Doug Smith - Gypsy Swing Duo

This Gypsy Swing guitarist has a well earned reputation as a top class player and can perform solo, duo or as a trio for weddings and events.

He started playing the guitar when he was 18 years old - rather late for a gypsy guitarist (most of his peers would have been playing fluently by the age of seven!) Although initially he studied and performed the classical guitar, he soon fell in love with the music of Django Reinhardt and his post-classical studies took him to work with some of the finest names in that genre both in the UK and overseas.

Like many of his contemporaries, he is a consummate improviser and master of pin-point rhythm accuracy. Typical of the genre, he's always searching for new musical challenges and he is constantly developing new techniques. He experiments with new rhythms and styles of playing, but these are always delivered with the solid underpinning of his first love: the musical style of Django. 

As a duo, they combine musical beauty with firey excitement, from slow haunting ballads to a show stopping energy that is breathtaking to watch. It is an absolutely unique and unforgettable soundtrack that would add to any special day.

This violinest is one of the most gifted and exciting young jazz violinists in the UK. Taught classically from the age of six, he studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire. During his classical studies he began listening to Jazz - classic masters such as Benny Goodman and Oscar Peterson and of course the great jazz violinists including Grappelli, Joe Venuti and the awe inspiring Stuff Smith. Alongside his early studies and later at college he embarked on a detailed analysis of these musicians techniques and the way in which they merged this most classical of instruments into the jazz idiom. 

His innate sense of swing rhythm (something which often eludes classical players) stems from those early listening sessions - and his various awards bear testimony to his abilities. A first call jazz violinist for many of the North's top bands and studios.

Solo (with clever pedals that play bass and percussive parts). This option is great for a smaller ambient venue.

Duo (with either guitar or Violin (your choice). This is good for the more attentive audience

Trio (with guitar, Bass and Violin/guitar). This suites the bigger venue.

In all of the above they play 2x 45 mins sets with a short break (he can play light suitable music in this break if needed).

• Gypsy Swing Groups in Gloucestershire