Shelter Island Friends of Music welcomes gypsy jazz: Free concert Saturday, March 2

For its second concert of the 2024 season, Shelter Island Friends of Music presents the acclaimed violinist Tim Kliphuis and dazzling guitarist Jimmy Grant on Saturday, March 2 at 3 p.m. in a free concert at the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church.

They will be recreating the swinging gypsy jazz sound of the famed musical duo, Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt, as well as music from Bach and Paganini. This concert will be the “hot” place to be this winter.

Imagine: You’re in a nightclub in Paris in 1937. The stage darkens, and five musicians dressed in dark suits walk on stage. They are known as the Quintette du Hot Club de France, led by master jazz musicians Stéphane Grappelli on violin and Django Reinhardt on guitar. And when they start to play, the music is new, fresh, and magical.

Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt invented the gypsy jazz sound of the “Hot Club of France” in the 1930s, and critic Thom Jurek described them as “one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz.” 

The Quintette du Hot Club de France made numerous recordings and was one of the most famous jazz groups of the period prior to World War II.

Kliphuis and Grant have been bringing the exciting music of this famous duo to modern audiences around the world. Their concerts have been described as “alternate moments of dazzling interplay with melancholy and sheer exhilaration, in an inspired conversational journey that is different every night.”

Award-winning Dutch violinist Tim Kliphuis is a master in classical and jazz violin. He’s been described as a “current-day improvising Paganini.” He’s also a composer and an author of the best-selling book “Gypsy Jazz Violin.”

Tim has performed with legends Frankie Gavin, Richard Galliano and Les Paul, and was awarded the international Scottish Jazz Award. He has collaborated with the Richard Strauss Festival, Netherlands and Tallinn Chamber Orchestras, and the Cape Town Philharmonic.

Virtuoso violinist Nigel Kennedy said, “Stéphane Grappelli’s style is alive and well in the hands of Tim Kliphuis.” Tim has numerous recordings, and recently signed a Sony Classical recording contract.

Jimmy Grant’s roots are in bluegrass, folk, Celtic and classical guitar, but his main interest is in the music of Django Reinhardt. Jimmy studied with acclaimed jazz guitarists Jim Nichols and Howard Alden, and has performed with David Grisman and European musicians Ludovic Beier (accordion) and Paulus Schäfer (guitar), as well as the Hot Club of San Francisco. He has toured with Velvet Caravan and currently leads his own quartet. If you ask him who his main musical influences are, he’ll cite Bach, Joe Pass, and Benny Goodman.

This is Shelter Island Friends of Music’s 47th consecutive season, which will feature at least seven concerts. There is no admission fee, but donations are always appreciated. A reception with the musicians follows the concert. 

Visit shelterislandfriendsofmusic.org for more information and the rest of the 2024 season.