Dave Biller?

stubla · May 2005

trumbology wrote:

On this disc, Biller is laid back but not polite/bland, and for me it really wears well. He's got all the chops I could hope for, and the band seems tight and familiar with the repetoire. Being a clarinet fan, the other lead instrument is an extra bonus for me. Some tempos are up or medium-up, but there aren't any ridiculously fast tempos (not that there's anything wrong with ridiculously fast tempos!). Tasty tasty stuff. For the record, the band is bass, two rhythm, clarinet, and Biller on lead guitar. Three originals (which are above average, imho) and the rest are tunes associated with Django and his followers. A couple of waltzs, if I remember correctly, and I like them a lot (I'm a 3/4-time fan in general, but strangely, I get kind of bored by a lot of GJ waltzes).

I think he's switching back and forth between acoustic Selmer and Stimer-pickup Selmer, depending on the appropriateness to the tune at hand. Can anyone confirm this?

Obviously I love this one and hope others go to the trouble to get a hold of it (maybe Djangobooks could get a few in?). More info/commentary on Biller's other projects would be appreciated.

Neil

Biller is an excellent gypsy jazzer but for me the rhythm section on the CD just doesn't understand this music;its too metronomic and does not swing imo.
Just my two euros.
Stu

trumbology · September 2005

Just noticed that the album is available from the Dell Arte guys:

http://www.****/prodDetail.php ... 1&pid=1216

Dedwood · September 2005

This CD was available at CD-Baby (cd-baby.com.) I am not sure if it is still available, but they have a decent selection of gypsy jazz CDs. Just enter Django in the search field. Hope this helps.

Archtop Eddy · September 2005

Hi all -- I just got an email from Dave Biller. He says the Austin Djangofest was great. He also said he'd be glad to do an interview after I return from Djangofest NW. (My fault the interview didn't happen earlier; got too caught up with other things...) So, you wil be the first to hear when the interview is complete!

A.E.