Now that a few weeks have past since Djangofest, things are settling down. I am getting myself back into a regular practice routine again. This week I spent some time re-memorizing “la Gitane” up through the “AaBCa” part. All that I have left is to learn the final A part, then memorize the chords, and then record myself on a jam track. When I am finally done, which will be 1-8 weeks from now (as time permits) then I will post my finished MP3 so that all of you can enjoy what will be an amateur waltz recording.
I will continue to have lots of time to put into practice. For a while Lindy Hop was consuming a lot of my time but swing dancing in Portland is starting to become extinct and the whole swing fad which lasted from 1996-2002 is finally drawing its last breath. Things are changing, music is changing, and its time for me to move on and get more serious about playing music.
My newest discoveries are some Tchan Tchou and Maurice Ferre recordings, of gypsy jazz, with electric guitars and/or Stimers, and I think this is the future. If you don’t have the classic “Guitare Partie” album already, then you should find it. I wish someone would officially re-release it on CD. Its hip, its raw, and its real. There is so much unexplored territory in this area. Of course, Moreno (and the other Paris players) are a good example of this stuff also. (many thanks to Ted Gottsegen for awaking my ear to this form of gypsy jazz)

Here is an MP3 of the Ferre brothers impromptu jam outside of the theatre after one of their shows at Djangofest. This is part of a longer segment.
Ferre Jam
NOTE: to listen, right click on the file and choose “Save As”

I bought the whole Integrale Django (1-18) set from Alain Cola at Djangofest. I just converted it all to MP3 and now I can sit in front of my computer with my guitar and try to figure out ideas from Django. 2 GB worth of MP3 files. 740 total tunes. Its amazing to have this. I was so happy to find another version of J’Attendrai that I hadn’t heard before and that is just the tip of the iceberg. This brings my total MP3 collection to around 3800 unique gypsy jazz MP3s (25 GB on my hard drive) .

I was watching the movie Gattaca this morning and I stumbled across a scene where Jude Law and Ethan Hawke are talking about the moon Titan with Nuages being played in the background. John Jorgeson is playing this version of the Django tune in the background. He does a nice job of it too.

Octatonic scales are 8 notes scales and the most famous of them all is the diminished scale. I just discovered something HUGE in playing these Octatonic scales.
If you watch Romanes Nashville video or read his l’Espirit Manouche lesson book you will see a diminished run pattern similar to this one:
—|——————5-8-
—|—————-7—–
-5-|————5-8——-
-4-|——–4-7———–
—|—-3-6—————
-5-|–5——————-
If you simply memorize this pattern and then also think about playing the “approach notes” to this pattern, then what you end up with is the “derived” octatonic diminished hw scale.

Its MUCH easier to memorize the diminished ‘skeleton’ that I show above and then just think of the “approach notes” than it would be to literally memorize the whole diminished pattern.
THINK about what I just said. Its important.
Also, spend some time working about patterns within this Octatonic scale. Think of as many different ways that you can play around this pattern. Also, which TRIADS do you see that are built WITHIN this particualar diminished pattern? Do you see the B major and F major triad? What others do you see?
NOTE: This example I worked out above is based on a hw diminished scale played over a D7 or Am chord. For the A7 chord played at the 5th position, all the notes in that diminished pattern would also have leading tones EXCEPT the root note, which IS a leading tone. If you dont understand, then write it down and derive it and you will see. The A7 pattern is shown below.
—|——————6-9-
—|—————-8—–
-6-|————6-9——-
-5-|——–5-8———–
—|—-4-7—————
-5-|–5——————-
It would be a mistake to accidentally play the WH diminished scale. NOTE: This weblog entry goes along with my weblog entry from April 21, 2004.

Right now it is Monday morning immediately after Djangofest Northwest and I made it home after a 4 hour drive. I wanted to write down my 12 first impressions as soon as I could after I got back.
There were a few performances that caught my personal attention that I want to note: 1) John Jorgesons Sunday afternoon performance of Improvisation #1 and #2 in a chamber orchestra arrangement, 2) Gonzalo and Pat Cilberto showing up as the most obviously improved players, going from being just plain good to being a virtuoso of the first order in only 9 months, 3) Marcelo Damon, from Phoenix Arizona, a jazz player with a virtually unlimited amount of creativity and who was very inspiring , 4) Tony Hughes for coming all the way from the east coast was a surprisingly good player, 5) thanks to Archtop, Ted Gottsegen, Troy, Greg Gunter, the Gadjo Playboys, all the Portland people for saving some time to jam with me , 5) thanks to Alfonso Ponticelli and Ted Gottsegen for being the only Djangofest performers to actually sit down with me and Djosh and jam on a tune at the Doghouse (since all the other performers either weren’t there or weren’t interested), 6) I was very impressed by the kind words which Sammo Miltich relayed to the audience in his performance on Saturday. that young guy really shows some quality as a person AND as a player and brought tears to my eyes with his words, 7) the best news of the weekend was that Robin Nolan might possibly move to the Northwest???? , Angelo Debarres performance was ABSOLUTELY mind blowing on Sunday afternoon, especially la Gitane and China Boy, 9) thanks to “Jan Primus” , who’s real name is Chad, for bringing some unique flavor to a few of the jams I was in, 10) Boulou and Elios playing Hothouse, 11) Joe Ellis of the Gadjo Playboys was very impressive and unique as a fingerstyle Django player and the girl singer that was hanging out with him sounded beatiful, 12) Boulou and Elios jamming outside after their show Saturday and Angelo showed up at Troys party!