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April 10, 2006
Trio Gitano

Clive Davis, Live! on the Park, SW1

How best to honour the memory of that Gypsy legend Django Reinhardt? The most common response — and it’s a perfectly valid one — is to produce facsimiles of the Hot Club de France. Reinhardt’s ghost also walks the earth in the shape of the virtuoso Biréli Lagrène, while the success of the annual Midlands festival L’Esprit Manouche proves that the spirit of Gypsy swing burns as brightly as ever.

The young members of Trio Gitano take a more formal approach, yet one that produces equally interesting results. Strictly speaking, this is not a jazz group at all, and Django represents just one part of the repertoire. Jamie Fekete, Sophie Johnson and Sam Slater still have one foot firmly planted in the classical tradition.

Their debut album, one of my favourites of last year, patched together a bewildering but thoroughly engaging mix of styles, from flamenco to Dave Brubeck and the intricate Baio de Gude, a dazzling piece by the Brazilian Paolo Bellinati. I’ve long considered myself allergic to cover versions of that Classic FM warhorse, the Adagio from the Concierto de Aranjuez, yet the Trio’s Miles-ish treatment — graced by the trumpeter Bryan Corbett — won me over in the end.

What sets the group apart is that, although the emphasis is on precise ensemble work, personality still shines through. Johnson’s poise and reserve make an intriguing foil to her more freewheeling partners. Together, they were perfectly suited to the task of giving “Djangology” an intelligent but full-blooded makeover.

If one or two of the other more traditional items — such as the opening Saeta — had a slightly generic quality to them, the new arrangement of Horace Silver’s Song for My Father was wonderfully elastic, the funky pulse handled with enormous delicacy, helped along by some unobtrusive flamenco figures. At the close of the set the players plunged headlong into Paco de Lucia’s Entre Dos Aguas. Stylish, very stylish.

SONGLINES – Jan/Feb 2006 edition

Trio Gitano
Who Ate All The Tapas? ****

Good music by the plateful

The three guitarists of Trio Gitano (Jamie Fekete, Sophie Johnson and Sam Slater) have probably spent more time in Birmingham’s Bullring than anyone you’d find in Spain. But that doesn’t stop their debut from oozing with cool Gypsy jazz. They met as members of the Birmingham School’s Guitar Ensemble, started touring as a trio in 2001 and finished recording this album in October 2004. It’s a hugely impressive collection that draws from flamenco, Latin and Gypsy jazz.

The album launches straight in with the ‘Latin Swing’, by musical director Bryan Lester. It’s a piece that clearly sets out this group’s strengths: bold, expressive playing that’s liberatingly inventive. And that’s an important quality when you’re young players treading some well worn ground. There’s Django Reinhardt’s ‘Minor Blues’ and the ‘Adagio’ from Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, which features the beautifully melancholic flugelhorn of Bryan Corbett. And even that old crowd-pleasing chestnut ‘Take 5′ manages to burst out of its shell tasting surprisingly fresh.

But, for my money, Bryan Lester’s own material is the reason to keep coming back to this CD, with both ‘Spanish Cinema’ and the four tracks that comprise ‘Heroes’, being real standouts. If you want the flavour of Spain and you love the guitar, then this is the musical equivalent of tucking into a plate of pan-fried chorizo.

- Matt Swaine

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Young guns: Trio Gitano bring a new energy to the guitar tradition

Strumming ahead

JAZZ – The young and promising Trio Gitano delve into the guitar world with a dazzling dynamic

We have the far-sighted music policy of the Birmingham Education Department to thank for Trio Gitano. The three 23-year old guitarists – Sam Slater, Sophie Johnson and Jamie Fekete – met as youngsters in the Birmingham Schools’ Guitar Ensemble. ‘It gives you a chance to perform’, says Slater. ‘As opposed to the school hall, you’re playing in decent venues and, more importantly, you’re playing with other musicians. It’s one of the things that Birmingham does well.’

They bring a sashaying energy to the guitar tradition on their debut album, ‘Who Ate All The Tapas?’, occupying the ground where jazz, gipsy jazz, Spanish, Latin and flamenco meet. The dynamics are impressive, ranging from delicate cascades to roaring whorls of sound. Dazzling runs and glisses are propelled by belting chords, as the trio adapt Paul Desmond’s Take Five for strings and reclaim Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar. The album also contains striking originals by Gitano mentor and composer Bryan Lester.

The only thing more beautiful than the sound of one guitar is the sound of two guitars. But three? ‘In terms of precedents, the immediate ones are Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin,’ says Fekete. ‘Django Reinhardt also played with three guitars at once,’ reminds Johnson.

The obvious danger is becoming mired in a tangle of strings, but the three guitars mostly avoid getting in each other’s way. ‘We can chop a piece down if it starts to get too busy,’ says Slater. ‘We all move around parts,’ Fekete adds. ‘In some pieces there are two or even three solo lines, in others there are chords, bass, melody, counter-melodies. We all share and change who is playing lead.’

The surprise is that these young guns play as if none had heard a note of rock’n'roll. ‘It’s just what you play on a nylon string guitar,’ says Slater apologetically. ‘We’ve all got our individual traits and styles and tastes in music. Sophie is a big bluegrass fan, I’m into jazz and Jamie is passionate about flamenco. But that doesn’t mean we don’t also go to indie gigs. A bit of all sorts.’

- Mike Butler

JAZZWISE – October 2005 / Issue #91

Taste For Tapas

Just who are Trio Gitano, a new eclectic guitar trio, who have appeared from out of nowhere on the festival circuit? Peter Quinn does some detective work …

Click on the two images below to read the full ‘Taking Off’ article featured in the October ’05 edition of Jazzwise magazine.

THE METRO – 12th September 2005

Trio Gitano – Who Ate All The Tapas? *****

Three young, classically trained Birmingham guitarists are the scoffers of Who Ate All The Tapas? and Trio Gitano certainly seems to have ingested sizeable quantities of Latino tradition, with a few side orders of Romany, jazz and flamenco. Their sound is clear, delicate and – when appropriate – witty. They’ve clearly shared a musical table for more than four years and they’re well-served by composer-arranger Bryan Lester, whose Latin Swing is as fine an opening number as I’ve heard.

But Trio Gitano are also brave enough to take on the greats: Django Reinhardt’s Minor Blues gets a sultry, light-fingered treatment that would have made the master anything but blue.

Nina Caplan

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JAZZWISE – August 2005 / Issue #89

Trio Gitano – Who Ate All The Tapas?
Birds Recording Company BIRDSCS1001 ***

Sam Slater, Sophie Johnson, Jamie Fekete (g), Bryan Corbett (t)
Rec. 2005

This debut album from a young, London-based guitar trio, currently making waves on the concert circuit, is a commendable affair indeed. Sam Slater, Jamie Fekete and Sophie Johnson first met as members of the Birmingham School’s Guitar Ensemble, and a combination of musical versatility, above average talent and sheer hard graft has won them a loyal army of followers.

Their wide-ranging sets offer a combo of flamenco, gypsy and latin jazz – a bit of Django Reinhardt, Paco de Lucia and Al di Meola here, a few originals there – while emphasising each member’s respective strengths (think dextrous runs around frets, clean and classical techniques, dark and moody stylings). Musical director Bryan Lester (a ubiquitous presence here) should take credit for nurturing the burgeoning career of an outfit whose heroes include Paganini and Berlioz and genres including drum’n'bass and bluegrass, and whose playing should have older, more established guitarists quaking in their boots. – Jane Cornwell

Bright future ahead for guitar trio
Birmingham Post Aug 16 2005

Terry Grimley checks on the progress of Birmingham guitar combo Trio Gitano, who have a debut CD and a high-profile slot at next month’s ArtsFest…

When I met up with Trio Gitano at the Custard Factory last week they had literally just got back from playing at the Lewes Guitar Festival the previous day.

A gruelling return journey via the M25 hadn’t managed to take the gloss off an invigorating performance.

“We played there last year. It’s a lovely little town and the festival has a great atmosphere. Everyone is guitar mad. We had seven or eight hundred people there yesterday watching us,” said Sam Slater.

Including, apparently, a group of ten year-olds at the front who amused the Gitanos by jumping up and down and shouting “louder!”

Gigs like this are the cherries on the cake for the youthful combo – all its members are 23 – which has evolved over a decade out of the Birmingham Schools Guitar Ensemble. The bread-and-butter is provided by the weddings and corporate engagements which help to make the group a going concern alongside the members’ part-time jobs.

Sam Slater, Jamie Fekete and Sophie Johnson first met when they joined the ensemble in their early teens (Sophie was 12). The ensemble is still going strong but while its former director Bryan Lester has handed it on, he retains the role of artistic director, general mentor and resident composer with Trio Gitano.

“Bryan’s stuff is unique to us, so we know no-one else in the world is going to be doing it,” says Sophie. “He’s a published composer, and he writes a lot of exam pieces. All the rehearsals are at his house, and it’s good to have someone whose judgement you would trust. We’re all playing, so Bryan has a more objective opinion, and he knows our individual styles.

“One of the things that makes up the trio is that we all came to it from a slightly different angle, with different personalities and strengths. Bryan is very good at writing things and saying ‘Jamie can do this very well’, or ‘Sam can do this very well’.”

“When we first started we were playing a lot of stuff the ensemble played because we knew it,” says Jamie. “Now we’re geting a lot more into gypsy jazz. There’s a lot of flamenco in there, but we all have different techniques.”

“Although we’ve had basically the same training we have different interests,” says Sophie. “Because we can all read music we can do it that way, but it’s not as satisfying.”

Many teenage musical projects fall apart when members head off for university, but Trio Gitano overcame this pitfall by the simple expedient of all going to Birmingham University. However, they deny that this was a deliberate strategy.

“There was a time when I was going to go to Manchester, so it was really only a semi-conscious decision,” says Jamie.

“It’s not like we said you’re not allowed to go to Manchester,” adds Sophie.

Jamie and Sophie both studied English and philosophy and Sam history, and Sam says the fact they weren’t music students took pressure off them.

“What’s nice about the group is that it’s evolved quite naturally, and when it happened we realised it hadn’t really happened like that for anyone else,” Sophie points out.

“Even by the time we got to university we knew the way to get better was just to keep performing. There wasn’t a lot a music course could offer us as a group. Plus we had the usual whole parental pressure – so now we’ve all got degrees they can all stop complaining!”

Since they graduated last year the trio’s career has shifted into another gear. After playing around small venues at ArtsFest for several years they graduated to the main stage last year, in a sequence with Soweto Kinch and the CBSO which will be repeated on the Sunday night this year.

Last month they opened Moseley’s L’Esprit Manouche festival, where they were already hawking advanced copies of their debut CD, which is officially released on August 22 on fledgling Birmingham label The Birds.

Featuring four original Bryan Lester compositions, including the four-movement Heroes suite, plus arrangements of the familiar Concierto de Aranjuez adagio, Django Reinhardt’s Minor Blues and Paul Desmond’sTake 5, the album reflects the fluid continuum of classical, jazz and gypsy styles the trio has evolved.

“It’s a first album. We recorded it a year ago and it’s more a measure of what we had done up to then,” says Sam.

Jamie sees it primarily as a useful tool which will enable the group to get better gigs: “So that we’re playing at places music lovers go to, rather than weddings in Dudley.”

“I hope it’s going to open doors for us,” Sophie agrees. “It seems unless you have a product it’s very difficult to get gigs. We were being badgered about when we were going to get a record out. Every gig we do now we’re managing to shift quite a few, and people want to come and talk about us.”

The album is being distributed by Proper Music and should be in record shops across the country by the end of the month. It has already been getting airplay on Radio 2.

“It should help us to build a national profile,” says Sam. ” Hopefully in the New Year we can get a tour together, and by this time next year we’ll be doing decent European gigs. It does appeal to different audiences. We can go and play at a jazz club, or equally L’Esprit Manouche.”

“We want to play Glastonbury in 2007- there isn’t one next year – and I want to get on Woman’s Hour,” says Sophie. “No, I’ve never met another female guitarist who is just a guitarist rather than a singer. My favourite comment is ‘Oh, you’re quite good for a girl!’.”

* Trio Gitano’s debut CD Who Ate All the Tapas? , released on The Birds label on August 22, is available now online at guitartrio.com/cd.htm. They play ArtsFest in Centenary Square on Sep 11. Further information at www.triogitano.com

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