It's amazing playing, and the example of Django inspired Tony Iommi to keep playing guitar when he lost a couple of fingertips in an industrial accident.
Django was awesome and really influential. Hearing him play is one thing but seeing him play with just two fingers on his left hand really shows you how talented he was.
I was 14 in 76, a school friend in the year above would feed me music, Camel, Spirit, Dylan, Zappa, and Stephane Grappelli with Django Reinhardt. Only Dylan and Zappa stuck but I trust his music taste and know that Django and Grappelli are top notch.
Two masters at their craft. Reinhardt was very impressive - he only had limited use of his left hand (it was badly damaged in a fire) but could still play the guitar with such expressive beauty. Grappelli was a master right into his old age - there's a lovely short track called "Hobo's Blues" which he performed with Paul Simon when he was about 70. J'attendrai (pronounced JAT-on-dry) means "I will listen".
You didn’t mention something amazing about Django - which you can actually see from the video - Django only had 2 useable fingers on his left hand after a fire in his caravan welded the pinkie and 4th finger onto the palm of his hand. Also this film was from 1939 - shortly after this Hitler invaded France and Django, being a Romani gypsy and Grappelli being Jewish had to flee the Nazi invasion.
Yes, very important fact. He played WAY above his very obvious physical handicap. It did NOT phase him whatsoever. :D Also recommend "Belleville" and "Cavalerie" by Django.
@@paulhansberry8168 I’ve never heard of that tune, maybe you’re thinking of One Note Samba by Joao Carlos Jobim - but that is from 1960 long after Django passed. And TBH Django did not need to restrict himself to one string - he was all over the guitar.
I was just reading a little column by Jim Campilongo in Guitar Player magazine. His column is called Vinyl Treasures where he goes through his collection and the meaning of certain albums to him and his career (he’s a very accomplished guitarist). This month happens to be an album gifted to him in high school by his ceramics teacher… great gift. Anyway, after reading about Django and Stephane and the band, I was thinking it about time to listen to some Django. So, thank you for this gift of actual video. Awesome to visually put it together. Also in the magazine was more of a guitarist Stephane Wrembel, who has studied Django and his music, having put out The Django Experiment 1-6, very cool stuff.
This is the ideal moment to introduce you to a pupil of Stephane Grappelli. His name is Didier Lockwood, born in 1956 and unfortunately died in 2018. He played for a short time with a band you know well - Magma - probably the only musician in the group who was ever allowed to improvise. When he left, he led several groups - Didier Lockwood Group, Didier Lockwood Trio - and made 20 albums. The most accessible of these is the masterpiece "Didier Lockwood Group" album which was released in 1984. Anyone who is looking for an easy access to jazz violin could do no better than to listen to that album. I hope you get the chance to review this album sometime soon. It's the album which has the tracks "Zebulon Dance" and "Turning Point".
I saw Stephan in concert in the 1980s. I'm big fan of gypsy Jazz. Bireli Lagrene, Stochelo Rosenberg, Angelo Debare and Joscho Stephan are some key guys that are still playing this style today. (but usually faster and with more chops)
It all goes back to Django. He was a major inspiration for Tony Iommi who went on to influence a generation of guitar players. I have no doubt that many other British players were fans of Django. There were those who picked up on the American blues and country style sure; but there can be no argument on the influence Django had...and as for Grappelli; well he is a legend in his own right.
Great stuff! It is hard to believe, when you hear recordings of Django Reinhardt, that he only had the use of his first two fingers on his left hand. He would also occasionally wrap his thumb around the guitar neck to fret notes. His hand had been badly burned after a fire in his caravan. You may also like to take a listen to the band, The Lost Fingers, who cover more modern songs, but in the gypsy-jazz style of Django. I would highly recommend their version of, "Black Betty".
Stephane Grapelli carried on performing into the eighties and perhaps into the nineties. I know for a fact that he had concerts at Lewisham Concert Hall in South-East London.
Grappelli played also with Oscar Peterson, Jean-Luc Ponty, Philip Catherine, Michel Petrucciani, see => Michel Petrucciani ; incredible french jazz pianist
Great reaction choice. J'attendrai was a popular recording in France (and very catchy). It was a hit for Rina Ketty. Makes sense that it would become a Jazz instrumental piece as well.
The bluegrass group you were thinking of is probably David Grisman Quintet. Though the were more jazz/bluegrass or what Grisman called "dawg music". I saw Grappelli play with Grisman live at a winery in the hills above Santa Clara valley. The stuff that Grappelli was playing when he was in his 70s was amazing. Check out some of the live stuff they did together and some of the stuff he did with Barney Kessel. That man could swing.
Amazing that it's 1939 - Stephane Grappelli must have had a long distinguished career. Besides jazz recordings, Stephane's violin is also on a progressive rock album - a 1975 version of Peter and the Wolf, where Stephane plays the part of the cat. It also has Gary Brooker, Brian Eno, Phil Collins and Robin Lumley of Brand X who also wrote it.
Jean-Luc did an absolutely wonderful album with Stephan you check out. I had that album so long ago, on cassette yet, I can't remember if it had a title, bit I remember the piece GOLDEN GREEN really getting to me. Also to watch a great fictional film about this time period see SWEET AND LOWDOWN with Sean Penn. Btw, J'attendrai means I'll be waiting.
recommended on review list > Philippe Catherine : Nairam Marilyn Mazur : When I got to the Mountain Jan Garbarek : Brother Wind March Pat Metheny & The Metropole Orchestra - First Circle
YES,YES,YES!!!!For a fretboard freak like me-Mothers milk! YES! Proof that disabilities are only obstacles, Django is only using 2 fingers on his left(fretting) hand, due to an automobile accident! Peace &Love.(Hanna- Barbarra)?
Speaking of Loony Tunes, you might be thinking of the Raymond Scott Quintette. Listen to their "Powerhouse" and it will bring back some Loony Tune memories.
Your J'attendrai was pretty spot on _á mon avis_ . _Mais, désolé_ I don't speak French, so I might be wrong. (Can pull off the occasional affectation well enough in text, though.) Je (I) attend(..+ tense stuff to indicate some fancy future tense here) - to be waiting-for (here, "I'll be waiting to Swing" I think). The end is sounds exactly like "dray" - the old cart nobody knows about any more. Rhymes with ray or Ray. To "attahng" in French is to wait or await (I'm guessing about the await part.) If you look carefully at this video again, you'll notice that Django uses only the first two fingers of his left hand most of the time, and the ring finger only rarely. This is because his pinky was completely destroyed, and the ring finger badly injured in a fire that broke out in his caravan. (He was pretty much the stereotypical Gypsy, so lived on the move, and in a caravan. I remember something about it being a matter of pride for Gypsy teenagers to spend some time stealing chickens off the stolid house-settled folk, and it's one of the things he survived, too.) Stéphane Grapelli, the violinist, tried to get him to go about music as a business, but he was having none of it. Sometimes he wouldn't pitch for a show, would vanish for weeks on end, and then return and not accept that there was anything to apologize for. I wish I could remember better. Quite a story if you can find a better storyteller to tell it to you. Ah, and he was the guitar hero of none other than the English classical guitar maestro, *Julian Bream* . That's how Julian got started with guitar. It was his dad's hobby, and he was encouraged to join in. In dad's spare time, father and son would go to various places to play gypsy jazz, and obsess about Django. Once Julian was famous in later years, he once did a series on TV (I think) with Stéphane Grapelli, who was really mean to him, so he hated it. So much for your dreams coming true. One day you might do a reaction to some of Julian's music. He led a revival of Elizabethan lute music at one stage. His version of John Dowland's (another story you need to find a good storyteller for) *Forlorn Hope Fancy* sounds quite "modern" to me. Maybe try that? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cMR3AEB1nyw.html
Every time I'm tempted to blame my crappy guitar playing on my janky left hand I like to listen to some Django to remind myself that I suck because of lack of talent lol. That being said, if you're doing a thing that brings you joy, even if you're bad at it, you should do that thing. I'll never be a good guitar player, but I love playing, so I'll keep on playing crappy guitar.
Django is only playing with 2 fingers and a thumb, the fourth finger (ring finger) and fifth finger (little) of Reinhardt's left hand were badly burned in a house fire and were unuseable.
Sorry to be grammar police but I feel like your someone that wants to get it right. And I’ve heard you say this a few times . People have recommended me. Someone can recommend something TO you. As in they think you would like it. People have recommended this to me. If you leave out the “ to” and just say someone recommends “you” that’s different. That’s like someone personally recommends you for something.