Documentary dossier · 1983/84 – present
Django’s Castle
Sant Cugat del Vallès manouche group that later developed into the professional concert project known as Pere Soto Gypsy Jazz.
Trio photograph from the archive · Django’s Castle / Pere Soto Gypsy Jazz
Origin
Django’s Castle was formed in Sant Cugat del Vallès in the first half of the 1980s, around the music of Django Reinhardt and the manouche / Hot Club tradition.
Pere Soto’s historical notes place the group in 1984 with:
- Pere Soto — guitar
- Òscar Roig — guitar
- Roberto Lecaros — violin
In a later interview on Ràdio Sant Vicenç, Soto placed the origin around 1983. The foundation date is therefore recorded as 1983/1984, without forcing a single invented year.
The partnership with Òscar Roig, and then the arrival of Roberto Lecaros, shaped a group dedicated to Reinhardt’s repertoire and manouche jazz.
Early years
In its first period the group belonged to the Catalan jazz scene linked to guitars, swing and the Hot Club tradition. Reinhardt’s repertoire still occupied a relatively specialised place in Spanish jazz.
Places and events associated with this stage and its later development include Jazz Cava de Terrassa, Cova del Drac (Barcelona), Festival de Jazz de Tàrrega, Ángel Blau (Andorra), and sessions in Sabadell.
From the original group to a professional project
The name comes from the 1980s. The archive places the professional start of the project around 2000: concerts and recordings, no longer only a local recovery of Reinhardt’s book.
Line-ups changed. Among the musicians documented in later recordings is Josep Traver.
2001 · Barcelona
Nuages
Recorded January–March 2001. Pere Soto, musical director and producer. Line-up: Pere Soto, Joan R. Puntí and Josep Traver, guitars; Joan Martí, double bass. Manouche remains the starting point; arrangements and production become more personal.
2002
Prisoners of Love
Released under Django’s Castle as a tribute to Reinhardt and gypsy jazz. The period coincides with growing activity outside Catalonia.
United Kingdom
Documented professional presence in England, including the Birmingham International Jazz Festival and the Warwick Festival. The project entered guitar and jazz circuits beyond Spain; the programme was not limited to a strict Reinhardt songbook.
Repertoire
Classic manouche titles sat beside original compositions, Soto’s arrangements, swing and bebop, and later Latin-American and Brazilian colours. Django Reinhardt is the point of departure, not the limit.
2004–2007
Josep Traver’s professional record lists further Django’s Castle titles from this stretch:
- Blue Drac — 2004
- El Caliquenyo del Califa — 2004
- Swing Gitane — 2007
By then the group had a stable place on the Catalan jazz circuit and a wider international presence.
2006 · Tarragona
Festival Minerva
Concert recording: Rumba 2001.
Concert videos
Pere Soto Gypsy Jazz
The same line later appears under the name Pere Soto Gypsy Jazz (quartet and trio): Django’s Castle as origin, Gypsy Jazz as the professional concert identity that continues from Barcelona and Mexico.
This page records only what is documented in the notes above. Further dates, line-ups and links will be added when verified.