Professor Hsu
Artistic/Cultural Plunge Essay
11 April 2013
The Gypsy Swing Cats and the Beginning of Jazz
On Wednesday April 10th I decided to go to the Kaffee Meister Coffeehouse, located at 9225 Carlton Hills Blvd Santee Ca. 92071, for the specific reason of enjoying some Jazz music played by the San Diego based Gypsy Swing Cats. I was quite impressed with how they performed by mixing an energetic and innovated blend of Swing, Jazz, and Blues. From what I observed, their music merges Gypsy melodies and rhythms, with the influences of American Jazz reminiscent of Paris in the 1930's: cool, charming, and classy. The music of the Gypsy Swing Cats is thoroughly modern infused with the wild, mysteriously free and exciting …show more content…
He was foremost amongst a group of Gypsy guitarists working in and around Paris in the 1930's. The music combined the exciting sound of American Jazz that transformed the old into the new. The guitarists supercharged the music further by adding Swing to the fire and melancholia of the unique Gypsy sound. The tantalizing melodies of the Gypsy Swing Cats bring the audience a unique and new experience.
My dad is a big fan of Jazz music and he played it a lot around me when I was growing up, but I never really paid attention to it or who the famous musicians of the genre were. Yeah, this Jazz music was and still is very soothing to my mind, but I just personally never had any drive to listen to it on my own. After Hearing The Gypsy Swing Cats’ band play this genre of music that I was not very familiar with, I decided to embark on a journey of discovering something new to add to my not-so-vastly knowledgeable brain, how Jazz was …show more content…
The first is a tendency to stress the weak beats of the bar (2nd and 4th) in contrast to traditional music which stressed the first and third beats. The second feature is syncopation through an extensive repetition of short and strongly rhythmic phrases or "riffs". The third feature of jazz is swing (regular but subtle pulsation which animates 4/4 time). The swing must be present in every good jazz performance.
Jazz as a musical style it has been with us for more than a century. Jazz originated in the United States, It has spread over the entire world, and its influence can be seen everywhere. It is a universal language and means of communication, understood by people in all nations and all walks of life. It has been a major influence on many styles and classes of music since its origin in the late 1800's. It has also influenced dance, clothing styles, the recording industry, the film industry, radio and television, our language, and many other aspects of our