ISABELLE FONTAINE

Isabelle Fontaine was born and raised in the French countryside with the voices of Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, and Yves Montand ringing in her ears. Growing up, she spent endless hours listening to the family's old records and although she had no intention of becoming a professional musician, she loved singing. During her college years, her life took an unexpected turn when she joined a group of friends and started performing as a vocalist. She abandoned her plans of teaching English and instead spent the next twenty years singing and playing the snare drum throughout France, with trips to Spain and over the Alps to Switzerland. During this period, she developed an unconditional love for the Ladies and Dukes of the Big Band Era, and the great composers of the American Songbook. She was eventually drawn to the gypsy swing of Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club of France, the perfect union of her French cultural heritage and the world of Jazz. Somewhere along the way, she picked up the guitar and applied her impeccable sense of rhythm to the stringedinstrument. In 2004 she moved with her family to the San Francisco Bay Area and has since become sought after not only for her singing but for her rhythm guitar playing as well.

 

JEFF MAGIDSON

Jeff Magidson was born in San Francisco. His parents, both musicians, taught him to read music and play the piano at an early age. Throughout his childhood he was exposed to many different styles and became proficient on a number of instruments, (piano, guitar, drums, bass, harmonica). In 1983, as a Cal student on a year abroad program in Poitiers, France, he was drawn to the local music scene and ended up staying 20 years, thereby making his impact on the French blues scene. With a variety of groups, or as the leader of his own formation, he had the opportunity to perform on countless festival and club stages throughout Europe, releasing three albums of his own compositions, and a dozen more as a contributing artist. It was in France that Jeff was first introduced to the music of Django Reinhardt which he describes as ‘a life changing experience.’ Jeff was drawn deep into the world of Gypsy Swing culminating in the formation of Duo Gadjo with Isabelle. From 2005-2015, Jeff was a member of the much revered Hot Club of San Francisco. Jeff still performs with the Hot Club occasionally and was the producer of their most recent album ‘John, Paul, George, and Django’. He also performs with his own band ‘The Jeff Magidson Blues Band.’ He is the author of a Gypsy jazz instructional book published by Hal Leonard.