Dimitriou's Jazz Alley

2033 6th Avenue

Seattle

August 5, 2008, Tuesday 7:30 PM

Buy Tickets online: US $27.50

DJANGO REINHARDT FESTIVAL: FEATURING DORADO SCHMITT

Click HERE to listen him Now.

Composer and jazz performer Dorado Schmitt was born in St. Avold ,in Lorraine "France" the May 29th 1957. Since his chlidhood, thanks to his family devoted to music, he was plunged in the Gypsy jazz. His father formed him to the guitar since the age of 7, showed him the music of the Master, the great Django Reinhardt. Under this influence, he improved his style by playing all the musics of the master, even the most technical solos, in order to perform perfectly the Django style. Moreover his father initiates him into the violin and Dorado plays it with the same feeling.

In 1978, he formed the Dorado Trio composed of  Gino Reinhardt  playing the double-bass, Hono Winterstein  playing the rhythmic guitar. Later the guitarist Claudio Favari joined the group but only for a few time.

But Dorado doesn't want only to copy the Django style, he begins to compose his own musics, harmonious melodies with smart improvisations, and an exceptional technique. He is as comfortable in the swing and the gypsy waltz as in the Bossa Nova and Flamenco style.

Between 1981 and 1983 he records two vinyl disks "Hommage à la Romenes" and  "notre Histoire"  one of them will remain several weeks a jazz best-seller in Germany.

He played with several famous musicians like : Philippe Catherine, Oscar Peterson, he took part in a lot of festivals in Germany, Autsria, Switzerland, Belgium, Greece. He succeeds in all the styles he tries, in a word he is a great musician known in the entire world.

Unfortunately the fate wasn't what he expected, the  February 23rd 1988  he was victim of a terrible car crash which slowed down his career and left him in a deep coma during  11 days.
With 35 fractures and several operations, his career could have stopped here. But with courage, will and work, after two years of effort, he will succeed in coming back musically and he will form his trio again in 1990. Guitarist and brilliant composer, it doesn't last until he comes back on the scene.

In 1993 he performes a set of concerts in France notably at the Garnier Opera in front of three thousand music lovers, at the Vilette and at the Django Rheinhardt festival of Samois.
He also takes part in the movies "nuages", " les fous de Django", in 1993 the trio recorded the album Gypsy réunion followed in 1994 by Parisienne.

But in 1997 a new difficult moment shook the trio with the death of Gino (his brother-in-law) because of the consequences of an illness. Dorado very shocked by the death of his friend, will quit the scene, it's only in 1999 he reappears at the festival of Patrimonio in Corsica. The list of all his concerts and festivals would be too long to name, let's just remember at the festival of Luttre-Liberchies in Belgium in 2000, he received the Euro DJANGO 2000 trophy.