| Description | Price |
| Gypsy jazz quartet, up to 2 x 45 min sets, person booking provides PA equipment | £300 (GBP) |
| Gypsy jazz quartet, up to 2 x 45 min sets, we provide PA equipment | £350 (GBP) |
FiddleBop plays Gypsy jazz, re-imagined for the 2020s! On violin, Spanish guitar, keyboard, and fretless bass. And we sing too, with four voices in harmony. We love what we play, and it shows!
Wales-based FiddleBop's take on Gypsy jazz music is sophisticated but isn't stuffy or pretentious. Is danceable and exciting but not rhythmically boring. Has plenty of go-for-it improvised solos but is still tuneful and melodic. All with a dash of — or sometimes a bit more — fun and good humour 😃.
And like the first Gypsy jazz bands — think Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli — FiddleBop's "Gypsy jazz re-imagined" is highly eclectic. In the 1930s, the Quintette du Hot Club de France created amazing music based on current and past pop tunes, traditional Gypsy melodies, their own compositions, even some J S Bach... so FiddleBop's repertoire is similarly wide-ranging. We play Gypsy-flavoured jazz drawn from all of the genre's century-long history. That's get-up-and-dance jazz from the 1920s, 1930s chilli-hot swing, and cool post-bop. Plus jazz-flavoured classic pop, folk-jazz, and our own creations.
So what ties all this together? Why, our Gypsy-style zing, passion, and joie de vivre!
= areas covered (up to 100 miles)
= free travel (up to 20 miles)
Our live set may include:
"The Charleston" and "Black Bottom" from the early days of jazz
Swing-era stalwarts "Crazy Rhythm", "Dinah", "Puttin' on the Ritz", "Sweet Sue", and Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing"
Traditional Gypsy jazz tunes "Minor Swing", "Dark Eyes"; and Gypsy jazz staples "Bei Mir Bistdu Shein", and "Sweet Georgia Brown"
Our interpretations of the John Coltrane Quartet's exquisite "Naima" and "My Favourite Things"; bluesy versions of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" and "Well, You Needn't"; classic cool jazz by Miles Davis, "Milestones" and "So What"; and FiddleBop's searing take of Dizzy Gillespie's "Night In Tunisia"
Nostalgic close-harmony vocals on Paul McCartney's "Here, There, and Everywhere", Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek" and "Blue Skies", and Jo's gospel-like "Still With Me"
Jazz-favoured folk tunes such as "Give Me Your Hand" (c. 1603), Irish reel "Drowsy Maggie", and Ukrainian rouser "Odessa Bulgar"
Jo's poetic late-night-smoky-bar "Thirteen-and-a-half Days In The Desert", Paul's evocative "Waterfall Sings", and Dave's Gypsy-reggae "Party Politics".
4 x mics, PA with 4 channels for 4 backline amps
We need driving directions, and an idea of venue size (photos are useful).
We can provide PA equipment suitable for small to medium sized venues.
If we use our own PA then we can play a selection of recorded Gypsy jazz music between our set(s), if required. Or you can play your own choice of music (e.g. from a phone).
In 2023, FiddleBop played at these festivals:
* HowTheLightGetsIn at Hay-on-Wye
* The 36th International Upton Jazz Festival
* Landed Festival
* Brecon Jazz Festival
* Cwmaman Music Festival
and we loved 'em all!
No matter where we are, we love what we play (and it shows)...
The current Wales-based version of FiddleBop began not long after Jo and Dave moved to Powys in 2017. Since then, we've played many gigs, including several festivals. What fun we've had at every gig! And how we are enjoying pushing the boundaries of Gypsy jazz! The previous Oxfordshire-based incarnation of FiddleBop disbanded in late 2017 after thirteen years as a very successful hard-gigging mainstream Gypsy jazz band. Before that? Dave had been playing the violin since his teens, and had fiddled in lots of bands: mostly folk-rock (including supporting Fairport Convention at their Cropredy Festival and elsewhere) but also some early music. Guitarist and singer Jo had been playing classical piano from a young age, and gigging as a singer-songwriter since her teens.
Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, Fairport Convention
We normally arrive one hour before we play. If using the band's PA, we need one hour to set up and soundcheck and one hour to take down. If using a house PA we need 20 minutes to set up and soundcheck. Performance times are up to 2 x 45 minute sets. We're happy to be flexible tho', within reason.
We’re happy to play outside but we ask for cover (this being the UK), a flat level surface and a power supply close to the performance area.
Clients are welcome to pick a set list from our repertoire or let us choose the music for them.
"Fiddle Bop ... transform gypsy jazz stylings into a welcome hamper of swing..." Buzz Magazine, 16 August 2023. "On our last day of #HTLGI23 we are preparing to hear incredible performances from FiddleBop..." HowTheLightGetsOn Festival on Facebook, 29 May 2023
HowTheLightGetsIn Festival at Hay-on-Wye
The 36th International Upton Jazz Festival
Landed Festival
Brecon Jazz Festival
Cwmaman Music Festival
Etc.
The Rose and Crown, Oxford (in association with Oxford Jazz Kitchen)
The Bank Vault, Aberystwyth
The Hay Globe, Hay-on-Wye
The Foundry, Brecon
Hay, Brecon & Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees
Hop In Beer & Gin House, Brecon
The Muse, Brecon
Etc.
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