Dorado Schmitt (born May 29, 1957) is a French guitarist and violinist in

Gypsy jazz Gypsy jazz (also known as gypsy swing, jazz manouche or hot club-style jazz) is a style of small-group jazz originating from the Romani guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–53), in conjunction with the French swing violinist Stéphane Gr ...

Biography

Schmitt was born in

Saint-Avold Saint-Avold (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Sänt Avuur'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated twenty-eight miles (45 km) east of Metz, France and seventeen miles (27 km) southwest ...

, Lorraine, France on May 29, 1957. He started playing guitar at the age of seven with his father as his teacher. His father also introduced him to violin. Schmitt composed his own pieces, incorporating improvisation and challenging techniques, among which Bossa Dorado which has become a

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive lis ...

. He eventually became as comfortable with swing and gypsy waltz as with

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

and

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

. He established the Dorado Trio in 1978 with Gino Reinhardt on double bass and Hono Winterstein on

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

. Later, guitarist Claudio Favari joined the group and performed at the Burghausen Jazz Festival in 1983. He recorded the albums ''Hommage a la Romenes'' and in 1984 ''Notre Histoire''. The first remained a jazz best-seller for several weeks in Germany. Schmitt was in a car crash in 1988, leaving him in a coma for eleven days. He spent two years in rehabilitation before he could return to the trio, which recorded ''Gypsy Reunion'' in 1993 and ''Parisienne'' in 1994. He dropped out of music again in 1997 when Gino Reinhardt died. Two years passed before he assembled another group, in which he played often with his son, Samson Schmitt, and with

Christian Escoudé Christian Escoudé (born 1947) is a French Gypsy jazz guitarist. He grew up in Angoulême and is of Romani descent on his father's side. His father was also a guitarist who was influenced by Django Reinhardt. When Escoudé was ten, his father b ...

and

Babik Reinhardt Jean-Jacques "Babik" Reinhardt (8 June 1944 – 13 November 2001) was a French guitarist and the younger son of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt by Django's second wife, Naguine. His elder half-brother Lousson, who was Django's son by his ...

, the son of

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

. He has also worked with

Angelo Debarre Angelo Debarre ( (born on August 19, 1962) is a French Romani gypsy jazz guitarist. Biography Debarre was born in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, Paris, and began playing at age eight. In 1984, he formed his first group, the Ang ...

Boulou Ferré Boulou Ferré (born Jean-Jacques Ferret, 24 April 1951) is a French virtuoso jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, and improviser. He is the brother of Elios Ferré, also a jazz musician, with whom he has recorded widely. His repertoire includes ja ...

and his brother Elios Ferré, James Carter, Paquito D'Rivera,

Biréli Lagrène Biréli Lagrène (born 4 September 1966) is a French jazz guitarist who came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt–influenced style. He often performs in swing, jazz fusion, and post-bop styles. Biography Lagrène was born in ...

, and a Django Reinhardt tribute band led by

Brian Torff Brian Q. Torff (born March 16, 1954 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American jazz double-bassist, songwriter and composer. Career Teacher Brian Q. Torff is a Professor of Music and the director of the music program at Fairfield University in Fairfie ...

. Schmitt had a role in '' Latcho Drom'', a documentary about gypsies for which he composed the soundtrack.

Family

His cousin

Tchavolo Schmitt Tchavolo Schmitt (born 1954 in Paris) is a gypsy jazz guitarist. Schmitt performed as a member of various ensembles in the 1970s. Then he settled in Strasbourg and left the professional circuit for a time, releasing solo albums in 2000. He playe ...

is also a

gypsy jazz Gypsy jazz (also known as gypsy swing, jazz manouche or hot club-style jazz) is a style of small-group jazz originating from the Romani guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–53), in conjunction with the French swing violinist Stéphane Gr ...

guitarist, as are his sons Samson, Bronson, and Amati.

Discography

As leader

* ''Hommage a La Romenes'' with Claudio Favari (Leico, 1983) * ''Notre Histoire'' with Claudio Favari (Blue Flame, 1986) * ''Rendez-Vous'' with Pierre Blanchard (Le Chant du Monde, 2004) * ''Dorado Sings'' (EMD, 2005) * ''Live at the Kennedy Center'' (SP, 2008) * ''Family'' (Dreyfus/Sony, 2009) * ''Live'' with Amati Schmitt (Stunt, 2014) * ''Sinti du Monde'' with Amati Schmitt (Stunt, 2016) * ''Clair de Lune'' (Stunt, 2018)

As sideman

* Samson Schmitt, ''Djieske'' (EMD, 2002) *

, ''Live in Paris'' (Le Chant du Monde, 2010)

Concerts

* 2008:

References

External links

Dorado Schmidt home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitt, Dorado French jazz guitarists French male guitarists French jazz violinists 20th-century French male violinists French Romani people Romani guitarists 1957 births Living people Gypsy jazz musicians Swing violinists Gypsy jazz violinists Gypsy jazz guitarists 21st-century French male violinists French male jazz musicians