In the gypsy community, tradition is transmitted orally in family parties and gatherings, where music always occupies a prominent place. The gypsy jazz musical tradition launched by Django Reinhardt is the heart of manouche culture and Angelo Debarre has quickly became one of its jazz masters.
Angelo Debarre started playing guitar at the age of 8. He founded his first group “The Angelo Debarre Quintet” in 1984, and the following year, began touring the world with gypsy musicians. This is music that he knows inside and out, and at concerts and festivals his enthousiasm and passion prove it. For Angelo Debarre, Django Reinhardt”s music never loses the dynamism and richness of the past.
He has also mastered gypsy music of Eastern Europe, a repertory that he became interested in through his contacts with Serge Camps at La Roue Fleurie, a favorite meeting place of the gypsies in Paris where he played regularly between 1985 and 1987.
Another regular at La Roue Fleurie during this period was Jon Larsen II, who was fascinated by the music he heard there decided to bring Angelo Debarre, Serge Camps and Frank Anastasio together in the recordings studio to produce “Gypsy Guitars”. A recording that would showcase the group’s dynamism and the incredible variety of the gypsy repertory. The album is still essential for every aficionado of the gypsy music of the Eastern European tradition and gipsy jazz.
Debarre's “Caprice” album was his first as a band leader. It is a recording that allows us to appreciate his talent as a composer, and to hear gypsy jazz as we have never heard it before.
For more information on Angelo Debarre, visit his official website