Swing From Paris - Django Reinhardt

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

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

...Say the name Django Reinhardt to someone and you'll most likely get one of two responses: either they'll smile at you and say "You've heard of him? Excellent!" or they'll simply stare blankly at you as if you're speaking a foreign language. For anyone who doesn't know, Django Reinhardt was a jazz guitarist popular through particularly the 1930's. Born to a family of Gypsies, he spent his early life travelling and was playing guitar from a very early age. The most impressive thing about Django's guitar playing is he actually lost the use of two of his fingers on his left hand (the hand most guitarists' uses to fret with, form chords, etc.) during a fire at the age of eighteen. With such a disability, many guitarists would have called it a day, but not so Django. Instead, he adapted his parts to suit his abilities and even pushed... Read review

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Advantages: Pop(ish), upbeat and (mildly) entertaining
Disadvantages: Weak lyrics, uninspiring tunes, nothing new or unique

...From [amateur] porn star to pop star, and every bit of the 'it girl' that you can think of in between, Paris Hilton is rich because of her grand-daddy's empire and more famous for getting a video of her bedroom antics broadcast on the Internet than she is for any talent she may possess. Since the online video incident, however, Paris has been catapulted from petulant teenager with a rather nice body to socialite extraordinaire and has appeared on chat shows, produced perfumes and launched lingerie. She's snogged Britney Spears, got publicly drunk countless times and [apparently] inadvertently shown her underwear (whilst still wearing it) to the Paparazzi. Now she's released a pop record. To be fair, the girl can sing - just. The album is more snap and crackle than it is pop, and it's definitely not rock, roll or rap; she does... Read review

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