Release Date: 09 January 2005
Label: Naxos - Jazz Legends / Naxos Jazz Legends
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943282120
Genres: Jazz
Description
DJANGO REINHARDT Vol.9'With Vocals' Original Recordings 1933-1941'The most creative jazz musician to originate anywhere outside the USA' - Mercer EllingtonImmortalised in the annals as a key innovator inthe European jazz tradition, 'gypsy jazzman' parexcellence Django Reinhardt was the first non-American to make a decisive impact in the genre.A curious blend of extrovert showman and selfstyledloner, this volatile yet elegant miniaturist,although prodigal of his talents - not averse to'disappearing' for lengthy periods to pursueother interests (among which fly-fishing andbilliards at which he was a champion) - left alegacy of finely-honed gems. The son of travellingentertainers (his father a violinist, his mother adancer) Django was born Jean BaptisteReinhardt in a caravan in a French-speakingManouche gypsy settlement at Liberchies, nearLuttre, Belgium on 23 January 1910.From 1918 Django lived with his mother andguitarist brother Joseph in a shantytown caravan,near Choisy on the outskirts of Paris. There, hisfamily formed part of a troupe of players whoseincessant wanderings made his youth a nomadicand unstable existence. He was surrounded fromhis earliest youth by music making, however, andtook early to both violin and banjo, although hesoon changed to guitar and from the start hisplaying of this was intuitive also, rather than inany sense formally instilled. Self-taught and selfmotivated,Django learned most from observingthe playing of others. His playing, even after thesuperimposition of the Afro-American jazz idiom,was steeped in the spontaneous, Magyar-derivedFrancophone tsigane traditions.After gaining his first professional experiencein touring shows with his family, in 1921 heformed a duo with the accordeoniste Guerino andwith him made regular appearances at local balsmusettesand in houses of ill repute. Later hemigrated up-market, to dance-halls and cafesand, it is reported, won several talent contests.In 1928 (for Ideal) he made his first discs, in anaccordion band led by Jean Vaissade, whichreached the ears of English bandleaderimpresarioJack Hylton, who made him a firmoffer of work. Later that same year, however,physical injury (including the loss of two fingersof his left hand) in a caravan fire fortuitouslyprovided Django with the spur to devise theindividual method through which he becamefamous. An enforced eighteen monthconvalescence led to a re-appraisal of histechnique and by 1930 Reinhardt had resumedhis career in Parisian cafes and cabarets, wherehis style, a blend of traditional native Romanyrhythm and imported American jazz, wasperfected.In Paris Django met with visiting Americanjazzmen (players like Benny Carter, ColemanHawkins and Eddie South) and in 1933 washeard by the painter Emile Savitry, throughwhom he met Jean Sablon (1906-1994), at thattime a rising star of Continental cabaret anddubbed the 'French Crosby'. For some monthsthe pair collaborated successfully as a duo,recording (for French Columbia) with Djangoplaying
Tracklisting
Various
Waller, Fats
Waller, Fats
Venuti, Joe
Vaughan
Various Artists
Various
Various
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt
