Django Reinhardt: Mystery Pacific
Track
Mystery Pacific
Artist
Django Reinhardt (guitar)
CD
The Complete Django Reinhardt & Quintet Of The Hot Club Of France Swing/HMV Sessions (Mosaic 190)
Musicians:
Django Reinhardt (guitar), Stéphane Grappelli (violin),
Marcel Bianchi and Pierre Ferret (rhythm guitars), Lois Vola (bass)
.Composed by Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli
.Recorded: Paris, April 26, 1937
Rating: 100/100 (learn more)
Was “Mystery Pacific” Django Reinhardt’s personal tribute to Duke Ellington’s “Daybreak Express”? There’s not enough similarities to call one an arrangement of the other, but there’s also no doubt of the influence. “Mystery Pacific”’s opening is an obvious nod to “Daybreak” as is the simple harmonic structure and for that matter, the form of the entire piece. However, Django must have realized that he would never be able to re-create the many colors of the Ellington band with his small group. Instead, he and Stephane Grappelli created a new piece tailor-made for the QHCF, which is as evocative of an express train as Ellington’s. Reinhardt goes a step further than Ellington by including spots for improvised solos by himself and Grappelli. The violinist is his usual elegant self here during his solo, but don’t miss his Doppler effect background during Django’s solo. And I am constantly amazed at how Django got so much music out of a guitar when his fretting hand was so badly deformed.
Reviewer: Thomas Cunniffe
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Tags: 1930s jazz · european jazz · gypsy jazz · train
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