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The manouche musician Angelo started playing the guitar within his family at eight. After early professional beginnings, he swapped strings for drums. In 1984, he returned to its favorite instrument and creates his first “Angelo Jazz Quintet”. Since 1985, he has been a regular of the famous Parisian cabaret "La Roue Fleurie" (now closed) and takes part in many tours in manouche jazz and Gipsy styles. He feels quite comfortable in both repertories, and before long he has played alongside Pedro Ivanovitch, Arbat, Raya, Serge Camps, Bratsch as of Boyan Zulfikarpasic, Xavier Desandre-Navarre, Florin Nicolescu or Moréno, Bireli Lagrene, Jimmy Rosenberg, Romane…
Indisputably a member of the growing family of Django's heirs, Angelo developed a solid personality. His style, fueled by a staggering technique, is constantly enriching with musical encounters, in the finest Gipsy tradition Angelo's music and personality conquered our Canadian cousins: they bought the rights to Caprice – which may be eventually marketed the way it deserves; are cooking up a new CD recorded on the spot with accompanist Matcho Winterstein; and have been providing him with numerous venues since the Summer of 2000.
“(...) His technique is phenomenal and very personal. What strikes you right away is the constant use of the little finger of the left hand, whereas in this style, many guitarists merely play with three fingers. The drive of its left hand is impressive, and his right hand on the plectrum is simply unreal. (...) He relishes in improvisation (...) He is always gracefully surprising. He takes huge risks and is never mistaken (...). What also surprises you, when you see him playing, is his formidable vitality. (...) In a few words, I will say that Angelo Debarre is certainly one of the best representatives of the manouche jazz style on acoustic guitar.”
- Fred Loizeau, in French Guitar
Angelo
Debarre started playing guitar at age eight. By thirteen he was comping
for Raphael Fays. Leaving the guitar he devoted himself to playing drums
for a while.
In 1984 he returns
to his first choice, the guitar, and forms the first "Angelo Jazz
Quintet".
In 1985 he becomes
a fixture a the famous Parisian club "La Roue Fleurie" and
participates in numerous tours of the continent playing Tzigane music
and Jazz Manouche.
Totally at ease
in both repertoires we find him playing with Pedro Ivanovitch, Arbat,
Raya, Serge Camps, Bratsch as well as with Florin Nicauleascu,
Jimmy Rosenberg, Romane and Moreno.
Incontestably one
of Django's heirs, Angelo has a strong musical identity firmly planted
in the pure Jazz Manouche tradition.
Angelo Debarre
by
Claude Laurin
Angelo Debarre,
born in St-Denis, France, started playing guitar at the age of 8. In
the manouche (gipsy) community, tradition is transmitted orally in family
parties and gatherings, where music always occupies a prominent place.
Angelo recently confirmed this to Michel Bedin of Jazz Hot magazine:
"In any gathering of three to four hundred caravans there is no
shortage of music". The gipsy jazz musical tradition launched by
Django Reinhardt is the heart of this culture and Angelo Debarre quickly
became one of its jazz masters. He founded his first group "The
Angelo Debarre Quintet" in 1984, and the following year, he began
touring the world with gipsy musicians. This is music that he knows
inside and out, and at concerts and festivals his enthusiasm and passion
prove it. For Angelo Debarre, Django Reinhardt's music never loses the
dynamism and richness of the past: it is everlasting, a living music.
 He has also mastered
with equal ease the gipsy Music of Eastern Europe, a repertoire that
he became interested in through his contacts with Serge Camps at La
Roue Fleurie, a favorite meeting place of the gypsies in Paris where
he played regularly between 1985 and 1987. Another regular at La Roue
Fleurie during this period was Jon Larsen, who was fascinated by the
music he heard there and decided to bring Angelo Debarre, Serge Camps
and Frank Anastasio together in the recording studio to produce "Gypsy
Guitars". A recording that would showcase the group's dynamism
and the incredible variety of the gipsy repertoire. The album is still
essential for every aficionado of the gipsy music of the Eastern European
tradition and gipsy jazz.
Angelo Debarre has
recently recorded "Caprice", his first album as a band leader.
It is a recording that allows us to appreciate his talent as a composer,
and to hear Gipsy jazz as we have never heard it before. This album
brings together some of the best that Europe has to offer for this music:
Florin Niculescu on violin, Philippe "Doudou" Cuillerier and
Max Robin on guitar, Bojan Zulfikarpasic on piano, Bernard Malandain
on double bass and Xavier Desandre-Navarre on percussion. The album
was a popular critical success on both sides of the Atlantic, and proved
that gipsy jazz is here to stay; reviewers pointed out the important
contribution that it has made to gipsy jazz tradition. It is now available
in Canada.
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