Holder and Smith are a gypsy jazz duo comprising award-winning jazz violinist Ben Holder and Stuart Carter-Smith, one of the UK’s most respected and authentic jazz guitarists. Their set features tunes from the swinging Paris jazz scene of the 1940s as well as modern pop classics performed in their own contagious and energetic style.
Ben Holder is the most acclaimed and exciting jazz violinist in the UK. His classical studies began at the age of six and were complemented by training at the Birmingham Conservatoire. An introduction to jazz came in his early teens – classic masters such as Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson and Stephane Grappelli – and lead Ben to truly find his place as a musician. Ben possesses an innate sense of swing rhythm (something which often eludes classical players), breathtaking technical ability and true showmanship on stage. He offers flawless musicianship, heaps of energy and personality and a visible passion for his craft.
Ben’s various awards bear testimony to these abilities. Often playing across the UK, Europe and further afield, he is a first-call jazz violinist for many of the country’s top venues, line-ups and studios.
Stuart Carter-Smith has a well earned reputation as a top class Gypsy Jazz guitarist. 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 Stuart 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, Stuart is a consummate improviser and master of pin-point rhythm accuracy. Typical of the genre, Stuart is 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. Stuart is also a permanent and integral member of Gypsy Fire.
