120821bk Django9 7/9/05 9:52 PM Page 8 The Naxos Historical labels aim to make available the greatest recordings of the history of recorded music, in the best and truest sound that contemporary technology can provide. To achieve this aim, Naxos has engaged a number of respected restorers who have the dedication, skill and experience to produce restorations that have set new standards in the field of historical recordings. Available in the Naxos Jazz Legends series … 8.120739 8.120740 8.120746 8.120766 8.120771 8.120772 These titles are not for retail sale in the USA 120821bk Django9 7/9/05 9:51 PM Page 2 DJANGO REINHARDT Vol.9 Personnel Track 1: Leon Ferreri, piano; Django Reinhardt, Track 11: Alex Renard, Noel Chiboust, Gaston ‘With Vocals’ Original Recordings 1933-1941 guitar; Max Elloy, drums Lapeyronnie, trumpets; René Weiss, Pierre Track 2: Eugène d'Hellemmes, trombone; Deck, trombones; Andre Ekyan, Andy Foster, ‘The most creative jazz musician to originate anywhere outside the USA’ – Mercer Ellington Andre Ekyan, alto sax; Stephane Grappelli, clarinet, sax; Maurice Cizeron, alto sax, flute, clarinet; Alix Combelle, tenor sax, clarinet; Jean Immortalised in the annals as a key innovator in the playing of others. His playing, even after the violin; Michel Emer, piano; Django Reinhardt, guitar; Max Elloy, drums Chabaud, piano; Michel Warlop, Stephane the European jazz tradition, ‘gypsy jazzman’ par superimposition of the Afro-American jazz idiom, Grappelli, violins; Django Reinhardt, Joseph excellence Django Reinhardt was the first non- was steeped in the spontaneous, Magyar-derived Track 3: Andre Ekyan, clarinet; Alex Siniavine, Reinhardt, guitars; Louis Pecqueux, bass; American to make a decisive impact in the genre. Francophone tsigane traditions. piano; Django Reinhardt, guitar Maurice Chaillou, drums A curious blend of extrovert showman and self- After gaining his first professional experience Tracks 4, 12-13: Stephane Grappelli, violin; Track 14: Andre Ekyan, clarinet; Alec Siniavine, styled loner, this volatile yet elegant miniaturist, in touring shows with his family, in 1921 he Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt, Roger piano; Django Reinhardt, guitar; Louis Vola, although prodigal of his talents – not averse to formed a duo with the accordéoniste Guérino and Chaput, guitars; Louis Vola, bass accordion ‘disappearing’ for lengthy periods to pursue with him made regular appearances at local bals- Track 5: Pierre Allier, Maurice Mouflard, Tracks 15-16: Stephane Grappelli, violin; other interests (among which fly-fishing and musettes and in houses of ill repute. Later he trumpets; Marcel Dumont, trombone; Andre billiards at which he was a champion) – left a migrated up-market, to dance-halls and cafés Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt, guitar; Ekyan, alto sax, clarinet; Amédée Charles, alto Louis Vola, bass legacy of finely-honed gems. The son of travelling and, it is reported, won several talent contests. sax; Alix Combille, tenor sax; Charles Lisée, entertainers (his father a violinist, his mother a In 1928 (for Ideal) he made his first discs, in an baritone sax; Michel Warlop, violin; Stephane Track 17: Stephane Grappelli, violin; Django dancer) Django was born Jean Baptiste accordion band led by Jean Vaissade, which Grappelli or Alain Romans, piano; Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt, Pierre Ferret, Reinhardt in a caravan in a French-speaking reached the ears of English bandleader- Reinhardt, guitar; Roger Grasset, bass; guitars; Lucien Simoens, bass Manouche gypsy settlement at Liberchies, near impresario Jack Hylton, who made him a firm Maurice Chaillou, drums Tracks 18-19: Stephane Grappelli, violin; Luttre, Belgium on 23 January 1910. offer of work. Later that same year, however, Tracks 6-7: Garland Wilson, piano; Django Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt, Eugene From 1918 Django lived with his mother and physical injury (including the loss of two fingers Reinhardt, guitar Vees, guitars; Emmanuel Soudieux, bass guitarist brother Joseph in a shantytown caravan, of his left hand) in a caravan fire fortuitously Tracks 8-9: Alex Siniavine, piano; Django Track 20: Leo Chauliac, piano; Django near Choisy on the outskirts of Paris. There, his provided Django with the spur to devise the Reinhardt, guitar Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt, guitars; Tony family formed part of a troupe of players whose individual method through which he became Rovira, bass; Pierre Fouad, drums incessant wanderings made his youth a nomadic famous. An enforced eighteen month Track 10: Alex Renard, trumpet; Michel and unstable existence. He was surrounded from convalescence led to a re-appraisal of his Warlop, Sylvio Schmidt or Stephane Grappelli, his earliest youth by music making, however, and technique and by 1930 Reinhardt had resumed violin; Alain Romans, piano, celeste; Django took early to both violin and banjo, although he his career in Parisian cafés and cabarets, where Reinhardt, guitar; Lucien Simoens (?), bass soon changed to guitar and from the start his his style, a blend of traditional native Romany playing of this was intuitive also, rather than in rhythm and imported American jazz, was any sense formally instilled. Self-taught and self- perfected. motivated, Django learned most from observing In Paris Django met with visiting American 2 8.120821 8.120821 7 120821bk Django9 7/9/05 9:51 PM Page 6 11. Darling, je vous aime beaucoup 3:18 16. Rendezvous sous la pluie 2:35 jazzmen (players like Benny Carter, Coleman the Atlantic, with Reinhardt hailed as international (Anna Sosenko) (Charles Trenet–Johnny Hess) Hawkins and Eddie South) and in 1933 was celebrity. Hildegarde with Patrick et son Orchestre de Jean Sablon with instrumental heard by the painter Emile Savitry, through The Quintette which (by general agreement) Danse accompaniment whom he met Jean Sablon (1906-1994), at that made great jazz, easily on a par with anything Pathé PA 538, mx CPT 1844-1 Columbia DF 1847, mx CL 5518-1 time a rising star of Continental cabaret and ethnically American performed a disparate, Recorded 4 March 1935, Paris Recorded 7 December 1935, Paris dubbed the ‘French Crosby’. For some months cross-cultural repertoire which knew no 12. Lily Belle May June 3:34 17. I'se A-Muggin' 3:05 the pair collaborated successfully as a duo, boundaries. Intermixing classical and pop with (Earle T. Crooker–Henry Sullivan) (Stuff Smith) recording (for French Columbia) with Django folk, ad lib, in a ‘world-jazz fusion’ it survived for Jerry Mengo with the Quintette of the Hot Freddy Taylor with the Quintette of the Hot playing in the style of the recently-deceased almost five years, although due to Django’s Club of France Club of France American guitarist Ed Lang (1902-1933) – and unpredictability and frequent arrogant outbursts Ultraphon AP 1444, mx P 77240 HMV K 7704, mx 0LA 1057-1 also in a larger ad hoc ensemble, whose his relationships, particularly with the reserved Recorded March 1935, Paris Recorded 4 May 1936, Paris personnel regularly featured his French colleague, and more precise Grappelli, were by all accounts 13. Sweet Sue, Just Sue 2:52 18. Undecided 2:30 clarinettist-saxophonist André Ekyan (alias far from easygoing. The disbanding of the (Victor Young-Will Harris) (Charles Shavers–Sid Robin) Echkyan, 1907-1972). Quintette just before the outset of World War II, Jerry Mengo with the Quintette of the Hot Beryl Davis with the Quintette of the Hot By 1934 Django and violinist Stephane during the group’s British tour, may therefore, at Club of France Club of France Grappelli were working in a fourteen-piece least privately, have come as something of a relief Ultraphon AP 1444, mx P 77241 Decca F 7140, mx DR 3861-1 fronted by Louis Vola at the Hotel Cambridge, to Grappelli, who remained in England for the Recorded March 1935, Paris Recorded 25 August 1939, London the Parisian branch of Claridge’s (although they duration of hostilities. Prior to the German 14. Un amour comme le notre 2:58 19. Don't Worry 'Bout Me 2:57 had first met the previous year, as members of occupation, Django the gypsy fled Paris, but later (C. Borel-Clerc–Alex Farel) (Ted Koehler–Rube Bloom) Ekyan’s resident band at the Croix de Sud Club) in the war he returned larger-than-life to the Jean & Germaine Sablon with Andre Ekyan's Beryl Davis with the Quintette of the Hot and from this plush socialite background, the French capital. Towards the close of the war he Orchestra Club of France niche of an international musical elite, courtesy resumed his itinerant life-style; taking to the road HMV K 7515, mx 0LA 520-1 Decca F 7140, mx DR 3863-1 of writer-producer Charles Delaunay (1911- he succeeded in dodging the Nazis as he worked Recorded 17 May 1935, Paris Recorded 25 August 1939, London 1988), the world famous Quintette sprang to his way from Switzerland to North Africa. From 15. Cette chanson est pour vous (Life Is A 20. Le Cigale et la Fourmi 2:22 life. In 1937 the co-founder, with Hugues 1942 much of his time was spent in Belgium. Song) 3:04 (Charles Trenet–J. de la Fontaine) Panassié, of the Swing record label, Delaunay By 1945 Reinhardt was again resident in (Henri Varna–Marc Cab–Fred Ahlert– Charles Trenet with the Quintette of the Hot promoted concerts on behalf of the Hot Club de Paris where he led a big band and, switching to Joe Young) Club of France France. Essentially a stylistic harking-back (the electric guitar, formed another quintet, in which Jean Sablon with instrumental Columbia DF 2886, mx CL 7410-1 critics thought) to the defunct Lang-Venuti Grappelli’s place was filled by clarinettist Hubert accompaniment Recorded 12 March 1941, Paris American ensembles of the late 1920s, in a little Rostaing. In 1946 he co-wrote (with André Columbia DF 1847, mx CL 5487-3 Sung in French except track 9 in Italian & French, Recorded 7 December 1935, Paris over a year, largely through the medium of Hodeir) the music for the film Le village de la tracks 17-19 in English recording (by 1939 the group had recorded over colère and visited England and Switzerland.