there will never be another you...

 Django, the undisputed heavyweight champion.

It is my opinion (and there are many who share it) that Django Reinhardt was the greatest improviser on the guitar who ever lived. But it wasn't just the improvisations of Django that made his music special. The contributions of his early collaborator, violinist Stephane Grappeli, were equally impressive and important in shaping the sound of what has now become known as "Gypsy Jazz".

Amongst their several musical innovations was the development of the "Manouche Pomp", Manouche being a French pejorative for the Romani people, and Pomp (English pump) a descriptive reference to the heavy swing rhythym of the high tension steel string guitars in a Gypsy Jazz ensemble, such as Le Quintette du Hot Club de France.   

Though often associated with France, Django was actually born in Belgium in the early 1900's. He cut his teeth playing Bal-musette, an up tempo form of dance music popular in Paris during his youth. As Europeans began discovering American Jazz they began to incorporate it into their own playing and these marriages created many new hybrid styles including aspects

both.

While there were several notable contemporaries to Django, guitarists such as Oscar Aleman and Baro Ferret for example, no recordings exist to my knowledge that demonstrate the melodic phrasing and interpretative skills to eclipse that of Django.

Still today many strive to emmulate him while bringing their own innovations and contributions to the music. While there have been many greats before and since, there will never be another you, Django.

VIDEO: "ORIENTAL SHUFFLE"  

 BY DJANGO REINHARDT ANG STEPHANE GRAPPELLI

 PERFORMED BY "LE QUARTET DE JAZZ"

LIVE @ LE CHARM FRENCH BISTRO, SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Plucked  Strings

The Great Django Reinhardt

        Plucked Strings

SCOTT

      FEICHTER

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