Django Reinhardt Vol.2 1938-1939 - Django Reinhardt & & Stephane Grappelli/Quintette Du Hot Clu

Advantages: Great Trad Jazz
Disadvantages: None

...the greatest fiddle (violin) player the planet has ever seen. Grappelli was born in Paris, and started his career as a silent film pianist. He attended the Conservatoire de Paris between 1924 and 1928. A distant cousin of mine, who encouraged me to fiddle in my youth, has preformed with Grappelli. These two musicians with startlingly different backgrounds formed the "Quintette du Hot Club de France", who perform all of the songs on this collection with the exceptions of Nocturne which is Django and Stéphane alone, and Improvisation which is just Django. The "Quintette du Hot Club de France" comprised of Reinhart and Grapelli with Reinhardt's brother Joseph and Roger Chaput on guitar, and Louis Vola on bass. This collection of songs was preformed between 1935 and 1940 and showcases the unique sound of the quitnette. They made up for the lack... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Easy listening, nice to relax to
Disadvantages: Some may find the style of music very dated

...fresh and prevent it from become repetitive or predictable. The album sleeve is simple, containing a brief history about Django, as well as the song names and their composers. More information might have been welcome here, but this is quite common for compilation albums and so is not really all that unexpected. A slight disappointment here is the lack of information about the musician involved on the tracks. The violin parts are very likely to be Stephane Grappelli, but there is no confirmation of this anywhere on the album, so you're left wondering who exactly is playing the parts so well. Whether this is due to laziness on the production side, or simply due to lack of information about the recordings in the first place I can't say, but it is a bit of a shame. I'm not a huge jazz fan by any means, (I think I own only three or four... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: A fast-paced, imaginative and immaculately-produced work
Disadvantages: Perhaps a little too 'poppy' for the purists. Some pointless extra tracks

...- mumbles artfully in his mother tongue about a crazy student, backed by an atmospheric synthesised dreaminess. The song is actually quite enjoyable, but silly just the same. JJ was so enamoured by La Folie that he persuaded the others to agree to it being released as a single. A big mistake. Extra tracks added to the 2001 CD release 12. Cruel Garden - A breezy and forgettable song with a Django Reinhardt Gypsy-guitar sound. A piece of fluff that was the B-side to Strange Little Girl (see below). 13. Cocktail Nubiles - Bring on the Nubiles was an obscene track that featured on the band's second album, No More Heroes (1977). The band had recorded it as a joke, keen to find out just how much they could get away with in that hot punk summer. Quite a lot, it seemed! This is just an easy-listening version. A bit of studio nonsense... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful