far from the world of Django Reinhardt. Gypsy jazz meets grunge—unexpected, but it works. The full track is out now on Spotify

Three days dedicated to Manouche Jazz music in the evocative setting of the village of Pennabilli, with concerts at the Vittoria Theater, seminars for musicians, musical aperitifs at the Orto dei Frutti Dimenticati, night jam sessions, chess tournament and gypsy sound walks. With Jimmy Rosenberg, Gismo Graf and Jacopo Martini … 👇👇👇 https://www.pennabillidjangofestival.com/xiii-edizione-programma-2025/

Hello folks-my name is Kevan- I’m a good friend of Jimmy who’s played many gigs with him here in California where I live. I run my own combo in San Mateo California called Modern Jazz Hot Club. My goal with my combo is to create interesting arrangements of tunes that are not usually played in the Django Reinhardt zeitgeist, but still feel at home in the gypsy jazz environment Attached is a short video introduction of my group’s latest video with a link to our Instagram account if you’d like to hear more. Cheers and looking forward to hearing more of what everyone else here has to offer and is learning about. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQXsoImEvoi/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==