FiddleBop's Jazz-Folk

Joanna and Dave playing at a Mind Charity event near the Brecon Beacons, July 2019

So... what, exactly, is FiddleBop’s “Jazz-Folk”?

Well, defining what is, and what isn’t, folk music is tough enough for a start. And defining jazz is probably even harder (even though Louis Armstrong once said “All music is folk music; leastways I ain't never heard no horse sing a song”).

So we won’t try doing either.

What we in FiddleBop do is bring together the tunes and words of folk song, with the harmonies, “swing”, and improvisatory approach of jazz.

The result, we call “jazz-folk”.

Why Jazz-Folk?

Why? Well, for one thing: some of most ravishingly beautiful melodies of all time can be heard in folk singarounds. How about the traditional Irish song “She Moves Through the Fair”, for a start? And the world’s most effective get-your-feet-moving tunes can be heard at folk dance get-togethers. Also let's not leave out so-called contemporary folk songs, with words that can pierce to the heart. Yes, we want some of all that!

And what jazz brings to the table is a richness and adventurousness of harmonisation (there are few more beautiful chords than a minor ninth, IMHO), the subtle rhythmic pulse that we call “swing” (“It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing”), and the excitement and freshness of on-the-spot composition. Yes indeed, we want some of that too!

Folk and jazz fit together surprisingly well. Which actually isn't that surprising, since there is a great deal of overlap in their origins. And we in FiddleBop certainly aren't the first to try making this connection. The music of Pentangle wonderfully blends traditional folk and jazz. While there's contemporary folk a-plenty in the more jazzy offerings of Joni Mitchell and John Martyn. All of whom are particular favourites (and inspirations!) for us FiddleBoppers.

What brought FiddleBop to Jazz-Folk?

So how did we in FiddleBop get to this jazz-folk fusion notion?

Partly because of our background in playing Hot Club Gypsy jazz during the last 20 years, and partly because all of us had, before that, played folk music of one kind or another.

The more we played Hot Club Gypsy Swing, the more we appreciated how the Quintette du Hot Club de France — who kicked the whole thing off back in the late 1930s — created their amazing music from a huge variety of musical sources. Traditional Gypsy folk melodies ("Dark Eyes" and "Two Guitars"), their own compositions (the adorable "Nuages"), current and past pop tunes ("Sweet Georgia Brown", "Crazy Rhythm"), even some J S Bach. Anything and everything, really. So eventually, we asked ourselves "Why not do the same?"

And the folk songs were always there, in the background. Biding their time. We might find ourselves humming or whistling (well, not me. I am a hopeless whistler) folk tunes, sam,ples from this music-that-will-never-die, at odd moments. A love of folk music never really left any of us.

So... FiddleBop's current repertoire includes everything from jazz-influenced renditions of traditional folk songs, designed-for-dancing jigs'n'reels, Manouche swing classics, Gypsy rhumba, and jazz drawn from all of the genre's century-long history.

Joanna and Dave at The Lost Arc, Rhyader. Photo: Martin Jones

What else has changed?

OK, so that's why FiddleBop plays jazz-folk. So what else has changed since our mainstream Hot Club Gypsy swing days?

Heraclitus (a Greek philosopher who was around about 2500 years ago) reckoned that "There is nothing permanent except change". And he was right. We've not just changed our repertoire, we now have "different" instrumentation. The standard Gypsy jazz lineup is a guitar or two (always steel string, Maccaferri type), maybe a violin or clarinet, and double bass. We have violin, Spanish (nylon-string, Flamenco type) guitar, cello, and fretless electric bass guitar.

Next, singing. What we in FiddleBop have always — even when playing mostly Gypsy jazz — liked to do is sing, as well as play. "The blended voice is FiddleBop's choice." We love harmony singing. Whilst vocals are common in modern Gypsy rumba bands like the Gypsy Kings, but they were not usual in Gypsy jazz bands of the 1930s. Vocal harmonies are still not that common in mainstream Gypsy jazz. But we iddleBoppers have always really enjoyed blending our voices!

Less important now, with the move to jazz-folk, this next. But still: "Hot jazz stomp, mais sans la pompe". Our approach to rhythm is different from most Gypsy jazz bands. In the early years, Gypsy jazz was always played with a rhythmically rigid accompaniment called 'la pompe' ('the pump'). FiddleBop prefers a more fluid, flamenco-like style. Which Jo provides — in spades — and which underpins FiddleBop's powerful rhythmic drive, our exciting and sizzling version FiddleBop beat for gypsy feet!

Finally: "Jazz-folk of the best, but still with a jest." Creating music is what we love to do. But we try not to take ourselves too seriously. We in FiddleBop always have fun playing the music that we love. Which means that the audience has fun too!

And what is it that we share with all other folk and Gypsy jazz groups, of whatever flavour?

That's easy: the sheer joy of creating music... and that indefinable but I-know-it-when-I-hear-it "Gypsy zing"!

Next: how FiddleBop got started