Django Reinhardt: Body and Soul – as heard in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980)
Track
Body and Soul
Group
Le Quintette du Hot Club de France
CD
Djangology (aka Django Reinhardt) (Membran 222918)
Musicians:
Django Reinhardt (guitar), Stéphane Grappelli (violin), Louis Vola (bass), Joseph Reinhardt (guitar), Roger Chaput (guitar).
Composed by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton and Johnny Green
.Recorded: Paris, France, April 22, 1937
Rating: 97/100 (learn more)
In Paris during the 1930s, jazz was all the rage. But when a homegrown quintet of 3 guitars, violin and bass appeared, something seemed lost in translation. Until, that is, they played. The group's star was Belgian Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt. Despite an injury that reduced his fretting to two fingers and a thumb, Django's flat-picking speed and projection on the steel-string acoustic guitar were phenomenal. Reputedly, when no pick was at hand, Django would break off a tooth from his plastic pocket comb to discharge notes that exploded with the fury of artillery ordnance. His hair may have been mussed, but Django's rockets hit their targets without fail.
Reviewer: Alan Kurtz
Tags: 1930s jazz · body and soul · france · guitar
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