Florin Niculescu Djangofestivalen 2018 (000909)

Florin Niculescu (born February 8, 1967 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

) is a Romanian violinist of

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

(Gypsy) ethnicity.

Family background and education

Niculescu was born into a family of educated ''

lăutari The Romanian word lăutar (; plural: ''lăutari'') denotes a class of musicians. The term was adopted by members of a professional clan of Romani musicians in the late XVIII century. The term is derived from ''lăută'', the Romanian word for ...

''. Everybody in his family was involved in music: his father and his uncle were violinists, his mother a pianist and his sister a cellist. He received his first violin lessons from his father, with whom he started to study seriously when he was 4–5 years old. At 6 he enrolled at the Dinu Lipatti Music School and then at George Enescu Music High School where he was a first prize student. He played with his father at weddings and celebrations and developed his improvisation skills. When he was about 13 he heard violinist

Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the fi ...

, who would become his idol and jazz his main attraction.

Career

In 1991 he left for Paris to fulfill his dream of meeting Grappelli and making a name in jazz. He got his first gig at a Russian cabaret. He enrolled in the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, although his jazz teacher told him from the first audition that he shouldn't waste his time and should be playing on stage. He continued to play on various scenes with various musicians. Niculescu met Grappelli in 1994. Grappelli proposed they record an album, but Niculescu declined, believing that he didn't deserve the honor. He hoped to receive some lessons from Grappelli but Grappelli told him that he has nothing to teach him as the Romani had a fantastic natural technique. In 1995 he joined

Romane Patrick Leguidecoq, known professionally as Romane, is a guitarist born in Paris, France in 1959 who specializes in gypsy jazz. Life and work Although not a gypsy by birth, Romane benefited from interactions with gypsy guitar players from an early ...

's band, and in 2001 he was invited by

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 ...

to join his Gipsy Project inspired by the

Quintette du Hot Club de France The Quintette du Hot Club de France ("The Quintet of the Hot Club of France"), often abbreviated "QdHCdF" or "QHCF", was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli and active in one form ...

. He has worked with

Roberto Alagna Roberto Alagna (; born 7 June 1963) is a French operatic tenor. He obtained French citizenship in 1981, while also retaining his previous Italian citizenship. Early years Alagna was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, outside the city of Paris, in 1963 t ...

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( , ; born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, hy, Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնավուրեան, ; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a French-Armenian singer, lyricist, actor and diplomat. Aznavour was known for his dist ...

, Marcel Azzola,

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, play ...

, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Patrick Bruel,

Regina Carter Regina Carter (born August 6, 1966) is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of jazz saxophonist James Carter. Early life Carter was born in Detroit and was one of three children in her family. She began piano lessons at the age of t ...

Angelo Debarre Angelo Debarre ( (born on August 19, 1962) is a French Romani gypsy jazz guitarist. Biography Debarre was born in Saint-Denis, Paris, and began playing at age eight. In 1984, he formed his first group, the Angelo Debarre Quintet. In 1985, t ...

Angela Gheorghiu Angela Gheorghiu (; ; born 7 September 1965) is a Romanian soprano, especially known for her performances in the operas of Puccini and Verdi, widely recognised by critics and opera lovers as one of the greatest sopranos of all time. Embarking ...

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

, Hot Club de Norvège,

Patricia Kaas Patricia Kaas (; born 5 December 1966) is a French singer. Her music is a mix of pop, cabaret, jazz, and chanson. Since the appearance of her 1988 debut album '' Mademoiselle chante...'', Kaas has sold over 17 million records worldwide. She h ...

Jon Larsen Jon Larsen (born 7 January 1959) is a gypsy jazz guitarist, record producer, painter, and amateur scientific researcher. He is the founder of the group Hot Club de Norvège. In 2007 he received the Buddy Award for his lifelong contribution to ...

, Giani Lincan,

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Award ...

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaug ...

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards ...

Bucky Pizzarelli John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020) was an American jazz guitarist. He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) ...

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 ...

, Jimmy Rosenberg,

Henri Salvador Henri Salvador (18 July 1917 – 13 February 2008) was a French Caribbean comedian, singer and cabaret artist. Biography Salvador was born in Cayenne, French Guiana. His father, Clovis, and his mother, Antonine Paterne, daughter of a native C ...

, and

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 ...

. Violinist

Scott Tixier Scott Tixier (born February 26, 1986) is a French jazz violinist and professor of jazz violin at the University of North Texas. Life and career Tixier was born in Montreuil, France, and studied classical violin at the conservatory in Paris ...

was Niculescu only student when he was 15 years old in Paris.

Discography

* 1995 ''Portrait of Django'' with Hot Club de Norvège * 1999 ''L'Esprit Roumain'' with Corneliu Niculescu * 2000 ''Gipsy Ballad'' * 2005 ''Djangophonie'' (

Le Chant du Monde Le Chant du Monde is a French music publishing house. It was created in 1938 by Léon Moussinac and was supported in the beginning by classical composers Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Charles Koechlin, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Albert ...

) * 2005 ''Four Friends'' (Jardis) * 2008 ''Florin Niculescu Plays Stéphane Grapelli'' (Blu Jazz) * 2010 ''Django Tunes'' (

Enja Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Ja ...

) * 2018 ''Florilège'' (

Hot Club Records Hot Club Records is a jazz record label established 1982, by guitarist Jon Larsen in Oslo, Norway.Dregni, Michael (2008) ''Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing'', OUP USA, , p. 229 The label has released over 350 ...

)

References

Notes

Sources

Florin Niculescu - Django Tunes

Florin Niculescu interview
- in Romanian
Florin Niculescu interview
- in Romanian

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niculescu, Florin 1967 births Living people Jazz violinists Romani violinists Romanian Romani people Romanian violinists Male violinists Lăutari and lăutărească music 21st-century violinists 21st-century male musicians Male jazz musicians