The Jazz Gitanes Home Page Updated 8th July 2007
Jazz Gitanes is a Hampshire based Gypsy Jazz style swing band. It comprises of a variety of band members ranging from two guitars with visiting violin, clarinet and double bass as and when circumstances permit. Their repertoire includes many of the great jazz standards from the '30s, '40s and '50s , bossa novas, ragtime and many of the compositions from the legendary jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli.
Jazz Gitanes is managed by Pete Sheppard, (affectionately known as Tiger -see Le QuecumBar), and in recent years he has had the privilege of guesting and playing with Gary Potter at the 4th Anniversary of Le Quecumbar, Dave Kelbie from the Fapy Lafertin and Angelo Debarre Quartets, Nils Solberg, violinists Christian Garrick, Andy Aitchison, Mike Piggot and Billy Thompson. He has also appeared with the Le Quecumbar All Stars at the L'Esprit Manouche gypsy jazz festival in Birmingham and on the recent CD due out in 2007.
There are some music samples of Pete Sheppard with Le Q Allstars here.
There's a bit of a biog of Pete here... www.petersheppard.co.uk
What They Say:
"Arguably the best in the world" - Pete Sheppard
"Pete ‘Tiger’ Sheppard? Never heard of him" - Charlie Parker
"Who is he?" - Oscar Peterson
"Get out of ‘My Way’" - Frank Sinatra
" His name should be in lights!!" - Bucky Pizzarelli
Pete has not been nicknamed "Tiger" for nothing – when you witness the energy and fire of his playing, the "Tiger" is out!. He oozes with passion for the music and it shows, not only a great player to listen to but oh so watchable you can’t help but fall in love with this eclectic players style, humour and skill, all of which are in abundance, watch this man he will go far." - Sylvia Rushbrooke Le QuecumBar
“Pete Sheppard is a young man who has totally embraced the ‘French Café’ style of jazz guitar playing as conceived by Django Reinhardt (1910 - 1953). Pete’s playing is vibrant and exceptionally melodic – He adds a living dimension to the great jazz guitar tradition” - Chris Walker BBC (Radio Solent jazz presenter)
"Peter possesses a startling and fluid single string technique that is full of inventive phrases and can halt a conversation in the first four bars. His rhythm playing is as robust as you would expect from a player dedicated to the school of Reinhardt ,and he is one of the top jazz guitarists this country has produced. And he is getting better all the time!" - Keith Cooper Jazz Guitarist, Singer and Jazz Critic
".....we learned all about this genre long ago from Ian Cruikshank, and the mercurial George at the Furze Bush, Ball Hill, who in turn brought us Patrick Saussois, and the incredible skills of a modern generation of guitarists like Gary Potter. From this illustrious basis Peter Sheppard takes things one step further into the realms of skill and creativity, ......." - Patrick Cogswell, Hungerford Arts Festival Organiser and Critic
Jazz Gitanes can be contacted by:- E-mail: jazzgitanes@ntlworld.com or by Telephone 01962 870005
Jazz Gitanes
is a registered name ISBNC30115998.