Twilight Music continues its 11th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, August 11 with Berklee College of Music-trained, acoustic Gypsy jazz/swing/pop quintet Occidental Gypsy. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 25. All concerts begin at 5:30 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain. The series is sponsored by the Town of Putney, Putney Food Co-Op, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Inn, Next Stage Arts Project, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available.
Occidental Gypsy is pioneering the sound of Gypsy Pop, with its mélange of uptempo, high-energy rhythms of Gypsy swing/jazz, melded with the catchy melodic hooks of contemporary American music. The band was originally formed by brothers Brett and Jeff Feldman as a straight-ahead Gypsy jazz quartet. With the release of its CD “Over Here” and the addition of new members, the band has developed a far more diverse, sophisticated and eclectic sound. The group is fronted by singer and rhythm guitarist Scott Kulman, and includes the Feldmans on lead guitar and bass, plus violinist Jakub Trasak from the Czech Republic, and percussionist Francisco Vielma from Venezuela.
The Boston-based quintet complements their original material with Gypsified cover songs. In many ways, Gypsy Pop captures the essence and spirit of what jazz was in its infancy – developing, improvising and arranging, with contemporary music as a foundation. Occidental Gypsy’s unique approach to pop, jazz and dance music stems from the influence of Gypsy swing founders Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli.
The name Occidental Gypsy (Western Gypsy) embodies the concept behind Gypsy Pop. The band has taken the Gypsy sound that originated in Eastern Europe and brought it Over Here to blend it seamlessly with contemporary American music. Gypsy swing was created by taking American jazz to the East and blending it with the Gypsy folk tradition. Now almost a century later, Occidental Gypsy is bringing the music back home.
For more information, visit www.occidentalgypsy.com and www.twilightmusic.org.
Next up on the 2013 Twilight on the Tavern Lawn concert series schedule is Celtic, bagpipe-rock quintet Prydein on Sunday, August 25.
