Ross Burns is one of those guys that will make you feel a bit inadequate.

Aside from being a guitarist in the Halifax-based seven-piece gypsy jazz band Gypsophilia, he also performs and travels with a capoeira group. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that mixes martial arts and dance into what looks like half break-dancing, half actual fighting.

“That’s sort of the other side of me,” said Burns from the phone in Halifax, having just returned from a capoeira festival over the weekend in Ottawa. “When I’m not playing in a band, I’m doing that.”

When he says band, he means that in a plural sense too, as he also performs regularly in roots-Reggae band Verbal Warnin’. The seven-piece outfit Gypsophilia however will be one of the featured performers of this year’s 25th Annual JazzFest International which runs from Friday, June 26 until July 5.

Burns is one of three guitarists in the band along with Alec Frith and Nick Wilkinson. Rounding out the rest of the group is Sageev Oore on piano/keyboards, Matt Myer on trumpet, Adam Fine on bass and Gina Burgess on violin.

The group started as a one-off, cobbled together to play the Atlantic Jazz Festival in 2004.

“Actually we didn’t even get a chance to run through a full rehearsal until the day of the show,” added Burns. “And even then it was bits and pieces, certain sections I think there was seven of us that first show and the first time we all stepped on stage together was at the start of our set.”

However the show went so well they organized an encore of sorts the following week at a pub in Halifax called Stainers Wharf. The line-up to get into that show stretched around the block, many people unable to cram into the tiny venue, which in turn forced Gypsophilia to book another show – which in turn sold out again.

“I think we had a total luxury doing that,” said Burns. “Being able to sell out shows right away it really guaranteed that enthusiasm from the members of the band. It made us all excited to be a part of it right from the get-go.”

This would eventually lead to the band’s debut CD Minor Hope which came out in May 2007. It blended elements of French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt with a slew of secondary influences: tango, klezmer, funk, classical music, hard bop and post bop, just to name a few. The band’s follow-up, Sa-ba-da-OW! which came out earlier this month, was recorded live off the floor at Echo Chamber Audio recording studio in Halifax.

Producer Charles Austin, whose worked with other Canadian musicians such as Buck 65, Joel Plaskett, Al Tuck and Matt Mays, basically hit the record button and let the band do their thing for Sa-ba-da-OW!, said Burns.

“It was super easy working with Charles he’s really got a nice space with the Echo Chamber. And a great attitude it was a great set up for us, we basically just took what we had live and played it out and he just kind of had the tape running. I remember he would chime in from time to time with little suggestions here and there, but that was it.”

Gypsophilia play JazzFest International on Sunday, June 28 at 4:45 p.m. at Centennial Square in downtown Victoria. The show is free and open to the public.

JazzFest International, which is run by the Victoria Jazz Society, takes place over 10 days (June 26-July 5) at a variety of venues in Victoria. Performing throughout the festival include such acts as the Hugh Fraser Quintet, The Vista, the Kingmixer Trio and The Derek Trucks Band.

For more information about everything JazzFest including purchasing tickets, go online to http://jazzvictoria.ca, call 250-388-4423 or send an e-mail to info@jazzvictoria.ca.

patrickb@vicnews.com