You just can’t find the word Gadjology in the dictionary… and it’s just as well.
The self-given name for the North Okanagan/Shuswap/Revelstoke-based quartet, Gadjology is more of a phenomenon to be experienced than a word to be described.
For one thing it’s hard to witness Gadjology without stomping your feet and clapping along to the music they play. And what the band plays so passionately well is gypsy jazz.
Featuring Jacob Verberg on lead guitar, violinist Richard Owings, rhythm guitarist Willy Gaw and stand-up bassist Bill Lockie, the musicians are known for their fast and furious “manouche” style.
“The band members play with such precision and seeming ease that while you’re infused with adrenaline and heightened heartbeat while listening, you’ll also find yourself strangely lulled into a hypnotic state by the sheer wizardry of the musicianship at work,” reads the band’s press.
Meaning “gypsy” in French, manouche originates from the 1930s and 1940s and is attributed to the legendary Belgian guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt.
Derived by combining a dark gypsy flavour with the contemporary swing jazz music of the period, the style went into relative obscurity in the decades after the ‘50s, but has been enjoying a lively resurgence beginning in the 1970s in Europe and following suit in North America a decade or so later.
The movement continues to grow steadily stronger and more popular to date. When taken apart, the music may be complex and mind bending, but watching Gadjology you wouldn’t know it.
Gadjology plays at the Bean Scene Upstairs in downtown Vernon, Nov. 16. Tickets are $20 available now at the Bean Scene. Doors to the concert open at 6:30 p.m. The quintet also performs at the Armstrong Inn Nov. 18. Tables are available at 6 p.m. and music starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance at the Armstrong Inn Liquor Store, or $10 at the door.
