Nationally touring acoustic jazz band
A very special shout out to everyone at Me & Thee Coffeehouse in Marblehead for giving us just the right kind of love to kick off our recording session. Peace to all of you and see you soon….
Thank you again to everyone who made our summer tour so successful, fun and overall amazing. We’ve sold out houses that years ago, we couldn’t have imagined playing, gotten media attention from LA Times, Chicago Tribune and many others, but most of all, we got to meet so many fantastic people along the way.
The season is NOT over, though. We still have a handful more shows coming up in September, so tell your friends and GET GYPSIFIED!
“…the musicians of Occidental Gypsy emerged as classicists, above all celebrating the optimistic spirit that made Reinhardt-Grappelli an antidote to the tough times of pre-World War II Europe (and beyond)… the music-making – proved carefully considered and nimbly delivered.
The heart and soul of this band were wrapped up in the work of violinist Eli Bishop… whose silken legato phrases, impeccable pitch and seemingly effortless technique in fast-moving passages represented the best of Occidental Gypsy’s work and made him the focus of attention whenever he played. Bishop’s deep-amber tone and rhapsodic way with a phrase suited the tune and elegantly rode the pulsing rhythmic backdrop of the band.
… there were sonic pleasures to be had, particularly in an energetic, gypsy-jazz transformation of Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” which opened the evening. More than once, vocalist-guitarist Frantz brought the large crowd to near silence through the warmth and openness of his singing, as in “Georgia on My Mind.” Others may command bigger, brighter voices, but the heartfelt quality and reedy tone of Frantz’s singing disarmed listeners. READ FULL REVIEW
…When Occidental Gypsy began to play, the link with the Hot Club, as well as a convincing association with much of the pre-bebop era of jazz became vividly apparent.
Start with the playing, especially when it emphasized the hard swinging similarities between the Occidental Gypsy togetherness of violinist Eli Bishop, bassist Jeff Feldman, drummer Erick Cifuentes, guitarist/singer Jeremy Frantz and guitarist Brett Feldman and the classic Hot Club interaction between guitarist Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli. The results were irresistible, a virtual definition of an era when jazz was often described as “hot” music. And when Occidental Gypsy’s rhythm section, usually driven by the surging rhythm guitar of Brett Feldman, hit one irresistible rhythmic groove after another, “hot” was the best applicable adjective….- Read Full Review of the Siskiyou Music Project Concert at Paschal Winery June 14, 2014
