Customer Reviews

Live in London

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Recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in November 1973, this live performance captures Grappelli in his prime at age 65. Most players peak in their thirties or forties. Grappelli was at his best in his sixties and seventies. Whether that was due to the style that he played or to the renewed interest in his music that no doubt inspired him I don't know, but he was playing noticeably better as he entered retirement age (although he never really retired). He also seemed to play better in front of a crowd than in a studio, which is another advantage to this recording.

With Diz Dizley and Denny Wright on acoustic guitars and Len Skeat on bass, this is the closest I've heard to the sound of the original Hot Club Quintet with Django Reinhardt. You even hear the 4/4 guitar rhythms of the HCQ at times. This performance was shortly after the rebirth of Grappelli's career beginning when he met and played with Dizley at the Cambridge Folk Music Festival earlier in '73. Later on he brought Martin Taylor into his band to play electric guitar, which created a better background group in my opinion. The weakest part of this lineup was the solo guitar work, which Taylor was and is so exceptional with.

The highlight in my opinion is track #6 - Manor De Mes Reves/Daphne by Reinhardt - which features classic Grappelli ... hot fiddling, harmonics wizardry, and ingenious improvisation. Those features aren't missing in the other cuts of course. Stephane finds yet more ways to play standards like Misty, Satin Doll, and Sweet Georgia Brown. Like the deadheads with their trading of bootleg recordings, there's always something new and fun to hear in a live Grappelli recording for true fans. Highly recommended.

I first heard this concert on Vermont Public Radio whilst visiting a friend. She was cooking a lovely dinner for me, I was relaxing and sipping wine, and this fascinating music was wafting through the house. The sound of the recording is impeccable, and the sound of London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, in which it was played, is spacious and rich. There are many sections where Grappelli plays solo, and his violin seems to hang in the night air, reaching near-mystical heights. I much prefer these later works to Grappelli's earlier work with Reinhardt...he has clearly improved since then, and the musicians are much more adept at backing him up and bringing out the sweetness and richness of his violin. The harmonics he employs are dazzling. The disc is very long, as well, about 73 minutes! Grappelli swings out hard on classic like "Sweet Georgia Brown," and then utterly mezmerises with a few slower-tempo peices, and then he *really* shows his stuff on the soaring, largely tempo-free items like "Nuages." Amazing stuff, and the crowd absolutely loves it. It was about three years before I finally found this in a used shop in Boston, and when I did, I could hardly believe it. As soon as I got it I brought it to a dinner party up in the Adirondacks, and we listened to the whole thing, before and during dinner, with plenty of wine, of course. It has a great way of setting pace and tone...classy, but sometimes wild, sophisticated and romantic, but also invigorating.

Sadly, this is a very rare disc, though once in a blue moon a used one will pop up. Don't wait for mine, however, because I'm keepin' it! Good luck.