Guitarist Sam Farthing – Devotee of Django Jazz
[Photo Credit: Aaron Winters]
The Green Room of the Bluebird Cafe in the Hampden neighborhood of Baltimore boasts a long, stately bar backed by an Art Deco style mirror. With its velvet-curtained stage and chandelier that hangs over the dance floor, it’s not a stretch to imagine you’re in 1930s Paris—especially on Monday nights when musicians gather to play jazz Manouche, also known as Django jazz or Gypsy jazz– a style that was popular in France during the swing era. Its key figure was guitarist Django Reinhardt; thus, the style became known as Django jazz.
Since 2012, the Django jam in Hampden, led by guitarist Michael Joseph Harris, has been a welcoming place for musicians coming from all genres to hone their skills and share a stage with high-level talent. It was the perfect environment for 21-year-old Sam Farthing, a world-class guitarist of the style to get his start.
When the twelve-year old Farthing heard Django Reinhardt’s music for the first time, an obsession set in. Its propulsive swing and effortless, lightning-like runs fascinated him. “His music is magic. It’s life-changing,” said Farthing. He immersed himself in the Gypsy sound, constantly listening to Django’s solos on famous recordings from the 1930s and ‘40s and learning them note-for-note by ear. At school, he would practice right hand technique with a guitar pick. Soon he was jamming with seasoned players at the Django Jazz Jam.
Farthing’s love of Gypsy jazz quickly propelled him into the orbit of some of the most celebrated living players of the style. When he was 14, he attended the Django a GoGo festival in New York City, where he met key figures whom he had already tried to emulate, including Angelo Debarre, Stochelo Rosenberg, and Paulus Schäfer. A benefactor helped Farthing take trips to the Netherlands and France, where these greats became his mentors in music and in life. “I respect all those guys, and they’re my musical heroes. And they’re good people, too. There’s nobody better in the world to be teaching me than them.”
Many of the world-renowned players Farthing got to know in his mid-teens were born into the Sinti culture that fused its tradition with the swing music of the 1920s and ‘30 to create Gypsy jazz. In America, he had played with great guitarists who admired Django’s sound and learned from records, but now in Europe he was participating in the same living tradition as Reinhardt himself did. With the same devotion, he absorbed all he could: musical language, technique, and above all, the spirit of the Sinti tradition.
Farthing explains that many Sinti people” grow up with it since they’re born; music is surrounding them at church, jamming around campfires, at dinners. It’s really close to them as people. From the time they’re five years old, people have a guitar in their hands,” Farthing said. Music isn’t something you do on the side: it’s an ever-present part of life and the basis of a tight-knit community. “For them, music is just as important as having a family dinner. It helps bring people close together,” he added. Sinti musicians learn by ear, internalizing song structures and melodies from a young age and rarely ever needing chord charts or sheet music to communicate with other players. “This stuff is taught to them person-to-person, very closely,” said Farthing.
American Gypsy jazz players often discover the style after spending their formative musical years with other genres. “Typically in the scene for this music here, people found it when they were older. A lot of people come to it from rock and roll, blues, straight-ahead jazz, or something that’s very different technically and musically,” said Farthing.
As a rule, American Gypsy jazz guitarists speak the Sinti musical language with an accent, since they weren’t born into the tradition. But not Farthing, whose playing displays all the subtleties of rhythm and phrasing that a guitarist who grew up in it would have. That special stamp comes from his immersion in the music at a young age, but it also comes from an insight from his mentors in Europe that affected his whole life—the power of confidence.
“Something that they really impressed upon me in the way that they teach is that you need a lot of confidence,” Farthing said. It’s easy to hear that confidence, conviction, and a kind of reckless abandon when you listen to Django Reinhardt, who would leap into expansive musical ideas in his solos and stick the landing. That spirit is at the core of Sinti music, and it’s a way of life.
“Building confidence through playing has translated very heavily into my own life. I’ve become a lot more confident with communication, going beyond my comfort zone to do something I know is worth it,” Farthing said. “Some of the best Gypsy guitar players I met in Europe are just casual guitarists who have a day job. That’s where their confidence comes from.”
Now Farthing is an established world-class Gypsy guitarist and teaches music himself. He tries to impart to his students a way of looking at music that’s less about chops, music theory, and hero worship and more about spirit and expression. “You can tell what someone’s intentions are when they’re playing music, when someone just wants to be seen. But when someone’s playing from the heart, even if they’re not a technically advanced player, you can respect it just as much, because that’s what it’s about.”
Kai Knorr is an aspiring journalist and an alumnus of St. John’s College. He is a member to whoWhatWhy’s Mentor-Apprentice Program. He is also an adept player of the upright bass and regularly plays at the Django jazz jam session in Baltimore.