Live recording at Les Nuits Manouches 2008

Tchavolo Schmitt was introduced to the guitar at the age of 6 by his mother; his father played the violin.
He developed, with time, a virtuosity in the manouche style and his renown rapidly exceeded the limits of Alsace, his ancestral region.
He became influential among his peers, in particular at Porte de Montreuil or Chope des Puces in Saint-Ouen, legendary homes of manouche swing. In 1979, he became a professional musician, and in that year, after leaving Paris to return to his Alsatian roots, he joined the band "Hot Club da Sinti", which included the violinist Wedeli Köhler, the guitarist Schmeling Lehmann, and the bass player Jani Lehmann.
A single LP recording (now a collector's item) was released in 1981. While his career paused during the 1980s, in 1993 he joined the band "Gypsy Reunion" (with, among others, Dorado Schmitt, Patrick Saussois and Gino Reinhardt).
In 2002, he released the original soundtrack to Swing, a movie directed by Tony Gatlif where Tchavolo Schmitt himself played the role of Miraldo, a guitar teacher. In 2004, Angelo Debarre joined him to produce a tribute record to Django Reinhardt called Mémoires.