• Blues
• Folk
• Jazz
• Acoustic
• Swing
• Bluegrass
• World Music
• Roots
• Gypsy Jazz
• Classical
• BeBop

Madi Stimpson is an exciting and original guitarist and singer-songwriter. Leaving home at 16, he learned to play by busking and playing small pub gigs before taking off round Europe with his guitar in the late 80s. Especially spending time in Belgium, Holland and Ireland, Madi learnt from many great local folk and jazz musicians.

Settling in Cardiff in the year 2000 he ran his own band The MadIntentions, playing a mix of original, Irish, folk, bluegrass and jazz. They were popular performers in the South Wales area for five years.

Moving back to the Midlands at the end of the Noughties Madi started his own trio, again playing a diverse mix of guitar music, ranging from original compositions, to versions of great classics and contemporary pieces.

Along with live performance and songwriting, Madi has also been commissioned a number of times to compose music for plays, films and animations, puppet shows and experimental theare.

With influences ranging from Chet Atkins and Les Paul, to Frank Zappa and Tarraf de Hadouks, bebop virtuosos Charlie Parker and Wes Montgomery, the gypsy jazz guitar masters Django Reinhardt and Bireli Lagrene and the British and Celtic folk legends of John Martyn, Pentangle and Moving Hearts, to mention but a handful of inspirational names, Madi draws on an astoundingly rich and varied range of styles.

Madi performs using solo, duo, trio and quartet lineups.

Depending on the occasion, the solo performances can comprise of a mix of classical, Spanish and baroque music, as well as solo versions of the gypsy, jazz, folk and blues played in the various lineups Madi uses. Tracks include well known and loved standards and original compositions. Influenced by guitarists such as Django Reinhardt, John Williams, Segovia, Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Richard Smith, Joe Pass and Leo Kottke, and great songwriters like John Martyn, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Cole Porter, Captain Beefheart, Tom Waits and Van Morrison, Madi draws from a rich pool of traditional standards and original composition.

For some smaller pub gigs Madi will be playing as a duo, with double bass players Simon Smith, Marc Miletitch or Andy Wood. The duo set is a little more folky, ragtime and country picking, interspersed with gypsy and jazz favorites, original tracks and popular songs.

2017 sees The Madi Stimpson Trio continuing with Vo Fletcher occasionally trading licks with Madi on guitars, Nick Bryan playing rhythm , Simon Smith, Marc Miletitch or Andy Wood on double bass, and Ken Moore switching between rhythm guitar, soprano sax and mouth organ . The Trio again play an eclectic mix but with a definite emphasis on the manouche (gypsy jazz) sound made famous by the great Django Reinhardt. Included in the trio’s set is music from the bebop and jazz masters Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck and Wes Montgomery, bluegrass legends Tony Rice, Doc Watson and Bryan Sutton and a selection of great Irish and British folk tunes.

Madi will also be performing quartet shows with the addition Geoff Walker on tenor and soprano sax.