Essential Collection, The - Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli

Advantages: Great Trad Jazz
Disadvantages: None

...simply 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... 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: Nice collection
Disadvantages: Not a love collection, just good R & B

...The essential R & B collection is a good complilation but I wouldnt necessarily call it a love collection.Its the kind of cd to listen to when ironing or driving.Some songs obviously suit the title,love collection and this includes NSYNC,Wayne Wonder,Aaliyah,Alicia Keys,Toni Braxton among others.But Eamon with F**k It? Other songs like R Kelly's hands of time are for reminiscing the good old times and what could have been not whats happening at the moment.Maybe if the songs could have been numbered differently it could have made a difference with the love songs in one cd and the others in the next.Its a good mix of the old and the new with Justin Timberlake,Warren G,2 pac and Dr Dre but I wouldnt consider it when planning a cosy night in.Nice collection though.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful