>Stepping into a venue where people are actually dancing to live to a jazz or swing band, and to not just hear but feel the deafening blast of horns are things you just can't get from a recording.
Dancing bal to a gypsy jazz group at Le Colonial in SF years ago, the space cramped, the tables pushed back a few feet around, the crowd dancing and mingling amongst the tables, half knowing each other, at the twilight of a dying facet of the city... I don't remember if the musicians were very good, or even whether it was just a solo guitarist---I recall he'd played at a party a day or two before---but in that moment the music was more enchanting than any grand concert I had been to.
Even live, but in a concert hall, I expect it would have been unsatisfying. By itself, except for particular technical appreciation when at Django's level, gypsy jazz is rather monotonous. I've heard styles that need similar contexts, played out of place in concert halls, like Max Raabe, and while the musicians are excellent, it feels lacking.
But in the right context, the context it was born in, it is amazing.
Dancing bal to a gypsy jazz group at Le Colonial in SF years ago, the space cramped, the tables pushed back a few feet around, the crowd dancing and mingling amongst the tables, half knowing each other, at the twilight of a dying facet of the city... I don't remember if the musicians were very good, or even whether it was just a solo guitarist---I recall he'd played at a party a day or two before---but in that moment the music was more enchanting than any grand concert I had been to.
Even live, but in a concert hall, I expect it would have been unsatisfying. By itself, except for particular technical appreciation when at Django's level, gypsy jazz is rather monotonous. I've heard styles that need similar contexts, played out of place in concert halls, like Max Raabe, and while the musicians are excellent, it feels lacking.
But in the right context, the context it was born in, it is amazing.