One Leg Up performs Gypsy Jazz at Folk School

Self styled "Gypsy Jazz" band One Leg Up will be featured in a free concert at The John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C. at 7:30 pm on Friday, June 8. The concert will be held in the Festival Barn,.but those attending are urged to park near Keith House or the Dining Hall and walk to the Festival Barn where there will be only a limited number of handicapped parking spaces available. In the barn there is hay bale seating, so audience members may wish to bring a lawn chair for comfort. Admission is free. The Folk School Craft Shop will be open until 7:30 p.m.

One Leg Up, from Asheville, N.C., plays jazz in the style of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. They have been performing together since 2003. This Parisian style of jazz is upbeat acoustic swing with a repertoire of 1920s, 30s, and 40s jazz standards, originals, modern jazz tunes, and of course, music from the book of the virtuoso guitarist Django Reinhardt. This style of jazz is popular in clubs and festivals throughout Europe, yet it is underrepresented in America. One Leg Up is one of the few bands that plays this music in the southeast. Their show is lively, intimate, danceable, and brings about the atmosphere of French café music before World War II.

The musicians are John Stineman (guitar & vocal), Jim Tanner (guitar), Daniel Coolik (mandolin), Mike Guzalak (clarinet & vocals), and Cary Fridley (bass & vocals). They are from diverse backgrounds including old-time/bluegrass music, salsa, reggae, and modern jazz. The band released their first album, Gypsy Blue, in 2004 and the second, Pere LaChaise, in 2006 . They accompanied Spanish gypsy jazz guitarist Pere Soto while he toured the United States in 2004. In May of 2005, they did a concert/book show with Michael Dregni author of the new acclaimed biography Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend. The band?s live version of "Tico Tico" was put on WNCW-FM's Crowd Around the Mic Volume 9, a compilation of the best music that was recorded live on WNCW in that year.

Upcoming concert series performers at the Folk School include David Anderson and Hunt Smith (June 15) and Steve Hickman and John Devine (June 22). The Friday night concert schedule is available on the world wide web at http://www.folkschool.org.

For further information, call the Folk School at 828-837-2775 or 1-800-FOLK-SCH.