DJ Chrisbe's Song of the Week #57: Duke & Dukie

I’m at The Experiment right now and I have a full week of intense balboa dancing in front of me. That’s reason enough to dedicate this song of the week to this dance I adore.

Recently I realised that I haven’t featured a gypsy jazz tune so far, so here it is – by one of the best combos nowadays: The Rosenberg Trio.

The Rosenberg Trio is a family affair and consists of three cousins: Nonnie at double-bass, Nous’che at rhythm guitar and Stochelo at lead guitar. None of these guys know how to read and write music, they just learned it as children by ear and played the same tunes again and again and again.

Violinist Stéphane Grappelli (who used to play with Django Reinhardt) was so amazed by the trio that he invited them immediately to play with him after hearing and seeing them the first time. The rest is history, he took them worldwide, across Europe and to celebrate his 85th birthday New York’s Carnegie Hall.

For the album “Roots” the Rosenberg Trio invited the dutch clarinetist Bernard Berkhout to play along on some tunes. Duke & Dukie is my favourite track from that album. Listen to this pumping rhythm, created only by two musicians, it is amazing. Both soloists, Stochelo at guitar and Bernard at clarinet play their instrument with so much feeling and rich in variations. I love this song and spin it therefore quite often!

Title: Duke & Dukie
Artist: The Rosenberg Trio with Bernard Berkhout
Released: 1941
Album: Roots
Tempo: 198 bpm
Dance: Balboa