Capriccio Music Festival

Capriccio Music Festival - Occidental Gypsy

Occidental Gypsy, internationally acclaimed acoustic jazz band, enraptures the listener with a complex acoustic sound.  Their music cannot be easily classified:  it’s a bit of jazz, a strain of blues, a seismic swing experience and “a whole lotta gypsified groove.”

According to David Bromberg, “These guys have great singing, fantastic guitar and violin work, and high energy originals that leave the crowd crazy.  An awesome band!”

Hailing from New England, this nationally touring acoustic jazz band performs a blend of gypsy jazz and folk music in a pioneering approach to traditional “hot club” jazz music, paying homage to Django Reinhardt and expanding the genre to include elements of western (Occidental) sounds and rhythms, including blues, Klezmer and Latin.

The quintet has played in over 200 venues in over 30 states, selling out legendary jazz clubs in Cleveland, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles. They have shared the stage with such greats as Wynton Marsalis, Rikki Lee Jones, Stanley Jordan, Joe Sample, and David Bromberg.

Members include:

- Brett Feldman- lead guitar, composer, co-arranger and a founder
- Eli Bishop- All strings, co-arranger
- Jeremy Frantz- lead vocals, rhythm guitar
- Jeff Feldman- bass
- John Chapman- percussion

Eli Bishop, a Nashville violin prodigy who began playing at age 3, has played with Wynton Marsalis, Bill Evans of the Miles Davis Group, Vince Gill, and the Wooten Brothers. Eli was awarded a Guinness Record for the world’s fastest clapping!

Brett Feldman is a self-taught musician and composer. His original songs are challenging to execute even by the most seasoned gypsy jazz artists and are crafted as emotional renderings of important ideas. His most notable new piece, also the title track of their recent CD- Song for Vrba: 44070- tells the story of the heroism of Rudolf Vrba, who escaped Auschwitz in WW II, and whose reporting of the atrocities led to an end of Hungarian deportation of Jews to Germany and is credited with saving the lives of over 200,000.

Jeremy Frantz is a protégé of legendary guitarist Joe Negri. He is best known for his soulful singing of classic standards. More than once, he has brought crowds to near silence through the warmth and openness of his vocals.

Jeff Feldman and John Chapman keep crowds moving with beats and complex rhythms with roots in Latin music and Klezmer, well integrated into original compositions and supporting the richness of music that almost make them sound like they could be plugged in rather than acoustic.

An acoustic band playing an exciting blend of gypsy, jazz and folk music with burnished vocals from the first era of swing.

Tickets: $25

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