DOUG DE VRIES
Guitar
Doug de Vries is one of Australia's best and most versatile guitarists and composers, excelling in a variety of musical genres from jazz to new tango to traditional and contemporary Brazilian music.
Musical director for the well-known Australian artist Vince Jones for many years, the legacy of which has influenced a generation of jazz musicians and songwriters.
Released his first self-titled solo venture in 1990 demonstrating his compositions and command of diverse styles and settings. Thereafter received the award for Best Jazz Guitarist from Australian critics.
Since then he has embarked upon several projects of note including two ABC recordings, has been in demand for countless guest features with various artists including Andrew Pendlebury, Christine Sullivan, Kate Ceberano, Judy Jacques and US jazz and blues singers Barbara Morrison and Andy Bey. This demand has taken him to major festivals and events both throughout Australia and abroad, UK, India, USA, New Caledonia and Brazil.
He has also written, arranged, orchestrated and played in several film scores such as, The Last Days of Chez Nous, Six Degrees of Separation and Hotel Sorrento.
Doug's projects outside of this impressive list are myriad. He has lead a trio called Django's Castle, of course named after the great gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, and a Brazilian jazz group called Lantana whose styles included choro and contemporary styles. He has also formed "Hot Club Quintet", which later transformed into "Gypsy Swing". Doug and band's violinist, Igor Oskolkov, formed Gypsy Swing in 1997 specifically to perform the music of Reinhardt and Grappelli, one of their major musical influences and mentors.
Recent projects have focused on Doug's long-standing passion for South American music, in particular, tango nuevo and choro. This has taken him to Brazil where he impressed many of the legendary figures of choro and forged a strong affinity with Mauricio Carrilho and Egberto Gismonti who released Doug's Įgua e Vinho project on his label Carmo in 2000, distributed by ECM worldwide.
The album A Knot in the Wood, released in 2002, featured songs and instrumentals from the canon of Brazilian music with a coterie of young and gifted musicians including Diana Clark, Jaimie Smith and Christopher Hale. The album reached top 10 lists in 'Rhythms' magazine Arts Critics Poll, January 2003.
Doug's latest venture is a solo recording Lantana Lovers featuring Joe Chindamo and Slava Grigoryan. This is a comprehensive document of original music plus rare gems of the choro genre that opens new vistas on Australian contemporary and world music.