There’s something euphoria-inducing about Llandjango’s Welsh gypsy jazz – heavily infused with Hot Club Of France standards, encompassing worldwide jazz influences and versatile musicianship. The supergroup, a coming together of members of Tacla and The Swingin Nettles, conjured a perfect timelessness in the setting of Cardigan’s Bar 45 – the rugged town building finessed into a bijoux and sparkly nightspot, run by distillers In The Welsh Wind and purveying many other local brews.
From silky smooth café-style jazz to dance-on-the-streets Roma tunes and forays into ragtime or swing, Llandjango’s pedigree shines throughout and their enthusiasm keeps us captive. Robbie Godwin, multi-instrumentalist and South Pembs native, had classical training, playing in the Welsh Jazz Orchestra as a teenager. His exquisite, syncopated fiddle darts deftly through the high-octane tunes, his troubadour’s voice ranging between witty scat, trad vocals and an amazing tenor quality last heard in the Roaring Twenties – but without the aid of a cardboard megaphone.
Newport, Gwent’s incomparable Mike Kennedy, veteran of many jazz associations in Wales and the West, brings deliciously sonorous double bass to the mix, and stealthily complex rhythms to Django Reinhardt’s Heavy Artillery. Charismatic Tegid Roberts, from south Wales but now at home in Caernarfon, plays gypsy jazz guitar and tricky clarinet with occasional Balkan flourishes. Guitarist Jerome Duffell, meanwhile, built his first guitar aged 17, and now – as well as being a superlative musician – makes sought-after gypsy-jazz guitars and runs self-build workshops at Cardigan’s Theatr Mwldan.
Explaining the uniqueness of the Selmer-Maccaferi acoustic guitar, renowned for the patronage of Django Reinhardt himself, Duffell says, “Only 600 guitars were ever made in the 1920s and 30s – they were niche even then – and the originals fetch £20-£30,000! I learned to make my own from a Canadian Luthier, use recycled hardwoods, and repurpose old Victorian mahogany tables to make the bodies.” The distinctive sound is completed by specialist strings, again to Reinhardt’s own recipe.
Living in the four corners of Wales, Llandjango relish their gigs as much as we do, the jazz tradition of improvisation overcoming rehearsal problems and leading to generous, lively sets and lots of humour. “We all know the songs and the chords, but every performance is a new adventure – and we might throw anything in to test each other!” says Duffell. Three band members have already built their own specialist guitars – another bond of comradeship, dedication to authenticity that’s felt in their stage presence.
As we move into a delirious, leftfield Sosban Fach to finish, the crowd are on their feet, singing to the playful frenzy of the heartwarming Welsh Gypsy fusion. Reinhardt and Grappelli would be proud we’re sure, as their ethical essence and fire live on in Llandjango.
Llandjango, Bar 45, Cardigan, Fri 9 Feb
words JULIA DELI photos KAJA BERNATOVA
