Interview with Gypsy Jazz guitarist Jonny Hepbir
Recently I had the pleasure to be asked in to record a podcast for the excellent Margate based ‘Seaside Sessions‘.
Founder/owner Adam Tinnion has been relentlessly recording/documenting musicians of all genres in the Kent area for the last two years.
I was happy to be one of the first featured playing a couple of tunes.
This time he asked me to come and have a chat about the stuff I’d done over the years and he played five tunes, three of which were my own compositions recorded with different line-ups over the years.
The first song ‘Porto Cabello’ was a Django Reinhardt piece from the JONNY HEPBIR TRIO album ‘La Pompe & Circumstance‘, second an audio clip from a session recorded at the Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois Sur Seine, France in 2011.
Third song was a waltz I wrote when I played in the Sussex based group Ultraswing called ‘Waltz Fasil’ which was on our album ‘Actual Size’ in 2001 and features the brilliant but sadly now deceased Romanian violinist, Baz Stanescu.
The fourth was ‘Paquito’ a tune I wrote and recorded in 1999 as a duet with the well-known Gypsy jazz guitarist Robin Nolan. It was released by the American record company ‘Refined Records’ on my album for them ‘Turkish Blend‘ (UK – Grand Bizarre). All the tracks featured on it are originals by me. Baz is on this album too.
The final track ‘Angelique’ I wrote for an audio version of a children’s book I did some music for in 2010.
I’m most proud of the original tunes as they all mean a lot to me personally.
I keep meaning to bang out another ‘originals’ album but things have gotten so busy over the last few years that it’s difficult to sit down and concentrate to write.
I have so much I still want to learn and practice with #gypsyjazz so everything else takes a back seat, one day though…
Here’s the link to the podcast!
Finally here’s one of the tunes I recorded for Adam at his studio. Django’s ‘Duke & Dukie’
JONNY HEPBIR is available to hire for weddings, private parties, corporate functions and public events throughout the UK and abroad.
His enviable client list includes the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Terence Conran, Roman Abramovich and Kool & The Gang and he has played at venues and events from The Ritz to Paris and Morocco.
Click HERE to read letters from past clients.
To hire Jonny Hepbir for your event, please call +44 (0)7712 332967 or email info@jonnyhepbir.co.uk
Jonny can also be hired with his Duo, Trio, Quartet (with or without vocals) and Quintet. Please click HERE for more information.