Jazz Articles about Django Reinhardt

Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing

by Florence Wetzel
April 4, 2011

Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing Michael Dregin Paperback; 332 pagesISBN: 978019975625-4Oxford University Press2010 Midnight, Pigalle. The red-light district of Paris glows in a nocturnal carnival of neon and incandescent color.... Welcome to Michael Dregin's engaging Gypsy Jazz: In Search of Django Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing, a highly original book that's part history, part detective ...

Dreyfus Tributes to Django Reinhardt

by Stuart Broomer
February 6, 2010

Various Artists Generation Django Dreyfus Records 2009 Dorado Schmitt Family Dreyfus Records 2009 Biréli Lagrène Gipsy Trio Dreyfus Records 2009 Biréli Lagrène/ Sylvain Luc Summertime Dreyfus Records 2009 Rocky Gresset Rocky Gresset Dreyfus Records

Django at 100

by Stuart Broomer
January 23, 2010

Call it Django or Gypsy jazz, Hot Club, swing or Manouche (another name for gypsy), it's a style that hits you immediately--blazing, hard-picked runs played on a hyper-resonant, flat-top guitar (sound-holes are oval or D-shaped, never round), its intense momentum propelled by bass and rhythm guitar(s), often in tandem with violin, clarinet or accordion and working through standards and rhythms that belonged to the Swing Era. It may have been the first jazz style to develop fully outside the United ...

Django Reinhardt And The Illustrated History Of Gypsy Jazz

by J. Robert Bragonier
May 7, 2007

Django Reinhardt And The Illustrated History Of Gypsy Jazz Michael Dregni, with Alain Antonietto and Anne Legrand Speck Press ISBN: 10: 1-933108-10-x ISBN: 13: 978-1-933108-10-0 2007 My middle-aged son is an orthopaedic surgeon, after-hours jazz musician and lover of Gypsy swing in general (and Django Reinhardt in particular), and, a few months before I got the opportunity to review this book, I discovered it while searching for a ...

Django Reinhardt: Keep Cool: Guitar Solos 1950-53

by David Rickert
January 16, 2007

Django Reinhardt's last years are his least well known. Facing artistic obsolescence while jazz fans who once embraced him were hooked on the latest thing, Django assembled a new quintet of players schooled in bebop instead of swing to produce some records that were decidedly modern in feel. Long gone were the Hot Club with Stephane Grappelli and the band with Hubert Rostaing; instead, we get a modern combo featuring piano, drums, bass, and even trumpets and saxophones. ...

Django Reinhardt: Memorial

by David Rickert
June 10, 2006

When Django Reinhardt switched from acoustic to electric guitar, his fans, feeling betrayed, called him “Judas." However, he later used this new instrument to record Blonde On Blonde, often considered one of the greatest rock records of all time.

Actually, that was Bob Dylan. But Reinhardt's electric period, which encompassed the last few years of his life, is certainly the black sheep of his catalog. Reinhardt was still in fine form and had even incorporated elements of bebop ...

Django Reinhardt

by Tim Kirker
September 30, 2005

1910-1953In the sphere of improvisational guitarists one name always warrants mention: Django Reinhardt. He was in a class by himself and has been referred to as the Jimi Hendrix of jazz guitar. To this day no guitarist has come close to his style of playing. His tonal clarity, strength of melody, fullness of expression, enthusiasm, and jaw-dropping speed all reinforced the myth of this gypsy guitarist. His European heritage brought a unique sound to the jazz plate, incorporating ...