The electric version of Django

[Kirk Garrett]

What do you think of his electric guitar period specifically? Here’s a scratchy version of the album I’ve been enjoying:

[Rob MacKillop]

When did Django ever have a music stand in front of him? Anyway, cover aside, I love his electric playing. Clearly he still has the touch of an acoustic player, but you can hear him reaching out to new ways of playing here and there. But it's always Django.

[Kirk Garrett]

Excellent point about the music stand. In fact, there’s not much about the picture that would indicate that the artist was familiar with Django Reinhardt.

[Ol' Fret]

Django going electric is superb! Some say that he lost a bit of his excellent rhythm feeling, but, IMHO, the hint of bebop phrasing in some of his postwar numbers makes more than good. Swing music is great; swing with a skosh of bebop is greater.

[Dean_G]

Some of my very favorite electric guitar playing. I think Django is super aware of the nature if the electric sound beyond simply amplification. He makes use of the amp distortion too with some of those wild tremolo bent major second double stops and also on one of his tunes, my memory won't call up the title, he lets the low E ring out like a power chord . But also his touch renders some of the most moving electric tone I have ever heard. Pure genius.

[Kirk Garrett]

Some of my very favorite electric guitar playing. I think Django is super aware of the nature if the electric sound beyond simply amplification. He makes use of the amp distortion too with some of those wild tremolo bent major second double stops and also on one of his tunes, my memory won't call up the title, he lets the low E ring out like a power chord . But also his touch renders some of the most moving electric tone I have ever heard. Pure genius.

This is how I’m hearing it also. I’d never really checked out his electric playing before.


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[Rob MacKillop]

As is ever the case, the more I listen to Django, the more I feel sad for what Gypsy Jazz has become.

[jameslovestal]

Excellent point about the music stand. In fact, there’s not much about the picture that would indicate that the artist was familiar with Django Reinhardt.

Well, the bicycle is very French.

[Gilpy]

The first Django I ever heard was his electric stuff, and I loved it and still do. Part of what made him such a great artist was his willingness to experiment.
I’m really excited because I found out there is a 5 cd set covering 1944-1952. Should be arriving soon!
This is a good album of songs from 1947

[sgcim]

Scared the hell outta me when I first heard it!

[wintermoon]

When did Django ever have a music stand in front of him? Anyway, cover aside, I love his electric playing. Clearly he still has the touch of an acoustic player, but you can hear him reaching out to new ways of playing here and there. But it's always Django.

The artist was David Stone Martin. Not supposed to be a drawing of Django, he drew the artwork for many jazz records as well as publications like Downbeat, etc.

[Kirk Garrett]

The artist was David Stone Martin. Not supposed to be a drawing of Django, he drew the artwork for many jazz records as well as publications like Downbeat, etc.

I do dig Martin’s jazz album covers. Usually his album portraits corresponded to the artist: Tal Farlow, Billie Holiday, Buddy Rich. But to your point, not in this case, strangely.

Jazz album covers were so great once.

Edit: Cool page of Martin’s album covers

Jazz Album Covers by David Stone Martin

[Kirk Garrett]

Well, the bicycle is very French.

Especially its casual position just lying there.

[wintermoon]

I do dig Martin’s jazz album covers. Usually his album portraits corresponded to the artist: Tal Farlow, Billie Holiday, Buddy Rich. But to your point, not in this case, strangely.

Jazz album covers were so great once.

This is true, maybe he didn't have a photo of Django to reference or Clef just used a generic guitarist drawing of his.

[NewNewcastleBud]

As is ever the case, the more I listen to Django, the more I feel sad for what Gypsy Jazz has become.

True,.....sad, but true.

[docsteve]

And yet Django's legacy lies in Gypsy Jazz, not in his electric playing.

I wonder how we'd remember Django if he had lived longer - as one in a line of great electric guitarists, rather than the founder and touchstone of a particular Jazz style?

[Phil59]

Both.

And yet Django's legacy lies in Gypsy Jazz, not in his electric playing.

I wonder how we'd remember Django if he had lived longer - as one in a line of great electric guitarists, rather than the founder and touchstone of a particular Jazz style?

[Kirk Garrett]

Both.

Agreed. I find his electric playing very engaging and refreshing. I love both Djangos.

[RLetson]

To be precise, Django established the conventions that became "gypsy jazz," which for a long time among Romani was a kind of folk-processed acoustic swing rooted in the QHCF recordings*. Django himself just kept moving, and a listen to his post-war recordings, especially the electric sessions with non-Hot-Club-style backing, suggests the direction he would likely continued to take. He clearly had big ears. And "gypsy jazz" showed the same interest in expanded musical horizons at least as far back as the work of the conservatory-trained Ferré brothers, and players like Bireli Lagrène have thoroughly blurred the line between old-style gypsy jazz and jazz-in-general.

* And when the QHCF was operational, the music wasn't "gypsy jazz," though it was jazz and swing-dance music being played by a band that was 3/5 Romani. Their music wasn't all that different from what Oscar Alemán's band was playing at the same time in Paris.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

To be precise, Django established the conventions that became "gypsy jazz," which for a long time among Romani was a kind of folk-processed acoustic swing rooted in the QHCF recordings*. Django himself just kept moving, and a listen to his post-war recordings, especially the electric sessions with non-Hot-Club-style backing, suggests the direction he would likely continued to take. He clearly had big ears. And "gypsy jazz" showed the same interest in expanded musical horizons at least as far back as the work of the conservatory-trained Ferré brothers, and players like Bireli Lagrène have thoroughly blurred the line between old-style gypsy jazz and jazz-in-general.

* And when the QHCF was operational, the music wasn't "gypsy jazz," though it was jazz and swing-dance music being played by a band that was 3/5 Romani. Their music wasn't all that different from what Oscar Alemán's band was playing at the same time in Paris.

Not sure if Django would have been happy being called a Roma. He was a Manouche, a French speaking Sinto. I know from personal conversations and from documentaries that many Sinti (at least in Germany) insist in having their own culture of which "gypsy jazz" is a important part.

The French call this music jazz manouche.

[Christian Miller]

To be precise, Django established the conventions that became "gypsy jazz," which for a long time among Romani was a kind of folk-processed acoustic swing rooted in the QHCF recordings*. Django himself just kept moving, and a listen to his post-war recordings, especially the electric sessions with non-Hot-Club-style backing, suggests the direction he would likely continued to take. He clearly had big ears. And "gypsy jazz" showed the same interest in expanded musical horizons at least as far back as the work of the conservatory-trained Ferré brothers, and players like Bireli Lagrène have thoroughly blurred the line between old-style gypsy jazz and jazz-in-general.

* And when the QHCF was operational, the music wasn't "gypsy jazz," though it was jazz and swing-dance music being played by a band that was 3/5 Romani. Their music wasn't all that different from what Oscar Alemán's band was playing at the same time in Paris.

Denis Chang had an article saying basically this….

[RLetson]

Not sure if Django would have been happy being called a Roma. He was a Manouche, a French speaking Sinto. I know from personal conversations and from documentaries that many Sinti (at least in Germany) insist in having their own culture of which "gypsy jazz" is a important part.

The French call this music jazz manouche.

I'm aware of the various conversations about naming of both the music(s) and the ethnic groups that play it--and that it's a cultural-identity minefield. I try to avoid some of this by using "Romani" or "Roma" when addressing matters that cross various lines, but it's impossible to please everybody.

Dennis Chang is certainly one of the people I listen to now--though my reading goes back to Charles Delaunay (not always reliable, apparently) and Ian Cruickshank.

[AndyV]

The first Django recordings I hears and still today, my favorite of Django is his electric playing - especially his final recordings with a modern rhythm section. Just gorgeous ... from his ideas to the tone of that Stimer pickup, just on the edge of distortion. Hubert Roosting on clarinet proved a fine foil for Django's electric sound in the late 40s, early 50s. Django with a hint of bebop = sublime! Perhaps Chuck Berry or Jimi Hendrix was the most influential guitarist of the 20th Century - I dunno - but Django gets my vote as the overall best for artistry.

[docsteve]

To be precise, Django established the conventions that became "gypsy jazz," which for a long time among Romani was a kind of folk-processed acoustic swing rooted in the QHCF recordings*. Django himself just kept moving, and a listen to his post-war recordings, especially the electric sessions with non-Hot-Club-style backing, suggests the direction he would likely continued to take. He clearly had big ears. And "gypsy jazz" showed the same interest in expanded musical horizons at least as far back as the work of the conservatory-trained Ferré brothers, and players like Bireli Lagrène have thoroughly blurred the line between old-style gypsy jazz and jazz-in-general.

* And when the QHCF was operational, the music wasn't "gypsy jazz," though it was jazz and swing-dance music being played by a band that was 3/5 Romani. Their music wasn't all that different from what Oscar Alemán's band was playing at the same time in Paris.

I‘d love to know how many similar bands operated at the time. Surely Django didn’t come out of nowhere.


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[Kirk Garrett]

AndyV, is there a specific album or playlist you listen to for Django’s electric playing?