Be Transported to a 1930s Small French Café by one of the Greatest Jazz Guitarists
With this rich collection of sides by Django Reinhardt from the vaults of HMV and Swing (the French jazz label), you can instantly transport yourself to a small French café in the mid '30s, very near the beginning of his recording career, where dedicated fans discovered what made this extraordinary musician - the first real European jazz star -- a raging sensation on both sides of the Atlantic.
Considered by many to be the single most important guitarist in the history of jazz, Django was explosively egotistical, a careless and carefree gambler, but a generous charmer as well. Musically, he was gifted in a way that seldom has been seen before or since these classic recordings were made.
Most people know his story. Born into a troupe of gypsies in Belgium and raised outside Paris, this son of a traveling entertainer was working professionally at the age of 12. At 18, an event marked him, and his career, for life: a caravan fire that robbed him of the use of two of his fretting fingers. While tragic, it forced him to develop a style of playing that was his alone.
Romantic, yet technically brilliant.
Intensely rhythmic, remarkably nimble even for a musician with full capacity, Django in later years developed into a soloist who played with an emotional fervor and romanticism that is common in the folk music of his ancestry.
His ability to riff with abandon, without compromising expressiveness, was what appealed to audiences at the time, and he could count among his admirers Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Coleman Hawkins and Eddie South.
His group, co-led by violinist Stephane Grappelli, was the celebrated Quintette du Hot Club de France, named for and initially sponsored by the society of French record collectors who made Hot Music a passionate and scholarly pursuit. This ensemble, as well as Reinhardt's own playing, exhibited a keen sense of swing while blending the sound of a small Parisian café band.
Sort of hot. Kind of modern. All Django.
But this was Hot Music that later incorporated some extremely modern elements. Django, on first hearing Charlie Parker on record, is said to have dropped his head into his hands and moaned out of admiration and humility. He immediately began incorporating bop idioms and harmonies into his music. In turn, many bop musicians credit Django as an important influence.
The recordings -- 118 in all - span Django's most productive years (and Europe's most painful and chaotic), from 1936 to 1948, and feature him performing solo guitar and in duet with Grappelli as well as with the quintet.
The quintet, which included Joseph Reinhardt, Roger Chaput and later Pierre Ferret on guitar and Louis Vola on bass, became internationally known for these exact recordings now available from Mosaic. They reveal Django's power, his melodic abilities, and his skill at achieving, simultaneously, technical precision and deeply meaningful tonal nuances.
Enjoy evocative and historically significant photographs as well as a lengthy text by guitarist-writer Mike Peters on Django's life and his music.
Let the music play !