View Poll Results: Django vs Charlie Christian
- Voters
- 65. You may not vote on this poll
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Django
34 52.31% -
Charlie Christian
31 47.69%
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Both guitarists are mentioned as geniuses, and I feel like Django may have been more of a virtuoso in terms of dazzling technique. But to me CC style and approach works better for all things jazz: swing or bebop, jump blues, even rockabilly. I feel like when playing in a band with horns and a rhythm section, I'd rather use CC licks and ideas than Django's. Gypsy jazz in general is just a thing in itself, doesn't evolve or stretches out IMO.
So yeah, my vote goes to CC for how I can adopt it to my own style. But man, I do LOVE listening to Django's music!
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08-26-2017 11:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
Charlie? Daddy of all the jazz guitar players - his influence is still there in all the styles you mentioned.Last edited by TOMMO; 08-27-2017 at 03:51 AM.
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I really can't vote on this, to me both are equally great in their own way.
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Originally Posted by TOMMO
Django for me though:
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Originally Posted by destinytot
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Django was the best at gypsy jazz, Charlie the best at American jazz. Two very different things. Impossible to compare.
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These can be compared - and I think this kind of openness is wonderful:
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This is like choosing between Wes and Joe. Both are giants. I would give the nod to Django as he had more to say, but he also had way longer to say it.
I can listen to Django all day. Total genius.
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I've listened to more Django than Charlie, so I doubt my opinion is qualified much to offer here. I will say I enjoy both, and I turn both off after a while, but that's because musically I like so many different flavors than I end up making a meal out of sampler-platters.
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Amazing players who left interesting legacies...
Django was the pinnacle of a music he essentially created...and in the 60ish years since his death, no one has matched him, yet he's spawned many clones, and few innovators in the style (ironic, as innovation was Django''s modus operandi!)
Charlie has been passed in skill, speed, you name it...yet he continues to inspire every person who takes up jazz guitar (or anyone who's worth a darn) because he played what he played so perfectly, with a swing matched by few if any.
Versus? There is no versus. But we'd all be sitting in the back with a banjo if it weren't for these cats.
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
here's great string instrument historian howard alden...on banjo
and eddy davis tackling some monk
(both alden and davis have worked with woody allen on his soundtracks)
and then of course, louie A's great banjo man johnny st cyr!! who influenced everybody..django, cc etc
modern jazz guitar as we know it , owes much to banjo...evolution!!
cheers
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Not gonna convince me on the banjo, man.
(But I do kinda want a plectrum banjo)
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
but it's importance in the evolution of stringed instruments (hot music/jazz) notwithstanding
cheers
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Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
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Originally Posted by neatomic
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Django's needed today. He/she needn't play guitar.
Great lyrics (on-screen) - and perhaps a (not-so-quiet) correction of 'versus mindset':
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Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
I completely understand that, I feel the same way about numerous players in many genres. I just want to play like myself, and every so often I manage exactly that!
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Django is so much more than the 'gypsy jazz' stereotype of his work. As a player in bands inspired by Django's, I kind of hate the term gypsy jazz.... but it is a convenient marketing label. Like Salsa.
(String band jazz wasn't just a French/Manouche thing either.... Musicians from all backgrounds were playing this music. I don't think Lang/Venuti were the first, let alone Django/Grappelli)
In my experience musicians from the actual Manouche/Romani tradition are much more open minded and just up for playing than the self defined 'gypsy jazz' guitarists.... And of course they eat everyone for breakfast in terms of sheer ability on their instruments!
Anyway.... In fact I personally prefer the American swing feel in jazz ... Django had great feel, but it was coming from a different place. But wow, what a virtuoso. I mean every time I hear him play it's jaw dropping.
Charlie Christian is for me the first modern jazz guitarist and as a result he is super important to me as that is pretty much the tradition I'm in. I am sad that people (non guitarists) seem less familiar with Charlie Christian than Django. They are equally great. CC probably invented rock guitar as well into the deal ;-)
But I give a lot of respect to the older guys ... Eddie Lang, Carl Kress, Dick McDonough, Allan Reuss, Lonnie Johnson, esp. Teddy Bunn...Last edited by christianm77; 08-28-2017 at 10:57 AM.
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Originally Posted by christianm77
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Originally Posted by TOMMO
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Originally Posted by christianm77
What is unique in post CC jazz is that Django continued to use an acoustic guitar as opposed to an electric (he did eventually amplify his acoustic guitar, but he never made the switch to an electric archtop). He also preferred the flat 4 rhythm (though he eventually abandoned "La Pompe" in favor of a Freddy Green style).
Django is a hero to his people (the Gypsies of Western Europe) and they have stuck to his sound and style, thus creating "Gypsy Jazz". Most are stuck in his 1930's style with violin and "La Pompe", but others like Bireli Lagrene use reeds and a more "Post war" Django style.
I have chosen to play Gypsy jazz with a modern American sound. I mostly use an electric archtop (the Gibson ES-175 is my weapon of choice) and mostly play with a reeds player (I like the clarinet way more than violin). My lines and phrasing are way more rooted in CC than Django, though I have studied Django and Gypsy picking and I do have a Selmer style guitar. I play what I hear and coming from the CC tradition and not the Django tradition, my style will always be more CC than Django. If I wanted to, I could probably change that, but why reinvent the wheel?
Deep down, I feel CC and Django are equals. Both were trailblazers in the history of jazz guitar. I would give a slight nod to Django if I had to make a choice as I think he was more developed (while both men left us too fast, CC truly had too little time to reach his full potential). Deep down I feel that Wes and JP are equals, but Wes' melodicism excites me more than JP's bop virtuosity does (and I adore JP's playing, make no mistake about that) so I would give a slight nod to Wes.
The truth is, I am grateful for all of the great jazz guitarists on whose shoulders I stand.
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Originally Posted by christianm77
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Originally Posted by TOMMO
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