Sunday evening at Aristo’s has become the night where a growing band of musicians practise and perform an ad hoc jam session for the regular customers in the bar (article here).  Anyone is welcome to join in and the music played ranges right across the board from traditional songs through to jazz, blues and even sometimes rockabilly. Rockabilly at Aristo’s ? ok maybe I am exaggerating slightly but you do get the drift – anything goes. What has been taking precedence over the past few weeks though has been a style of swing music loosely based around the music heritage of that great jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt.

Add into that mix, of all things the theme tune to the cartoon “The Flintstones” … and what do you get ? Click on the video below to find out.

The musicians this week were;

Alessandro Rizzardi, the noted jazz player and recent proud father of a beautiful bouncy baby girl, has spent the past few years playing along with Aristodemo but not on his usual instrument of choice – the saxophone, instead he has been getting to grips with that most Italian of musical instruments – the mandolin. Fabio Guazzelli on guitar and a strange rhythm section comprised of Roberto Conti and Keane on Irish Drums. Video by the Canadian photographer Jesse Henry. More images from Barga including some stunning shots of La Fornacetta can been seen on his blog here

Jean-Baptiste “Django” Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953) was a Belgian Gypsy jazz guitarist.

django reinhardt

One of the first prominent European jazz musicians, Reinhardt remains one of the most renowned jazz guitarists due to his innovative and distinctive playing. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli he cofounded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, described by critic Thom Jurek as “one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz.” Reinhardt’s most popular compositions have become jazz standards, including “Minor Swing”, “Tears”, “Belleville”, “Djangology”, “Swing ‘42″ and “Nuages” (French for “Clouds”). source – Wikipedia