Gypsy jazz

Gypsy jazz (also known as gypsy swing or hot club jazz) is a style of jazz music often said to have been started by guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt in the 1930s. Because its origins are largely in France it is often called by the French name, "jazz manouche", or alternatively, "manouche jazz", even in English language sources. The term is now commonly used for this style of music.

Django was foremost among a group of Romani guitarists working in and around Paris in the 1930s through the 1950s, a group which also included the brothers Baro, Sarane, and Matelo Ferret and Reinhardt's brother Joseph "Nin-Nin" Reinhardt.

Many of the musicians in this style worked in Paris in various popular Musette ensembles. The Musette style waltz remains an important component in the gypsy jazz repertoire. Reinhardt was noted for combining a dark, chromatic gypsy flavor with the swing articulation of the period. This combination is critical to this style of jazz. In addition to this, his approach continues to form the basis for contemporary gypsy jazz guitar. Reinhardt's most famous group, the Quintette du Hot Club de France, also brought fame to jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli.

Play Along Toys

Play Along Toys is a Florida-based toy company, and a wholly owned division of Jakks Pacific.

In 1999, the founders of Play Along (among them Charlie Emby and Jay Foreman) chose the Britney Spears Doll line as the first licensing venture with their new company. The choice proved successful and was followed by other celebrity dolls including Aaron Carter, Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Mandy Moore. In 2001 Play Along partnered with toy design studio Art Asylum for production of the studio's toys. Then, in 2002, Play Along decided to bring back one of the plush doll lines of the 1980s, the Care Bears. This brand, for which Play Along was awarded "License of the Year 2002" by the Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA).

As the company's toy lines continued to grow, so did the Play Along team, having grown from a staff of five into a company with more than 100 employees, both in the U.S. and Hong Kong, producing toys for multiple brands including the Care Bears, THE DOG, The Lord of the Rings: Armies of Middle-earth, The Cat in the Hat, Teletubbies, Curly Q's, Doodle Bear, Sky Dancers and the Cabbage Patch Kids.

Romani people

The Romani (also spelled Romany; /ˈroʊməni/, /ˈrɒ-/), or Roma, are a traditionally itinerant ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas, who originate from the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent, specifically from Northern India, presumably from the northwestern Indian states Rajasthan,Haryana and Punjab. The Romani are widely known among English-speaking people by the exonym and racial slur "Gypsies" (or "Gipsies"), which, according to many Romani people, connotes illegality and irregularity. Other exonyms are Ashkali and Sinti.

Romani are dispersed, with their concentrated populations in Europe — especially Central, Eastern and Southern Europe including Turkey, Spain and Southern France. They originated in Northern India and arrived in Mid-West Asia, then Europe, around 1,000 years ago, either separating from the Dom people or, at least, having a similar history; the ancestors of both the Romani and the Dom left North India sometime between the sixth and eleventh century.

Rhythm guitar

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 singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums.

In ensembles or "bands" playing within the acoustic, country, blues, rock or metal genres (among others), a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition plays the role of supporting the melodic lines and solos played on the lead instrument or instruments, be they string, wind, brass, keyboard or even percussion instruments, or simply the human voice, in the sense of playing steadily throughout the piece, whereas lead instruments and singers switch between carrying the main or counter melody and falling silent. In big band music, the guitarist is considered part of the rhythm section, alongside bass and drums.

Harry Edwards

Harry Edwards may refer to:

See also