Both Neil Jacobs and Arkadiy Gips have a history of performing and traveling with the Gypsies of Europe. Neil resided and studied with Gypsies of Spain from 1994-1996, and Arkadiy traveled with a Gypsy group from Bulgaria in the 80's. Both Arkadiy and Neil have extensive knowledge of Balkan and Slavic folk music and have spent years both touring with and composing for the internationally acclaimed group, Zivili. One particularly memorable journey brought them to the Balkans in the early 90’s. Here they performied in refugee camps for war victims throughout the Balkan states culminating in a major concert in the war-ravaged center of Sarajevo. Steven Fox is a graduate of Ohio State University where he earned his degree in double bass performance. His musical expertise includes everything from Bluegrass to African music and beyond.

"American Gypsy's" debut CD was nominated for the American Independent Music Award's, "Album of the Year"!  The judges were comprised of an impressive list of music industry icons including; Tom Waits, Yolanda Adams, Ricky Skaggs, Tina Weymouth, Meshell Ndegeocello, Arturo Sandoval, Mitchell Froom, Kelly Willis, Wilson Pickett, Victoria Williams, Don Byron, Bobby Rush, Jim Lauderdale, and George Duke.

Hear music from the CD: American Gypsy

Read the World Music Review: Review

 What's spinning in the heads of Guitar Player Magazine's editors this month ? American Gypsy! - Guitar Player Magazine

American Gypsy CD “World Discoveries” review:  Nominated 'Album of the Year' by the American Independent Music Awards, Neil Jacobs' AMERICAN GYPSY is deserving of every honor it receives:  the Eastern European gypsy tradition is deftly captured, along with overtones of jazz and even flamenco. Roma and folk traditions are presented in Neil Jacobs' own guitar styling compositions, supported on many pieces with the Ukrainian violinist Arkadiy Gips.  AMERICAN GYPSY, unlike many traditional peasant productions, is apt to reach a wider audience than most: its flamenco styles will draw listeners of Spanish music, its classical precision will appeal to classical musicians, and its gypsy roots will attract Eastern European listeners who will find the blends surprising and refreshing.  From flamenco to Hungarian gypsy cafe to near-Klezmer beats, AMERICAN GYPSY provides a host of ethnic-rooted, rollicking guitar songs.  An outstanding production!

D.C. Donovan, editor

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Selected Previous Performances

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Lancaster Festival

Carnegie Hall Ivy Terrrace Concert Series

Columbus Riverfont Amphitheater

The Ohio State Fair

Trinity Cathedral

University of Alfred, NY, Holmes Auditorium

Worthington Arts Festival

Wexner Center for the Performing Arts

Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Center

Schomburg Auditorium

Beachland Ballroom

Bellville Opera House

Dublin Community Theater

Wagnall's Memorial Auditorium

Columbus Arts Festival

Delaware Arts Castle

State Theater, Cleveland

Performances in Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria  & Bosnia

The Capitol Steps, Washington, D.C.

REVIEW: Jazz Lover's List - Sonia Kovitz

“If AMERICAN GYPSY plays anywhere near your geographical and metaphysical point in time and space and you don't go to hear them, turn around right now and kick yourself real hard."

AMERICAN GYPSY at the 501 Club. The challenge of existence, I realize, is finding words when an experience surpasses your tired old ordinary everyday superlatives.

Let Yitshak Perlman come and bow down at the feet of Arkadiy Gips - he'll see the real thing in action. Gips flows from the ground up into the violin like a tree in the wind. Reaching, demanding, yielding,, disappearing-death and resurrection arching through the span of every musical phrase. I caught a glimpse of Paganini's shade and Rothschild with his fiddle (he's from a story by Chekov) looking over Gips' shoulder, trembling in delight. Once you have been in the same room with Arkadiy Gips' playing, you will know what it means to give yourself wholely to music.

And NOW, Czech out Neil Jacobs …. ( = Jakovcek, I heard tell from a mad Hungarian lurking on the premises). Twelve-string guitar as percussion, incantation, transcendence over the limitations of flesh and blood... ( you would not BELIEVE ), the salty peasant mystery of ancestry, pulled heart strings, shuddering steel strings, fret-board as surf-board of the heavens, guitarist as Magus - Pythagorus rapt in wonder at overtones of creation. Neil Jacobs is a transported enfant terrible with the muscle and discipline of absolutely mature musical understanding.

"The standing ovation given your performance is just the second one I recall in seventy of these concerts. I was absolutely mobbed by audience members who were thrilled by your group and demanding your return!"   Lancaster Festival

"Sobbing melodies and fiery rhythms."
Wilma Salisbury - Cleveland Plain Dealer


"A haunting and brilliant show" - The Defiance Defender


"Unimaginable richness thrown to the winds with complete abandonment - echoes of Django and other musics both modern and ancient" Sonia Kovitz - Jazz Lover's List

"Music that lifts the spirit and inspires the soul." The Ohio State University


"American Gypsy" was picked as one of the year's best by Adam Garratt of the Columbus Alive. He writes, "Virtuosity is alive and well, and the evidence is in the record. "American Gypsy" is barely short of amazing. Neil Jacobs (12-string guitar), with help from Arkadiy Gips (violin), and John Douglas (bass) casts out original and traditional songs based on or borrowed from the Gypsy music traditions of Eastern Europe and the Balkan States. A MUST HEAR!"