120575bk Django2 2/11/04 9:57 AM 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. David Lennick As a producer of CD reissues, David Lennick’s work in this field grew directly from his own needs as a broadcaster specializing in vintage material and the need to make it listenable while being transmitted through equalizers, compressors and the inherent limitations of A.M. radio. Equally at home in classical, pop, jazz and nostalgia, Lennick describes himself as exercising as much control as possible on the final product, in conjunction with CEDAR noise reduction applied by Graham Newton in Toronto. As both broadcaster and re-issue producer, he relies on his own extensive collection as well as those made available to him by private collectors, the University of Toronto, the International Piano Archives at Maryland, Syracuse University and others. Also available in the Naxos Jazz Legends series ... 8.120515 8.120538 8.120570 Certain titles may not be available in all countries 8 8.120575 120575bk Django2 2/11/04 9:57 AM Page 2 DJANGO REINHARDT Personnel 31st January, 1938 (Tracks 5–7, 12–14): Vol. 2: 1938-1939 Stephane Grappelli, violin; Django Reinhardt, Roger Chaput, Eugene Vees, guitars; Classic recordings by the Quintet of the Hot Club of France Louis Vola, bass 1st February, 1938 (Tracks 8–11): Volatile and unpredictable, Django Reinhardt was the first European musician to make a Django Reinhardt, guitar; Stephane Grappelli, violin, piano as indicated real impact on American jazz. A poet of the guitar, he was essentially a soloist and a star 14th June & 30th August, 1938 (Tracks 1–2, 4, 17–18): soloist at that but in the context of the Hot Club de France the wild extravagance of his Stephane Grappelli, violin; Django Reinhardt, Roger Chaput, Eugene Vees, guitars; personality and gypsy exuberance of his playing were complemented and controlled by the Roger Grasset, bass overall refinement of Grappelli: the group’s polished yet buoyant, uniquely infectious 21st March, 1939 (Tracks 3, 15–16): rhythm earned them a special place in the Pantheon of jazz history. Stephane Grappelli, violin; Django Reinhardt, Joseph Reinhardt, Pierre Ferret, guitars; Emmanuel Soudieux, bass Django was born Jean-Baptiste Reinhardt at Liberchies, near Charleroi, in Belgium on January 23, 1910. The son of an itinerant violinist-entertainer father and a gypsy dancer Transfers and Production: David Lennick mother who were both active members of a Romany travelling troupe, his childhood was Digital Noise Reduction: Graham Newton essentially an unstable and nomadic existence spent in caravans. Musically speaking, as in other ways, Django was left largely to his own devices. A self-taught, prodigious talent who by his teens was already a fully-fledged multi-instrumentalist (violin, banjo and guitar), he quickly absorbed all the latest trends. Popular in Parisian cafés and cabarets, his style of playing became renowned for its synthesising of imported American jazz with traditional gypsy rhythms. Following a period of convalescence from a caravan fire in 1928 (owing to an injury sustained to his left hand he had to develop a special technique to make up for the paralysis of two fingers), he worked for several years as an accompanist to various prominent Parisian cabaret singers, most notably Jean Sablon. During 1933, he first gigged with Grappelli in André Ekyan’s band at the avant garde Croix du Sud and the following year the two were the founding star-turns of the group which became known as the Quintette du Hot Club de France. 2 8.120575 8.120575 7 120575bk Django2 2/11/04 9:57 AM Page 6 10. IT HAD TO BE YOU (Jones–Kahn) Stephane Grappelli was born in Paris on January 26, 1908. The son of an immigrant Django Reinhardt, guitar; Stephane Grappelli, violin & piano Italian dancer and would-be business entrepreneur, his artistic aspirations inclined first (Decca F-7009; mx DTB 3533-1) Recorded 1st February, 1938, London 2:52 towards dancing (he trained as a child at the school of Isadora Duncan) but, stirred by 11. NOCTURNE (Reinhardt–Grappelli) classical music, he took a serious interest in the violin from the age of twelve. He Django Reinhardt, guitar; Stephane Grappelli, violin underwent formal training at the Paris Conservatoire but by the late 1920s, like his future (Decca F-7009; mx DTB 3534-1) Recorded 1st February, 1938, London 3:12 colleague Django, had fallen under the spell of such American jazz giants as Armstrong and Beiderbecke, and was particularly influenced by the violinist Venuti. 12. BLACK AND WHITE ( Reinhardt–Grappelli) The Quintet of the Hot Club of France By the mid-1920s he was already playing both piano and violin in silent cinemas, by 1927 (Decca F-6675; mx DTB 3529-1) Recorded 31st January, 1938, London 3:03 was jazzing at Parisian society functions and in 1928, while still a pianist with Grégor et 13. NIGHT AND DAY ( Porter) ses Grégoriens, first made the switch to jazz violin. Following various tours of southern The Quintet of the Hot Club of France France and South America, by 1931 Stephane was regularly heard at the Croix du Sud. In (Decca F-6616; mx DTB 3525-1) Recorded 31st January, 1938, London 2:40 October 1932, he rejoined Grégor at the Olympia and went with this ensemble on tour to 14. HONEYSUCKLE ROSE ( Waller-Razaf) Zurich, Lugano, Milan, Rome and St. Jean-du-Luz prior to the group’s final disbanding, in The Quintet of the Hot Club of France 1933. The following year, with Django, Django’s brother Joseph and Roger Chaput on (Decca F-6639; mx DTB 3523-1) Recorded 31st January, 1938, London 2:53 guitars and Louis Vola on string bass, he formed the original Quintette du Hot Club de France which made its first recordings in December 1934 and swiftly won renown 15. SWING 39 ( Reinhardt–Grappelli) throughout Europe and the United States. The Quintet of the Hot Club of France 1 (Decca F-7027; mx 4969 /2hpp) Recorded 21st March, 1939, Paris 3:14 Based in Paris the group, which underwent occasional changes in personnel, recorded a 16. I WONDER WHERE MY BABY IS TONIGHT (Kahn–Donaldson) varied repertoire, comprising such Grappelli-Reinhardt compositions as Appel indirect, The Quintet of the Hot Club of France Billets doux and Swing 39, plus a melange of arrangements reviving popular American (Decca F-7100; mx 4971hpp) Recorded 21st March, 1939, Paris 2:58 song-hits of earlier vintage (Japanese Sandman, by Richard A. Whiting, dates from 1920; I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight, by Walter Donaldson, from 1925; and Them There 17. WHY SHOULDN’T I? (Porter) The Quintet of the Hot Club of France Eyes by Maceo Pinkard and Three Little Words by Harry Ruby, from 1930). (Decca F-6776; mx DR 2880-1) Recorded 30th August, 1938, London 2:47 During 1938 and 1939 – prior to Grappelli’s residency in London following the outbreak 18. THEM THERE EYES (Pinkard–Tracy–Tauber) of World War 2 and the start of his solo career with George Shearing and others – the The Quintet of the Hot Club of France Quintette made various guest appearances in the British capital. There, in between (Decca F-6899; mx 4211hpp) Recorded 14th June, 1938, Paris 2:59 concert appearances, the ensemble assigned to shellac a similar cross-section including 6 8.120575 8.120575 3 120575bk Django2 2/11/04 9:57 AM Page 4 (among the Grappelli-Reinhardt numbers) Stompin’ At Decca, Souvenirs, Nocturne and 1. APPEL INDIRECT (Reinhardt–Grappelli) Black And White, plus such by now more familiar eclectic repertoire as Sweet Georgia The Quintet of the Hot Club of France Brown (Maceo Pinkard, 1925), Honeysuckle Rose (Fats Waller and Andy Razaf, 1929) (Decca F-6875; mx 4213hpp) Recorded 14th June, 1938, Paris 2:56 and Cole Porter’s Night And Day (1932) and Why Shouldn’t I? (1935). Grappelli may 2. BILLETS DOUX (Reinhardt–Grappelli) also be savoured in duet with Django in his dual capacity as keyboard in It Had To Be You The Quintet of the Hot Club of France 1 (Isham Jones, 1924), If I Had You (Ted Shapiro, Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, (Decca F-7568; mx 4209 /2hpp) Recorded 14th June, 1938, Paris 2:50 1928) and the then brand new J’attendrai (a Dino Olivieri cabaret theme which enjoyed 3. JAPANESE SANDMAN (Whiting–Egan) several revivals in 1945). The Quintet of the Hot Club of France Peter Dempsey, 2001 (Decca F-7133; mx 4970hpp) Recorded 21st March, 1939, Paris 2:36 4. THREE LITTLE WORDS (Kalmar–Ruby) The Quintet of the Hot Club of France (Decca F-6875; mx 4212hpp) Recorded 14th June, 1938, Paris 2:48 5. STOMPIN’ AT DECCA (Reinhardt–Grappelli) The Quintet of the Hot Club of France (Decca F-6616; mx DTB 3530-1) Recorded 31st January, 1938, London 2:32 Peter Dempsey A tenor singer of wide range and performing experience, Peter Dempsey specialises in 6. SOUVENIRS (Reinhardt–Grappelli) The Quintet of the Hot Club of France Victorian and Edwardian genre ballads and art-song, and has recorded various CDs, (Decca F-6639; mx DTB 3527-1) Recorded 31st January, 1938, London 2:45 including Love’s Garden Of Roses for Moidart. Quite apart from his personal enthusiasm for music in the broadest sense, through his assiduous collecting and study of 78s over many 7.