Sometimes it’s as simple as this: I’d really love to see these two extraordinary musicians perform together. Fortunately, these two love the idea too.
I first heard Sébastien Giniaux in the campgrounds of the Festival Django Reinhardt in Samois-sur-Seine, France. The year was 2003, the 50th anniversary of both the death of Reinhardt and the birth of a Gypsy jazz “tradition” with a life beyond his. Sébastien was playing informally, incessantly, and was among the first to impress upon me the caliber of European musicians drawn to this music. Now one of the leading figures of the Parisian jazz manouche scene, Séb has been to Django in June only once before as a last minute sub sitting in with Les Doigts de L’Homme. It is passed time to enjoy him as a featured artist in his own right.
Far as I know I didn’t run into Antoine Boyer in Samois that year. But then, he was only 6 years old at the time. It took till he was 15 before he played that famed main stage. The following year – that was 2012 – he headlined Django in June. No longer a child prodigy, Antoine is blossoming into a refined artist whose talents are recognized across the usual boundaries of genre: the winner of the 2015 Montigny Classical Guitar Contest, he has also received coveted recognition from France’s Jazzman and Guitarist Acoustic magazines. He has already performed with most of the biggest names of Gypsy jazz and is well on his way to becoming one of them himself.
In a genre known for technical virtuosity, both Sébastien Giniaux and Antoine Boyer can light the sky with fretboard fireworks as brightly as anyone. And when the moment calls for it, I’m sure we’ll be treated to that display. But not before, and that’s why I’m looking forward to hearing these two well-schooled and formidably gifted musicians in dialogue with one another. Not only because they each have so much to say, but because I know they will be listening at least as closely as we will, to each other.
Tickets will be $25 advance / $30 at the door. Reserved seating. Tickets available from The Academy of Music Box Office
Please see the Staff and Artists page of the website for more on Sébastien Giniaux and Antoine Boyer. They don’t usually perform as a duo, so footage of them together is rare. Enjoy the clip below, though, from a gig at Atelier Charonne in Paris with William Brunard on bass.