Wednesday, October 28, 2020

It's Wednesday, It's Djangocious!

Two hurdles to overcome for anyone interested in Django Reinhardt. They're high, but not insurmountable. First, that pumping, four-square rhythm, it's either there or it's not, and it's there most of the time. You have to background it. Second, the overwhelming amount of recordings he made. There are remastered box sets all over the internet - where to start? It's not like the guy cut his equivalent of Dark Side Of The Moon or Kind Of Blue. There's no obvious gateway drug.


Django has been FoamFeatured© antecedently, but here's his "Greatest Hits". Both these albums have been the go-to place for my shot of Hot for decades. If you dig these, then dig further, and take a long-handle shovel. If the Hot Club leaves you tepid, then move right along, and no harm done. Worth noting that these sides were recorded already well into his career.


Included as a FoamBonus©, at no extra cost to you, Mr. Impulse Purchaser, is the best biography available. It's a mobi file [above left - Ed.]. His story is almost unbelievable, from his Romany childhood through a Paris that's now entered myth, and it's beautifully told. So if you can read, and know what to do with a mobi file, this is a treat.

26 comments:

  1. I love Grappeli's work (they spell it wrong on the LP cover, and I think this Lp with Reinhardt must be pretty hot stuff.

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    1. You're right, but it's spelled Grappelli! Incredible that two such compatible virtuosi played together so well and so long. I've seen Grappelli a couple of times.

      (Stealth Link embedded above)


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  2. I'm a Django freak. My go to though are his "Improvisation" solo recordings. Just amazing fret work. No one has come close to it. There's a great single album compilation of these, "In Solitaire: Complete Recordings 1937 - 1950." Also, for a modern Django master, look up Stephane Wrembel. Was fortunate to catch Wrembel live in Brooklyn at a tiny club, Barbes. Maybe held 50 people.

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    1. "In Solitaire" FoamFeatured antecedently here: https://falsememoryfoam.blogspot.com/2019/08/cest-jaaazz.html

      (Do try to keep up at the back, there ...)

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    2. Don't ask me. I can't even remember what I came in here for.

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    3. you know when you forget why you came into the room it means the matrix glitched and reset

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    4. I find myself thinking of the hereafter a lot lately. Every time I walk in to a room, I say to myself... "Self: Now what the funk am I HERE AFTER?!"

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  3. someone once told me he invented the 5th(power) chords, so no ''wild thing'' without him A5 D5 E5 G5 A5, or ''you really got me''F5,G5,A5,C5,D5

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  4. pronunciation: is it DANG-o or Jang-o?
    or godforbid, Duh-jango?
    the 'Ise a muggin' singer says Dang-o'

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    1. however @2:54 singer says 'Dango' to no obdections
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb5mC-MToAI

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    2. He also calls Stephane "Steven", so it's clear he's playing with their names. Muggin'!

      It's pronounced Jango by everybody else, everywhere, since forever.

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    3. Not to split heirs, divide roomers, cause a revelation, cut cheeses, etc., but...

      ... everybody else ... Except the Froggies...?

      "ZHUH-ango"???

      (Wit the "J" bein sayed like the one in "du Jour"...)

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  5. May I nudge this thread on a "if you like this you'll like that and if you like that you'll like this" kinda tangent, please?

    Yes? OK ... as will be well known around these parts, guitarist Martin Taylor accompanied Stéphane Grappelli for a decade or so, sitting on the guitar stool once occupied by Django himself.

    Mr T is steeped in the gypsy jazz tradition, which he celebrates in a rather more relaxed style than the aforementioned "pumping, four-square rhythm" when he plays with his lovely "Spirit of Django" group. By gum they are good, not least because the magnificent accordianist Jack Emblow is amongst their number. That's right, Jack Emblow.

    Seek out their albums if you can. And of course, listen to Django.

    Cheers, Peanuts Molloy.

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    1. I saw Taylor accompany Grappelli once. Superb. Another guitar/violin combo FoamFeatured antecedently is, of course, Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang.

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  6. I saw MT sometime last century at the Albany Hotel bar in Birmingham, playing a solo set as part of the B'ham Jazz Week. It was a 5.30 Friday afternoon session, I couldn't persuade anyone from my office to come and my wife was at home looking after our very young children, so I went alone. He played one of his "Walking bass line + melody on the top strings" showstoppers and I remember wishing I had a pal to turn to and say "that were good, weren't it?" as I set off for Moor Street station.

    Never forgotten that gig (as you can tell).

    Cheers, Peanuts Molloy.

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    1. You deserted your young wife with her babes-in-arms just to hear a walking bass line. For shame, Peanuts.

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    2. Neglected, not deserted. And they were toddlers, too heavy to hold-in-arms. But yeah, you had to be there: I didn't expect the bass / melody thing. And there was beer.

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  7. The Complete Django Reinhardt & Quintet Of The Hot Club Of France Swing-HMV Sessions (2000) Mosaic 6xCD 16-44.zip

    HERE:

    https://mega.nz/folder/fQI33K6Q#NSwU2w_xNTlEOSIRLCgj6Q

    Size: 1.10 GB

    CWCD:

    The Interwebs.

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  8. Replies
    1. Don't thank me, thank KimDotcom...

      Plenny mo' where doh's come from...

      More Mosaics? (Sorry - seriously lacking in the Blooz dept. They did a bang-up job on Amos Milburn & I think they did at least one T-Bone Walker...)

      For what it's worthless, I've grabbed just ONE of these suckas. I dunno if they are Farq-approved 192s or what... Oh, and, I got the Django... Natch.

      More more more... HD-clogging files you likely will never live long enuff to enjoy! (HERE):

      https://mega.nz/folder/zSYh2C4T#nX26JLae2_xtr72o5UgZVw

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    2. Holy, holy crap ... this is a muthaload! Thanks, UncleB!

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    3. I'm listening to a lo-fat 192 of the Johnny Mercer set - it's fantastic.

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    4. Just grabbed the Joe Pass collection. Thanks again, Unka B!

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    5. What a treat!! All of these are worth having even if I have to rent out the children on weekends to afford that new hard drive. Thanks Uncle B!!

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  9. I had a kind acquaintance alert me to the Mosaic D-Ls. Like I says before, I've got JUST the one, the ZHANG-oh. Have not even found the time to "open," yet alone try for the next one I wanted. And was initially after. The stuff I am keen (like peachy, pop)(no, that's not a cold beverage found in Georgia...) to hear is the Vee Jay Wynton Kelly. The stuff, I know, I know, sacrilege n alla that jazz....) that has overdubbed (?) ork. / strings n' things. I THINK it initially appeared on W.K. VJ ElPees .... But hoped some (all?) of it's here)(Mosaic set):

    "The Complete Vee Jay Paul Chambers-Wynton Kelly Sessions 1959-61"

    If it's not what I wanted, I guess I'll live. (Jest overheard that one at polling place...??? An omen...?)

    After all, I've come this far without ever owning any of the Bird that was in the same bag. I think that stuff was strings-"enhanced" post mortem...

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