Customer Reviews

Jazz Tribune, No. 39: The Indispensable Django Reinhardt, 1949-1950

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This has got to be one of the greatest jazz anthologies in print. Every track is well chosen and a great representation of Django at his peak. More than half of the tracks also feature his long-time co-virtuoso, Stephan Grappelly on the violin. With sweet, soft ballads and furiously fingered uptempos, this 36-track jewel is a must for jazz guitar fans and swing stars alike!

This 2-CD set consists of two recording sessions in Italy (in 1949 and 1950) toward the end of Django Reinhardt's life. In the first session (1949), Django is joined by his old musical partner Stephane Grappelli on the violin, along with an Italian backup band consisting of piano, bass and drums (a little different from the makeup of the famous Quintet of the Hot Club of France). In the second session (1950), he's joined by his old friend Andre Ekyan on saxophone and clarinet, along with another backup band consisting again of piano, bass and drums. For serious Django fans, these sessions have a lot of musical interest, mostly because of the contrast to his earlier and better-known recordings with the Hot Club of France. The jazz landscape had shifted by the end of the war in 1945, and toward the end of his life Django was starting to experiment with different styles (including electric guitar, bebop, explorations of classical music, etc.), and these are all reflected in these recordings in Italy. One of their interesting features is the glimpse they provide into the musical directions that Django might have travelled if he had not died just a couple of years later at the age of 42. In any case, despite the fascinating aspects of this 2-CD set (along with Django's usual virtuoso guitar playing), there are other of his recordings that would probably better deserve the term "indispensable." The recordings that he's justifiably most famous for are from his remarkable prewar period with Stephane Grappelli and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. The best collection from this period is contained in "The Classic Early Recordings in Chronological Order," which is a wonderful 5-CD set. If you'd rather just start with a single CD, then "The Best of Django Reinhardt" at least contains a few of his classic pieces. In any case, you'll probably like those earlier recordings so much that you'll end up eventually also buying this one (The Indispensable Django Reinhardt) anyway.

definitely one of the better django compilations out there, it contains tracks (phenomenal ones!) that are missing in many of the django "box sets" out there. If you can't afford the expensive "Intégrale" series (all CDs so far amount to somewhere around 500 bucks), and are looking for some sort of django collection, I'd recommend either the "Past Perfect" 10-CD collection (sells for 39 bucks on ebay) or the 15 CD collection (50-60 bucks on ebay). With either one of those box sets and this 2 cd compilation (like i said it contains many tracks that are missing in django box sets), you're set!

Django was probably the best guitar player ever, his playing is straight from the heart and at the same time very technical, flashy but sophisticated. It would be great to see him performing live. I was a true genius, a master of the instrument. Listening to his records makes me feel good, he really did justice to music.