About

The Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective! feature some of the region’s hottest gypsy jazz and swing players, playing music inspired from legendary musicians Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli of the “Quintette du Hot Club de France” and more!

Expect fiery solos, foot-stomping rhythms, burning ballads and even some jazz standards to sing along to. The collective remains in the spirit of Django and Stephane, whilst pushing the genre of “gypsy jazz” forward into the modern sphere.

Lewis Kilvington - Guitarist/Vocal

After discovering the music of Django Reinhardt when he was 17, he was instantly in awe of his playing and decided to dedicate his whole playing to his style. Lewis was recently featured in “Guitarist” magazine being spotlighted as part of the next generation of “Django style” players. Lewis is a touring gypsy jazz guitar player and performs up and down the country.

Derek Magee - Violin

Brought up in Cambridge on Irish and Scots folk music, Derek moved to Leeds in the late 90s forming folk-rock band Slide with singer songwriter Tom Bliss. Slide recorded two albums and toured the UK and Channel Islands.

Subsequently Derek has recorded and toured UK and Europe with Bootscraper (Gypsy folk punk), Jake and the Jellyfish (Punk), and Dog Hand String Band (Dark americana/Death roots) playing Beautiful Days, Bearded Theory, Boomtown and Mighty Sounds (Czech republic) and various other random festivals in Germany and the UK.

James Munroe - Double Bass

His musical career took off with Holmfirth alt-country band Old Man Pie, Mikey Kenney’s folk project Ottersgear and blues band The Buzz Brothers. A regular member of The Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective since 2022, he runs a monthly Gypsy Jazz Jam in Holmfirth and enjoys putting together scratch bands for parties and functions. He also plays with Soul Pie (a soul/blues/funk offshoot of Old Man Pie), The Chandeliers (swing trio) and Dr Pete’s Salsa Band, and still finds time to play guitar and sing at various sessions and open mics in the Huddersfield area.

Martin Chung - Guitar

Martin Chung fell in love with the music of Django early on in his playing career, however it wasn't until a chance meeting at a jam with other members of the Gypsy Swing Collective that he found the perfect people to explore the style with.

Martin maintains a busy live music career, playing guitar for Atlanta-born soul songstress Dana Ali, blues powerhouse Wadcutter and Ruby Wood (Submotion Orchestra) as well as playing bass guitar with Chicago blues maestro James O'Hara. He has toured internationally with electric bass pioneer Jah Wobble as part of world fusion group The Invaders of the Heart, recording music in the US, Japan and UK.

Oly Clarkson - Clarinet/Vocals

Multi-instrumentalist (Saxophone, Clarinet and Vocals) for many swing and gypsy jazz bands throughout the country. He performs in a number of bands and genres from 1920s Swing, Klezmer, Ska and Live Electro Swing. Oly is also a woodwind repairer & vintage saxophone specialist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jkvjj_nzAs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jldMJBXVAiI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLCElkhuTrc