I've always loved swing and gypsy jazz - Lester Young and Django Reinhardt are two of my top musical heroes. After moving to Canterbury I got to know some friends who took me to the annual gypsy jazz festival in Django's home town of Samoir sur Seine, south of Paris. It was a revelation: incredible jamming in the campsite 24 hours a day by Django fans from all over the world, plus amazing guest artists like Stocholo Rosenberg on the main stage. It fired up my resolve to really study this music, which was reinforced when I met Aussie ace hot club guitarist Ian Date. I asked him and some fine local musicians to collaborate with me on an album of classic swing/hot club tunes, with Ian producing. We had a ball! This is one of the tracks from the album; more info and other clips at the link above.