Sound Culture presents: Alfonso Ponticelli's Gypsy Flamenco Project

Alfonso Ponticelli is Chicago’s premier gypsy-jazz guitarist. “Django Reinhardt clearly is alive and well and swinging in Chicago.” –Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

The group plays the 1930s-style music of guitarist Django Reinhardt — foot-tappin’ swing played on acoustic instruments. It’s a blend of the jubilant swing of early jazz with the feisty passion of gypsy music and flamenco, plus a strong dose of guitar pyrotechnics and virtuosic improvisation.

Alfonso has studied gypsy-jazz music for more than a decade, having traveled several times to the annual Django Reinhardt festival in France. He introduced gypsy-jazz to Chicago in the 1990s, when he began teaching a weekly Django-style class at the renowned Old Town School of Folk Music, and he is often invited to teach his popular workshops at festivals around the country. A multi-instrumentalist, he won the 1994 U.S. National Mountain Dulcimer Championship and plays both banjo and guitar with the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. He’s also a gypsy flamenco guitarist, having been to Cordoba, Spain, to study with the great flamenco guitarist Rafael Riqueni. At the Iridium in New York, Les Paul invited Alfonso to play as a special guest with his trio.