Customer Reviews

Django Reinhardt 1937

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The Complete Django Reinhardt series on the French label Classics is a phenomenal series with exquisite sound quality that is better than almost any other CD on the market. The accompanying booklets are in English with detailed liner notes, some small photos, and a thorough listing of recording dates and personnel. This is my favorite of the whole series as it features what I consider the hottest rhythm lineup the Hot Club ever boasted with Pierre "Baro" Ferret and Marcel Bianchi playing stunning backup guitar.

Kudos to Amazon.com for making this long-out-of-print CD available as an mp3 download! This CD just happens to contain what at least a couple of professional critics (All Music Guide and NYT critic Ben Ratliff) and some fans of Django Reinhardt on Amazon.com consider to be some of Django Reinhardt's and Stephane Grappelli's very best recordings together while they were playing in the famous Quintet of the Hot Club of France in 1937.

If you really love listening to lots of "gypsy swing," or if you're a devoted Django Reinhardt fan already, you'll probably prefer to opt for the wonderful and not-very-expensive 5-CD box set on JSP called "The Classic Early Recordings in Chronological Order." For those who are new to this kind of music or for whatever reason do not want to purchase a box set, this single CD is perhaps the best jumping in point I can think of, and it's only $5.99 as of this writing! If you read the reviews of the JSP box set, you'll notice that some fans say the strongest disc is No. 5, which corresponds very closely to this Classics 748 release (the first 20 tracks are exactly the same). If you don't want the whole JSP box set but just want one really good disc of Django and Stephane at their best, this is for you. This Classics release even sounds great for music of this era.