FiddleBop's logo

About FiddleBop

FiddleBop! Photo: Ruth Redmond-Cooper
FiddleBop played at these festivals in 2023-24:
  • HowTheLightGetsIn at Hay-on-Wye
  • The 36th International Upton Jazz Festival
  • Brecon Jazz Festival (2023 and 2024)
  • Brecon Fringe Festival
  • Tewkesbury Live Music Festival
  • Llangollen Fringe Festival
  • Landed Festival
  • Cwmaman Music Festival
  • Talgarth Festival

FiddleBop plays Gypsy jazz plus! 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! "Fiddlebop played an amazing set of wonderful music that delighted everyone" (Brecon Jazz Club)

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 😃.

Who is in FiddleBop? (Left to right in the photo above)

And like the first Gypsy jazz bands, FiddleBop's "Gypsy jazz plus" 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-infused classic pop, folk-jazz, and our own creations.

Dave Favis-Mortlock, FiddleBop's violinist and fast-talker, at a gig. Photo: Judy Waldman

So what ties all this together? Why, our love of this wonderful music, with its Gypsy-style zing, passion, and joie de vivre!

Gypsy jazz plus

"Gypsy jazz plus"? So what is this?

Joanna Davies, FiddleBop's guitarist, in a mad moment

Well, for the long answer then take a look here. But the short answer is that FiddleBop plays Gypsy jazz — which was jointly created by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli in 1930s Paris — updated for the 2020s. Re-imagined, re-explored, re-invented. Brought up to date, and very eclectic. Genre-agnostic, even.

But still with all the pizzazz and excitement — the Gypsy zing — of the original.

Paul Stevens, FiddleBop's keyboard whiz. Photo: Joanna Davies Graeme Lamble, FiddleBop's bassist extraordinaire. Photo: Ruth Redmond-Cooper

All of which is why (and please excuse us since we're about to blow our own trumpet and mix our own metaphors), audiences love FiddleBop's unique Gypsy-tinged flavour of jazz music.

Music which can be sweet, chilled, even mysterious at times. And music which, with its roots in the fiery Gypsy jazz tradition, can also be hot unto cooking.

FiddleBop will get your feet stomping and your heart thumping (in a good way, of course).

But don't — as the saying goes — just take our word for it: see our reviews.

FiddleBop on Radio Cardiff! DJ Andy Roberts played a live version of "Jo's Gypsy Jazz" on his preview of Brecon Jazz Festival 2023. We're at 1:07:47. Enjoy!

So how about having FiddleBop make some "Gypsy jazz plus" at your festival, your club or pub, your wedding, or your party? We're friendly, we don't bite, and we cost less than you might think.

Why not check us out at Gig Heaven logo or Book Entertainment logo? Or you could email us or phone us (01982 560726 / 07968 950870) for a quote.


Next: what exactly (I mean, really exactly) is "Gypsy jazz plus"?

Gypsy jazz plus