Django Reinhardt Festival 
I have been a keen Django fan for some years now; for the last fifteen years, I have visited the Django Reinhardt Festival in his old home town of Samois Sur Seine in France. The festival is a must for all Django and jazz fans alike. The Festival runs for five days, attracting about two thousand people only, which gives a nice personal feel. You'll be entertained by various gypsy styled groups, modern, trad and popular jazz on the main stage.
The performances take place on an island located on the river Seine, surrounded by romantic views including swans on the river. The fun really starts at night after the main concert, when collections of musicians (including us novices) get together with the various gypsies to jam. Some great music and talent can be heard wafting around the camp fires into the early hours, if you have the stamina.
There are no scheduled times for these impromptu jams, they start with Chinese whispers during the day, so listen out. If you don't like camping, just brave it for three to five days to experience this event, it will stay with you for ever. P.s. A new shower block has just been built this year, at the camp site of Samarou about twenty minutes walk to the main island, with proper toilets, not launch pads, so no excuses.
Here is a link to the best information site in Europe for all things Django, including info on this Festival. See you there, last full weekend in June. www.hotclub.co.uk
For The Double Bass Lovers
Thought you might like to hear about this Bodyless folding bass I had made for travelling;
we called it the JAZZA. As any double bass player will tell you,a we love our intruments but hate flying with them. You run into all sorts of grief, excess baggage mainly and strange looks dragging the bloody thing around the airport. I actually solved this one by stealing a skateboard from a child and using the trucks and wheels on my bass case.
To build something that is smaller is one thing, to make it sound any good is in the lap of the gods.
Like a guitar, until the day it is strung you have no idea what it will sound or play like. I think apart from seeing what visual ideas you can come up with, the wait is half the fun, as is the sense of achievement if it actually works as an instrument. There are many bespoke basses out there, some good, but mainy ugly.
As a long term double bass player I've tried a few of the shelf stick basses but they all seem to lack something, sometimes sound, sometimes a comfortable playing position. So, for fun I thought I would make a bass myself; I knew the things I required, I just had to come up with an idea. A bicycle frame was to be my main frame support, so when I was sitting in my car thinking of ways to make a bass and saw a bike frame in the hedge next to me, I dragged it home, cut it up and welded it together again and hey presto, a ten speed double bass (ha ha). I wanted to keep a tradional finger board and scroll, as it is one of the most beautiful parts of a double bass and managed to save and mend an eighteenth century neck and scroll from France. The bridge is standard, the bridge support is a bread board from Tesco and the body support is a candlestick holder from Ikea. I've used this bass on a few gigs and it sounds great.
This was the first bass, but I thought I would like to make a practical folding bass; this is where John's talents come in. I provided the scroll finger board, bridge, tailpiece, and machine heads and John and I talked for a few hours while I told him of all my requirements and strange ideas. A few days later John came up with some very detailed plans and a rough working model.
John had never made an instrument before, but was up for the challenge. As an experienced and award winning working model boat builder, John had the skills and the patience I could only dream of. From the outset I was only providing the requirements and ideas for the overall instrument; John was the brains behind it, but we would throw ideas around and come up with solutions together, which was great fun.
John managed to come up with a lovely looking natural wood bass. I acquired a plywood chair which John sculpted into a detatchable, side body rest. We managed to make the bass 53 inches long when folded, which can be transported in a oblong hard case for safe loading in the hold of a plane.
I have now played the bass on a few gigs already and it plays great and sounds great too. I use the same pick up system on all my basses, a magnetic Shaller for the bass finger picking and a small dot bug for the slap.
I will always love to play my usual double bass, but thanks to the talents of a very generous and talented man I will have great fun and strange looks whilst playing THE JAZZA, many thanks to my new friend John.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ANOTHER ONE......WHY NOT INDEED
A little later I made this bass too which was a bit of fun but plays great. It basically a single steel pole with ali sides bent in a vice. I made this one to be as short as possable when the spike was pulled out. As usual I kept the nice head stock. I made the so called body bit from a tesco bread board. The machine heads are bass guitar ones which I extended with 15mm water pipe to reach across the head. I think it looks quite funky eh.
