FiddleBop's Jazz-Folk

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. 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, we want some of that too!

Folk and jazz fit together surprisingly well. Which 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 for the last 20 years, and partly because all of us had, before that, played folk music of all kinds. Regarding Hot Club Gypsy Swing, the more we played it, the more we began to appreciate 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 different musical sources. Traditional Gypsy melodies, their own compositions, current and past pop tunes, even some J S Bach. Anything and everything, really. Eventually, we asked ourselves "Why not do the same?"

So... FiddleBop's current repertoire is just as wide-ranging as those early Hot Club sets. 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.

Music and Change

But still, why change what FiddleBop plays? Why not stick with mainstream Hot Club Gypsy Swing?

Heraclitus (a Greek philosopher who was around about 2500 years ago) reckoned that "There is nothing permanent except change". And he was right. Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli jointly created that new thing, Gypsy jazz, in the 1930s, and since then the music has never stopped changing.

Changes in instrumentation, playing style, repertoire... the lot. Nowadays, there is a clear mainstream style of gypsy jazz. But the vigour of the music is such that there are also lots of thriving and unusual hybrids. Of which the present-day FiddleBop is one.

So how, exactly, is FiddleBop's music — we call it "Jazz-folk" — different from mainstream Gypsy jazz?

For one thing, FiddleBop has a highly eclectic, even genre-agnostic, repertoire. Just like the early Gypsy jazz bands. We love playing music that isn't normally played by present-day mainstream Gypsy jazz bands (we also play selections from the standard Gypsy jazz repertoire, of course).

And for another thing, we have "different" instrumentation: amplified acoustic violin and Spanish guitar, plus fretless electric bass.

Anything else that distinguishes FiddleBop's "Jazz-folk" from more mainstream present-day Gypsy jazz?

Three more things, we think.

"The blended voice is FiddleBop's choice." We love harmony singing. Now, 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 in FiddleBop really enjoy blending our jazz voices!

"Hot jazz stomp, mais sans la pompe". Our approach to rhythm is a bit 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 of hot Gypsy swing. Our FiddleBop beat for gypsy feet!

"Jazz 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 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"!

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Next: what should we call this music?

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