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Take Five With The Rosenberg Trio

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Meet The Rosenberg Trio:

After learning as gipsy boys do, by ear and restless practice since childhood days, Stochelo Rosenberg, Nonnie Rosenberg and Nous'che Rosenberg have become The Rosenberg Trio, the world's most prestigious and longest running band in the Style of Django Reinhardt. Stephane Grappelli himself adopted them, toured and recorded with them, whom he considered "absolutely the best..."



Instrument(s):

Guitar.

Teachers and/or influences?

Django Reinhardt, Stéphane Grappelli, ...And the gypsy family life!

I knew I wanted to be a musician when...

I arrived on earth :)

Your sound and approach to music:

Getting your own sound, that's rule N° 1!

Your teaching approach:

Train by ear, and learn to play slow before you try to go fast.

Your dream band:

Any good people to jam with.

Road story: Your best or worst experience:

One day, we were just beginning to play as professionals, we performed at the Montreal Jazz festival, and someone came to tell us that Stéphane Grappelli wanted to talk with us. He had seen us perform and he told us we were the best band he ever saw in that style, and wanted to work with us! This man was our hero, along with Django, and he became a friend! That was an unbelievable and unforgettable moment.

Favorite venue:

There are too many to mention even a few.

Your favorite recording in your discography and why?

The upcoming one ! Definitely ! It's the most completely Django-ed and yet radically different at times, with great sound, and an ambitious form, with 24 tunes and a bonus 57 minute documentary... We haven't done anything like this before, really, and it's an exciting project.

The first Jazz album I bought was:

An album by guess who... Django!

What do you think is the most important thing you are contributing musically?

Of course it's the preservation of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli's heritage.

Did you know...

Stochelo's Selmer guitar, numbered 504, is the closest existing "sister" of Django Reinhardt's famous Selmer 503, now a national museum piece in France. Only 900 of these guitars were built between 1932 and 1952, all bearing unique serial numbers. Numbers 502,503,504 and possibly a couple more were made especially for Django Reinhardt himself and bear his name on headstock, waiting for Django to choose one...

CDs you are listening to now:

Lots of new stuff on jazz radios, and gipsy jazz.

Desert Island picks:

Django's solo sessions Joe Pass solo and with Ella Fitzgerald

How would you describe the state of jazz today?

It's livelier than ever, coming and going in all directions, which at the same time is good and makes it hard for talent to get noticed... But it's still so exciting :D

What are some of the essential requirements to keep jazz alive and growing?

Dedication. It's really hard work, so one needs to be extremely motivated and enduring.

What is in the near future?

Our new album, DJANGOLOGISTS, featuring our friend Bireli Lagrene, is planned for release on January 6, 2010, and is the most ambitious project we've ever conducted. To celebrate Django Reinhardt's 100th anniversary, we had to do something really special, so we took the opportunity to go entirely digital, and this allowed us to make a very special album which will have 24 different tunes and almost an hour of video documentary on our week in studio. This will be separated into a TOTALLY FREE 6-track mini album which anyone will be able to get from our website in just one click, and the FULL ALBUM, comprising 18 other tunes and the bonus documentary...

All this will be available directly from us on our site at the groundbreaking price of 8 euros, or from all the usual digital music stores such as Itunes, Napster, Amazon, etc. We produced every bit of it ourselves, with total control and freedom, that's something only digital distribution could give us, and indirectly, the fans, as they have an unbeatable offer compared to CDs costing more than double.

By Day:

Music!

If I weren't a jazz musician, I would be a:

An unhappy person.

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