Toe-tapping gypsy jazz band ready to bring fresh take to Jumpers and Jazz

After performing to sold out crowds around Australia, this unique seven-piece is ready to bring a fresh take to Warwick’s Jumpers and Jazz festival.

Cigány Weaver will play in Warwick for the first time for Jumpers and Jazz (Photo: Josh Tate).

When Cigány Weaver takes to the stage for the first time at Jumpers and Jazz this year, they will bring their unique style of European inspired tunes to the Rose City.

The Brisbane band has performed around the country including at the Woodford Folk Festival and at the iconic Dark Mofo festival in Tasmania.

Lead singer Jo Davie said their name comes from the Romani word for ‘gypsy’, but also acts as a double entendre.

“Gypsy music has a strong connection to Romani culture, and of course, there’s the actor from Alien, Sigourney Weaver,” she said.

Davie said she felt the all-ages festival would allow younger generations to feel connected their music.

“We’ve found especially for us doing the gypsy-jazz style, we’ve found that it really breaks all age boundaries and demographics, which we find so great,” she said.

“We’ve had older people coming to our shows loving it because we’re playing some older jazz stuff, but we’re also getting people our age and younger than us who just want to have a boogie and a clap.”

Cigány Weaver will play in Warwick for the first time for Jumpers and Jazz (Photo: Kate Lund).

Bassist Liam Butler said often people viewed jazz as ‘musicians-only’ music.

“But once you stop viewing it as separate to other types of music, you can hear echoes of it in all other genres,” he said.

It’s a notion the band is trying to practise themselves, blending eclectic types of music to create a rich tapestry of sound.

While the group has celebrated success, including being highly commended by the Queensland Music Awards, it has not all been smooth sailing.

The group, which was started when the members were studying at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, released their debut album in 2019 and was busy selling out festivals across the country until COVID hit.

With touring and performing cancelled for most of last year, Davie said she felt like she’d gone from full-time musician to a part-time performer.

She said there was trepidatious anticipation as the possibilities of performing again increased, with one of their shows called off when parts of southeast Queensland went into lockdown last week.

However, the band was focusing on the silver lining.

“We’re actually on a writing retreat now, and if we were performing, we’d have to concentrate on that upcoming show, so it’s given us that time to create and learn,” Davie said.

You can catch Jo Davie, Gareth Mewes, Liam Butler, Rory Dollard, Conor McDonald and Kym Ambrose performing as Cigány Weaver at the Town Hall Saturday, July 24 from 2pm – 3pm.

Originally published as Toe-tapping gypsy jazz band ready to bring fresh take to Jumpers and Jazz