Django Reinhardt popularised a whole style of music
- which is often referred to as "gypsy jazz". Not only that:
he gave rise to a seemingly endless stream of imitators, who all wanted
to play the guitar like Django. Some of them achieved this aim - although
they had the apparent advantage of a complete set of fingers on their
left hands, whereas Django had two of his fingers badly damaged in
a fire. Reinhardt became famous in the 1930s in the Quintet of the
Hot Club of France alongside violinist Stéphane Grappelli. The Quintet
had a seldom-varying line-up of violin, two or three guitars, and
double bass.
The Quintet's sound has become so familiar (and so
copied) that it is easy to forget just what a pioneer and virtuoso
Django was - as was Stéphane Grappelli. The two blended beautifully
together, as you can hear on this generous double CD of 53 tracks
recorded by the Quintet between 1934 and 1946 (the front cover says
"1934-1949" but there is nothing here after 1946). Reinhardt's
earthy but transcendent approach was nicely balanced by Grappelli's
elegant violin, with the latter often soaring above the guitars. The
rhythm guitars were generally restricted to chugging out thick, chunky
chords which could sound stodgy, although Reinhardt and Grappelli
compensated for the stodginess with their flights into the upper atmosphere.
The two leaders worked well as a team, because they
were both such melodic players. You can take at random virtually any
track from this album and hear how the pair improvised with tuneful
radiance. And this collection contains most of the Quintet's finest
recordings, including not only their most famous Nuages but
also I'm Confessin', Limehouse Blues and Minor Swing.
Django and Stéphane collaborated in writing such tunes as Djangology,
Oriental Shuffle, Swing Guitars, Billets Doux and Swing '39.
The Quintet's career was interrupted by the Second
World War but it was reunited after the war, and this compilation
includes four good tracks from 1946. These include Django's compositions
Nuages and Manoir de mes Rêves - the latter allowing
the duo to play without any other backing, creating magic with plenty
of space and no sense of pressure.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Retrospective
RTS 4140 (2CDs)
