Customer Reviews

The Art of the Jazz Guitar

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Django Reinhardt was "Europe's first acclaimed jazz musician" (Down Beat Magazine) and an amazing story in and of himself. If you've never heard this man's frenetic and masterful playing before, this CD would be a good place to start. Django Reinhardt's music is a completely original melding of the Gypsy music of his youth and the early American Jazz of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Joe Venuti and guitarist Eddie Lang. Keep in mind while you're listening that this man only had the full use of two fingers on his left (the chording) hand. An unappreciated master of the guitar, Reinhardt's playing is showcased to good effect on this album. A worthy purchase.

This disc has some unusual Django tunes as well as some better-known ones. It's frustrating that there are no liner notes at all, so who Django was playing with, and where and when the recordings were made, is not given. A few tunes come from his work with Stephane Grapelli, and others are with a small group including clarinet and string bass, apparently made after WWII because Django plays electric guitar, something he didn't do in the pre-war days.

The music is good, and if you don't care when or by whom it was played, go ahead and buy.