Midwest Gypsy Swing Festival
Nick Berard
Harmonious Wail members Maggie Delaney-Potthoff and Sims Delaney-Potthoff.
Harmonious Wail members Maggie Delaney-Potthoff and Sims Delaney-Potthoff.
The annual Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest is a highly anticipated late summer event for music listeners who love the distinctive guitar style and compositions of Django Reinhardt. Madison Djangologists Harmonious Wail have hosted the fest for more than two decades, and always put together a lineup of hot jazz stars from around the world; this year features trios led by Issac Eicher and Alfonso Ponticelli, a duo performance by Joscho Stephan and Sam Farthing, the Ryan Picone Quartet and Third Coast Swing. Music begins at 7 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday; find the schedule below and ticket info at midwestgypsyswingfest.com.
media release: Madison's renowned Gypsy Jazz band Harmonious Wail is presenting its 21st annual Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest
The musical line-up for this 21st two-day Gypsy Swing
The Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest
On Saturday, Sept. 7, the Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest starts at 2:30 p.m. with a performance by the Ryan Picone Quartet, followed by a 3:15 p.m. performance by Third Coast Swing. At 4:30 p.m., the Isaac Eicher Trio will take the stage. There will be a dinner break from 5:15 to 6:45 p.m. with food available for purchase from several vendors. At 7 p.m., the Alfonso Ponticelli Trio will perform, followed at 8:15 p.m. by the duo of Joscho Stephan and Sam Farthing, along with Tom Knific. At 9:30 p.m. the Harmonious Wail Festival Band with Scott Hlavenka on guitar will close out the night’s performances, followed at 10:30 p.m. with a Monster Django Jam with all the festival’s musicians on stage at once. At 11 p.m., there will be another round of energetic and enjoyable campfire jamming.
General admission or reserved tickets, which range from $45 to $55 each on Friday night and $50 to $60 each on Saturday night – plus fees – can be purchased online at https://midwestswingfest.
More on the bands:
Harmonious Wail will team up with Scott Hlavenka (a phenomenal guitarist from Milwaukee) to open the festivities on Friday evening. We’ll also be joined on Friday by bassist John Mesaloras and to close the fest out on Saturday night HW will be joined by by bassist Tom Knific.
As part of the spring 2024 European tour, HW played gigs with Paulus Shäfer and with Joscho Stephan. These two top-class ridiculously talented gypsy jazz masters will team up with Tom Knific for two mind-blowing sets - one Friday at 9:30 pm and again on Saturday at 8:15 pm.
Joscho Stephan shapes modern Gypsy Swing with his playing like no other. Stephan has earned himself an outstanding reputation on the international guitar scene.Joscho’s YouTube version of "Hey Joe" has now reached 3 million views. Guitar Player magazine and The Acoustic Guitar Magazine celebrated Joscho Stephan as the future of Gypsy Jazz Guitar. Joscho's albums have been nominated for the German Record Critics' Award.
Paulus Schäfer (born 31 March 1978, Gerwen, Nuenen) is a guitarist, composer and arranger considered one of the most talented gypsy jazz or "jazz manouche" guitar players from the Netherlands. Paulus was born into a Dutch Sinti-Romani (Gypsy) community where he was taught to play the guitar at a very early age. Paulus has recorded or performed on stage with Stochelo Rosenberg, Fapy Lafertin, Tim Kliphuis, Jimmy Rosenberg, Dominique Paats, Biréli Lagrène, Andreas Öberg, and many others.
Tulsa native Isaac Eicher grew up in a musical household and started playing mandolin at 9 years old. He inherited a multifarious taste of music from his parents, both well-accomplished musicians, violinist Shelby Eicher and vocalist Janet Rutland. Eicher's parents played all styles of music in their home, including jazz, bluegrass and western swing. In his teen years, Eicher evolved into an extraordinary musician and began to compete on a national level, winning first place prizes at the Walnut Valley Mandolin Championship in 2006 and Rockygrass in 2010.
From an early age Debi Botos has cultivated an interest in the Gypsy music of Hungary, where she was born into a family of musicians. Now 28, she continues that exploration in combination with a serious study of the tradition we know as jazz manouche. Here’s Debi playing one of her own compositions, “Reminisce”, at Budapest DjangoFest in 2023.
Debi calls Toronto home these days and you can find her gigging locally on a regular basis. Beyond that, she has been a featured performer at Django in June in 2022, Stephan Wrembel’s Django A GoGo - New York City, Budapest DjangoFest, and the Midwest Gypsy Swing Festival (Madison, WI).
Alfonso Ponticelli is the 2009 recipient of the Leonardo da Vinci Award for outstanding achievement in performing arts from the Order Sons of Italy in America and is the 1994 national Mountain Dulcimer champion. Ponticelli is one of a few American guitarists to be invited to perform at the Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois, France.
Ponticelli had the honor to perform at the Iridium in New York City with Les Paul when Les invited Alfonso on stage.
Ponticelli presents weekly concerts at the famous Green Mill jazz club and performs many other private and public events and has been the only artist to be invited year after year to the MGSF - for 20+ years now.
Third Coast Swing’s Music is steeped in a tradition of rich culture from Europe. They provide an excellent evening of stories and music that conjure thoughts of French Cafe, traveling Europe, and dancing to Hot Jazz.
Third Coast Swing has performed regionally at The West MI Jazz Society, The Ludington Amphitheater, Cliff Bells Detroit, GR Noir Grand Rapids, U of M Museum of Art, The Ludington Area Center for the Arts, Bell’s in Kalamazoo, Detroit Jazz Society, Crooked Tree Art’s Center, Kerrytown Concert House and many more.
We also have a need for volunteer sign-up - this is a great way to be part of the family and to save yourselves a few bucks - here is the direct link
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